Normally, this is the time of year when basketball recruiting rules the day.  Any other summer, I’d be relentlessly posting on AAU coaches, the Peach Jam, and Worldwide Wes.  But we wrapped up our 2010 hoops class on July 29th of LAST year, so there’s nothing much to say (other than the fact that the 2010 basketball recruiting class will rank top-5 of all time at Illinois).  So, and here’s a surprise, more football posts.

As of yesterday, there are now 5 recruits in the 2010 class so far.  My feelings…

Shawn Afryl OL, Niles West HS (IL): Projects as a guard, maybe a center. That’s as far as I’ll go, because offensive line recruiting is the biggest crapshoot in all of recruitdom.  Just look at our current O-line. Three 2-stars and two 3-stars have won the starting spots over several 4-star recruits.  The key, of course, is numbers. And Afryl is one. That’s all I got.

Corey Cooper DB, Proviso East HS (IL): Our top recruit to date.  Also our least committed recruit to date. He’s said he’s planning to take all of his official visits.  But I’m not worried.  Zook, in my opinion, is brilliant in how he handles “soft verbals”.  Instead of playing the role of the jealous boyfriend, texting his girl 14 times on girls night and asking insecure questions like “you guys didn’t, like, hang out with any guys, did you?”, Zook does this: “Fine. Go see every program in the country. You won’t find a family like this one at Illinois.” Worked with Juice, worked with Corey Liuget, worked with Terry Hawthorne, and will work with Corey Cooper.

Chandler Whitmer QB, Downers Grove South HS (IL): As each camp passes where Whitmer wins MVP, I get more and more excited.  He plans to graduate early and enroll in January, so spring ball next April will be really, really fun. Who’s the QB? Redshirt senior Eddie McGee? Redshirt sophomore Jacob Charest? Redshirt freshman Nathan Scheelhaase? Or true freshman Chandler Whitmer?  (For a little perspective, all four of those QBs would probably start at Wisconsin next season.  Take that, Barry).  I’m really hoping Whitmer gets and invite to the national Elite 11 QB camp.  Apparently, he is too.

Daniel Easterly Safety, Detroit Cass Tech (MI): He was the one player I was focused on this summer.  Offers from Alabama, Michigan State, Missouri, UCLA, and 18 others.  Big, tall, strong frame on a guy who likes to hit.  Could play wide receiver in college, but want to play defense so he can hit people.  I’m already putting him in the 2-deep for Camp Rantoul, 2010. We’ll be losing Donsay Hardeman, and Easterly will have every opportunity to win his spot in 2010.

Mark Wilson LB, Tallahassee Lincoln HS (FL): You can’t ever have enough fast Florida linebackers, can you?  Especially those with SEC offers from Arkansas and Ole Miss. This is pure speculation, but I think Zook played the “sorry your dream school hasn’t offered yet, but I’d kill to have you in orange and blue” card with both Easterly and Wilson.  Easterly is at Michigan-factory Cass Tech. Wilson is at FSU-factory Tallahassee Lincoln.  Both were gaining more and more offers, but waiting on one from the hometown school. The Zooker swept in, sold his program, and got the verbal. Outstanding.

I’m headed out of town on vacation starting tonight, so A Lion Eye will be silent for 10 days.  But I’ll be back on June 29th to skewer Bob Asmussen some more. And at the beginning of August, I’ll be giving you some in-depth reports directly from Camp Rantoul. 10-2 here we come.