Zook picks up three more commitments
Add another state – Alabama – to the list of places Illinois is going to find football players.
Jay Prosch, a fullback from Mobile (Ala.) UMS Wright Preparatory is the latest to commit to Ron Zook's program.
That makes 10 states that are represented in the 2010 class. So far.
Illinois now has 19 players in the class, with three already on campus. Prosch joins recent commits Dan Foose, an offensive lineman from Paramus (N.J.) Catholic and Glenbard South defensive end Austin Teitsma.
Prosch, a 6-foot-3, 250-pounder, picked Illinois over offers from Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech. He visited Champaign-Urbana during the weekend, attending the Illinois-Indiana basketball game Saturday.
"I loved it," Prosch said. "The facilities were just amazing. I really liked the coaches and I bonded with the players."
Prosch played offensive line for a state championship team in 2008. He moved to linebacker in 2009. Fullback will be new position for Prosch, who said he expects to get a chance to play early in his career.
Part of the appeal of Illinois, Prosch said, is the chance to play on offense. Auburn is recruiting him as a linebacker and the chance to play there on defense isn't as great early in his career.
"They have one fullback, that's it," Prosch said. "If I went to Auburn, I'd be the fifth linebacker down."
Auburn hasn't made a scholarship offer to Prosch. At this point, he said, even a late call from the Tigers wouldn't change his mind.
"What Illinois has to offer for me is a different story than what Auburn has to offer for me," Prosch said.
I like our new strategy of loading up with 1 and 2 start recruits. That way they will stay 4 years (unless academics get in the way but we figured that out too…Parkland) and we won’t have all the problems USC, Texas, Alabama, etc have with their 4 and 5 star recruits leaving early just to play on Sundays.
We had several top 25 recruiting classes in the last few years and we saw how well that worked out for us.
Maybe we can now go the Northwestern route--a recruiting class in the mid 50's, but consecutive bowl game appearances.
Oh, I forgot. To do that, you have to have a good coach that maximizes your talent level. Never mind.
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