FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mugsy]

Breakdown of the Wheaton roster by state.  Also contains a link to this year's roster.
http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2016/8/13/2016-thunder-football-roster.aspx

Wheaton guys, help pls.

I have to wonder how many of the newbies from far flung places like SC, LA, NV, MA, SC, & etc., basically initially recruited themselves to Wheaton as opposed to the WC staff going out and beating the bushes in several of the more distant states. I would think that WC is well known to Christian preps even if they live pretty far from school, and as such, the initial contact is on the part of the recruit as opposed to being initiated by the WC staff.
If this is the case, its a great plus for the Orange & Blue. Nice savings of both time and $.

Here is my understanding, which may not be 100% accurate, but close in principle.

Recruiting from "far flung" places is generally NOT initiated by the player/student.

It is often initiated by football alum, who clearly understand the type of player Coach Swider is looking for, and the type of individual the college is looking for.  Former players may see or know someone playing for a local high school and will then refer them to the coaching staff.  If after initial conversations there is interest and coaches have looked at the video highlights, then the recruit will be included on one of the recruiting trips or the player will visit the school.

I'm sure there are some recruits who "know" about Wheaton and proactively reach out on their own, but my guess is those make up a very, very small percent of the cases.  In fact I'd argue the opposite is true.  Wheaton likely has to spend more money and time due to the fact they must go to "far flung" areas to recruit in order to find players that match the criteria necessary to attend Wheaton - and oh by the way, have potential to be excellent football players.

What I do know for certain, is once Wheaton gets one recruit from a high school in a remote state (Texas, California, etc...), particularly if it is a Christian school, there is a high probability they will get future recruits down the line.  The player/alum becomes an advocate to others from that high school. 

Case in point, just look at this years roster, you don't need to go far down the roster to find different players from the same school, but are in different classes (and they aren't related).  If you look at rosters over the past years, you'd see a player from a school in Texas from 10 years ago, and there will be a new player on the current roster from the same school.  Alum become advocates for future recruits.

This does not happen due to the recruit initiating the process, and without the staff spending time & money.

[AndOne]

Thanks, Mugsy

[USee]

Who has the superior "weapons", AO, NCC or WC?

Mark,

Without going into great detail, and also because I don't honestly feel I know CCIW football as well as I do basketball (not that I'm an expert there  ), I would say that with Breunig, and Brown, if he is completely healed, that NCC has a slight edge in the rushing game. I say slight because Oletaju is a very good back for WC, capable of breaking a big run at any time.
NCC also has a good receiving corps in Ulmer, Kuhl, Hartema which will be enhanced by the addition of Dylan Warden. They do not have a preseason All-American like Lindquist, but I think they are overall a little stronger. The trick is getting them the ball.
With regard to O line play it seems the edge would have have to go to WC with pre-season All-Americans Gibson and Lindquist.
IDK about the D lines, but USee said NCC has a little more experience returning.
No idea about the relative strengths of the team's LBs or defensive backfield play. Call it even.
At the QB position, which I give the most weight to, WC has a definite edge going in.

So, overall we have receivers, runners, and D line for NCC
LBs and D backs-overall, even.
O line-WC
QB---which I rate as 2 points, WC
That's a 3-3 tie. Yes, I know, a cop-out for sure . But I do think the teams truly are very close. This is further evidenced by the coaches poll voting which is as close as it can get.

The game is at NCC, but WC is a 20 minute drive away so I don't believe the Cards will derive any real advantage. Besides I have observed, over several years, that NCC student support/attendance has never been the best. Too many distractions in beautiful downtown NaPPerville? 
If the students supported the team with the fervor the athletic administration, the players parents, and former players and other alums do, the stands would be full or nearly so every game.

Lastly, I've heard that a champ is champ until somebody else knocks him/them off. True?

Olateju and Bruenig are both very explosive runners with different styles. Olateju is more physical and Bruenig is more of a slasher. When you have a great RB, the key is the blocking and Wheaton has the better Oline as well as Lindquist at TE. This is the area that Wheaton has dominated the Cards the last two years. I don't see that changing this year. The thing that's different is Wheaton's ability to stop the NCC attack, particularly at LB. I don't know who the young guys are yet that will step up, but you can't replace Dandsdill and McRae/Swider were all conference players too. North Central has better receivers than the Thunder. The two offenses are going to be really explosive I think. Wheaton does lose their coordinator as Sears takes over at Benedictine (Wheaton's first game). Jesse Scott steps up with a young passing game coordinator.

The league is really loaded at RB this year. these two lead a field that includes 9 of the top 10 rushers back from last year. If you add Carroll, they have their top rusher back too. Maurice Shoemaker-Gilmore from IWU and Josh Williams (5th year) at Elmhurst are no slouches.

[matblake]

Maurice Shoemaker-Gilmore from IWU

IMO he should have had more touches in the Wheaton game.  15 attempts isn't going to cut it.  He had just about the same amount against NCC too.  Perhaps it was an offensive philosophy thing. Or maybe he was dinged up. 

[wheels81]

Tomorrow is move-in day and Saturday is picture day (aka broadcaster-learns-how-to-pronounce-the-names-of-new-players day ). The Samoan and Hawaiian players have already arrived on campus. And the Pacific Islander expansion continues, as this year the Vikings will have a freshman QB from Guam as well.

So Greg, when did NPU start competing with BYU for Samoan football players?  Didn't know NPU recruiters wore white shirts and ties and rode bicycles on their talent search trips.   .  I get the Swedes on the soccer team. (viking and ECC connections).

[USee]

Maurice Shoemaker-Gilmore from IWU

IMO he should have had more touches in the Wheaton game.  15 attempts isn't going to cut it.  He had just about the same amount against NCC too.  Perhaps it was an offensive philosophy thing. Or maybe he was dinged up.

You are hanging on too tight MB. Let it go....it's in the past.

[Gregory Sager]

So Greg, when did NPU start competing with BYU for Samoan football players?  Didn't know NPU recruiters wore white shirts and ties and rode bicycles on their talent search trips.   .  I get the Swedes on the soccer team. (viking and ECC connections).

Many residents of American Samoa as well as stateside Samoans are Mormons, which explains why BYU is able to recruit them well.

The Samoan population, both in the islands and in the diaspora here in the U.S., is also very heavily evangelical, which is a big plus for NPU's ability to recruit them. The mastermind behind the Pacific Islander recruiting (not just American Samoa but Hawai'i as well, and now Guam, too) is associate head coach Bob Harmon, who, as O-line coach, works with a lot of the Samoans on a daily basis. He has been known and respected on Tutuila, American Samoa's most populated landmass (aka "Football Island" in NFL and college football circles) for a long time. He provided North Park its first "in" in terms of recruiting Samoans, which they have done since Mike Conway took the job in January of 2013 (several of the players that the coaching staff was able to recruit during that truncated first recruiting cycle were Samoans). But now Mike Conway himself is a well-known and highly-respected figure on Tutuila; he's even been made a clan chief, which is a huge and rare honor to be given to a palagi (white person).

NPU has made big inroads into Hawai'i in terms of recruiting over the past couple of years as well. Most of the Hawaiians that the coaching staff has brought in are student-athletes of full Samoan or half Samoan heritage, but they're also starting to get non-Samoan Hawaiians as well.

I've said time and time again that North Park football's head coach needs to think outside the box in terms of building his roster, because of the unique and inherent institutional disadvantages that the program faces. Recruiting Pacific Islanders is one of the key ways that Mike Conway has managed to think outside the box. It's not easy for those young men to adapt to life in Chicago -- the culture shock is pretty steep, the weather is totally alien to their experience, and, unlike Chicago in general and North Park in particular, Samoa is a pretty homogenous place in terms of race, religion, socioeconomics, etc. But the football program has done great work in making the Samoans feel as though they're part of a larger family. It's also shown them that the program (and the school as well) honors their culture by making such gestures as adopting the siva tau that the Samoan players created, which is now an integral part of the team's identity on the field before games and after wins. The Samoans look out for each other on campus in terms of schoolwork, social behavior, etc., and their tight-knit mini-community on campus (as well as North Park's Christian ethos, wholehearted embrace of multiculturalism, and the generally friendly attitude of faculty, staff, and students) absorbs some of that cultural shock for the newcomers. There's now a number of Samoan students at NPU who don't even play football. They're just there to go to school. (There have also been Samoans on the volleyball team and the baseball team, and it's only a matter of time before NPU has Samoans on the rowing team as well.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVClqLtBdUA

[meadowdale]

How does Beloit look this year?

[markerickson]

I flew to LA two weeks ago for vacation (relatives).  The trip has been basically the same for 15+ years - go to Huntington Beach, Angel games, and the high desert (think this week's fires), and then try to find other stuff to fill the time such as the Getty Museum or a Spanish Mission.  LA itself, basically sucks.  Like Swedish soccer players, maybe the Samoans want to get out of the LA area and attend school somewhere else, like Chicago.

[matblake]

Here's info on ways to follow the Thunder this year. 
http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2016/8/17/ollow-wheaton-sports.aspx
Also, a good way to get to broadcasts for away contests is go to the schedule page of d3football.com.  They have links to the audio, video, and live stats as available next to the match up.  http://www.d3football.com/scoreboard/2016/composite

[AndOne]

How does Beloit look this year?

Meadowdale,

Beloit was picked to finish 8th in the 11 team Midwest Conference so that should tell you something.
However, it you want specifics, you might want to try posting your inquiry in the proper room.
You will find the Midwest Conference listed among the choices in the West Region.
Beloit and it's fellow Midwest Conference members are not classified as being in the North Region. 

[Gregory Sager]

I flew to LA two weeks ago for vacation (relatives).  The trip has been basically the same for 15+ years - go to Huntington Beach, Angel games, and the high desert (think this week's fires), and then try to find other stuff to fill the time such as the Getty Museum or a Spanish Mission.  LA itself, basically sucks.  Like Swedish soccer players, maybe the Samoans want to get out of the LA area and attend school somewhere else, like Chicago.

It's an interesting thought, but the NPU coaching staff doesn't really seem to work the L.A. area. Both of the Californians on this year's team are Bay Area products (and one's a Covie, so that's probably how the coaching staff found him).

Aside from Hawai'i, the coaching staff really hasn't recruited the Samoan diaspora the way that they've worked American Samoa itself. That may be because every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the ranks of college football coaching has access to Samoan-Americans here in the 48 contiguous states.

There will be eleven American Samoa natives and seven Hawaiians on this year's team, incidentally, plus the first of what I hope will be a pipeline of players from Guam as well.

All told, there are 15 states, two unincorporated U.S. territories, and one foreign country represented on this season's North Park football roster.

[wheels81]

I remember seeing the New Zealand rugby team do something similar to the HAKA before they play as well.  Definitely a culture shock to go from the Pacific Islands to city life in Chicago.  I like the pregame routine they have that's pretty cool but is it too aggressive in this day and age :-)

Also there is balance in the world now that 2 alumni of Wheaton Men's Soccer are playing professionally in Sweden.
http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2016/8/17/stephen-golz-sweden.aspx

[bigz61550]

Breakdown of the Wheaton roster by state.  Also contains a link to this year's roster.
http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2016/8/13/2016-thunder-football-roster.aspx

Wheaton guys, help pls.

I have to wonder how many of the newbies from far flung places like SC, LA, NV, MA, SC, & etc., basically initially recruited themselves to Wheaton as opposed to the WC staff going out and beating the bushes in several of the more distant states. I would think that WC is well known to Christian preps even if they live pretty far from school, and as such, the initial contact is on the part of the recruit as opposed to being initiated by the WC staff.
If this is the case, its a great plus for the Orange & Blue. Nice savings of both time and $.

Here is my understanding, which may not be 100% accurate, but close in principle.

Recruiting from "far flung" places is generally NOT initiated by the player/student.

It is often initiated by football alum, who clearly understand the type of player Coach Swider is looking for, and the type of individual the college is looking for.  Former players may see or know someone playing for a local high school and will then refer them to the coaching staff.  If after initial conversations there is interest and coaches have looked at the video highlights, then the recruit will be included on one of the recruiting trips or the player will visit the school.

I'm sure there are some recruits who "know" about Wheaton and proactively reach out on their own, but my guess is those make up a very, very small percent of the cases.  In fact I'd argue the opposite is true.  Wheaton likely has to spend more money and time due to the fact they must go to "far flung" areas to recruit in order to find players that match the criteria necessary to attend Wheaton - and oh by the way, have potential to be excellent football players.

What I do know for certain, is once Wheaton gets one recruit from a high school in a remote state (Texas, California, etc...), particularly if it is a Christian school, there is a high probability they will get future recruits down the line.  The player/alum becomes an advocate to others from that high school. 

Case in point, just look at this years roster, you don't need to go far down the roster to find different players from the same school, but are in different classes (and they aren't related).  If you look at rosters over the past years, you'd see a player from a school in Texas from 10 years ago, and there will be a new player on the current roster from the same school.  Alum become advocates for future recruits.

This does not happen due to the recruit initiating the process, and without the staff spending time & money.

I played football my first two years at Wheaton in the late 60's.  I was there because of a long family history with the school and so were some of my teammates.  Some of my teammates were in the same situation, but it seemed that most others had connections to alumni via their church community or high school personnel.  I think there was very little recruiting back then and many came of not only a church connection, but also because the success of coach Harvey Chrouser.  Today, there is seems to be quite a bit of online networking for Wheaton like may other schools, but I do think the church connection is still a major factor. 

[Mugsy]

Breakdown of the Wheaton roster by state.  Also contains a link to this year's roster.
http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2016/8/13/2016-thunder-football-roster.aspx

Wheaton guys, help pls.

I have to wonder how many of the newbies from far flung places like SC, LA, NV, MA, SC, & etc., basically initially recruited themselves to Wheaton as opposed to the WC staff going out and beating the bushes in several of the more distant states. I would think that WC is well known to Christian preps even if they live pretty far from school, and as such, the initial contact is on the part of the recruit as opposed to being initiated by the WC staff.
If this is the case, its a great plus for the Orange & Blue. Nice savings of both time and $.

Here is my understanding, which may not be 100% accurate, but close in principle.

Recruiting from "far flung" places is generally NOT initiated by the player/student.

It is often initiated by football alum, who clearly understand the type of player Coach Swider is looking for, and the type of individual the college is looking for.  Former players may see or know someone playing for a local high school and will then refer them to the coaching staff.  If after initial conversations there is interest and coaches have looked at the video highlights, then the recruit will be included on one of the recruiting trips or the player will visit the school.

I'm sure there are some recruits who "know" about Wheaton and proactively reach out on their own, but my guess is those make up a very, very small percent of the cases.  In fact I'd argue the opposite is true.  Wheaton likely has to spend more money and time due to the fact they must go to "far flung" areas to recruit in order to find players that match the criteria necessary to attend Wheaton - and oh by the way, have potential to be excellent football players.

What I do know for certain, is once Wheaton gets one recruit from a high school in a remote state (Texas, California, etc...), particularly if it is a Christian school, there is a high probability they will get future recruits down the line.  The player/alum becomes an advocate to others from that high school. 

Case in point, just look at this years roster, you don't need to go far down the roster to find different players from the same school, but are in different classes (and they aren't related).  If you look at rosters over the past years, you'd see a player from a school in Texas from 10 years ago, and there will be a new player on the current roster from the same school.  Alum become advocates for future recruits.

This does not happen due to the recruit initiating the process, and without the staff spending time & money.

I played football my first two years at Wheaton in the late 60's.  I was there because of a long family history with the school and so were some of my teammates.  Some of my teammates were in the same situation, but it seemed that most others had connections to alumni via their church community or high school personnel.  I think there was very little recruiting back then and many came of not only a church connection, but also because the success of coach Harvey Chrouser.  Today, there is seems to be quite a bit of online networking for Wheaton like may other schools, but I do think the church connection is still a major factor.

Fair enough.  I don't necessarily mean to downplay the draw to Wheaton without recruiting.  Truth be told the primary reason I ended up at Wheaton is that my brother played 4 years a head of me.  I knew a majority of the team before I even applied to the school, as 5-8 players ate a meal at our house every Sunday.  However I was still recruited by Coach Bishop & Swider.

I just know that recruiting is a very, very serious part of the program Coach Swider has put in place, and they spend A LOT to time and effort to insure they find the players they need.  Without it there is no way Wheaton has the success they've experienced in the last 20 years, given the competitiveness in the CCIW.