FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[matblake]

Wheaton has posted a set of 24 recruits.  Don't know if this is the ocmplete list, the website didn't say.

http://www.wheaton.edu/Athletics/football/recruits.html

[Mugsy]

Matt,

It is the complete list.  Football alum are sent updates from Coach Swider through out the year.  Typically he sends a recruiting update prior to making the list public.  At the time the letter was sent to the alum, the number of recruits was listed at 25 with the caveat that there were a few still up in the air.

I'm not going to get into the whole discussion on the relative strength of recruiting class, because as always we won't know until the season starts or maybe for a few years.  I know the coaching staff wasn't completely happy with the size of the recruiting class (there were 36 recruits last year and I believe the coaches would be aiming for 30-35 recruits a year).  That said I do think they are happy with the quality of the recruits - time will tell.

[79jaybird]

I'm not much of an Arena Football Fan.  As a hockey player, I think arenas with boards are strictly for hockey.  As you may have heard, the Rush are in the ArenaBowl vs. Orlando.  I don't pay attention to the games or teams, but looking at the Rush's Season, I think there is a good story.
The Rush started the season with a terrible record and almost everybody wrote them off before the halfway mark of the season.  The kids believed in themselves and put together a win 1 at a time approach.  Suddenly 2-3  games became a streak of 5 of 6 and well, you see where they are now.
My point is that any team in the CCIW has a chance to gain success on the football field.  Believe in yourselves, your teammates, your coaches, and you should have success. 
I didn't mean for this to be a cheesy message, but the CCIW is a character conf. with heart.. and the Rush's story made me think of the CCIW players.

[matblake]

Matt,

It is the complete list.  Football alum are sent updates from Coach Swider through out the year.  Typically he sends a recruiting update prior to making the list public.  At the time the letter was sent to the alum, the number of recruits was listed at 25 with the caveat that there were a few still up in the air.

I'm not going to get into the whole discussion on the relative strength of recruiting class, because as always we won't know until the season starts or maybe for a few years.  I know the coaching staff wasn't completely happy with the size of the recruiting class (there were 36 recruits last year and I believe the coaches would be aiming for 30-35 recruits a year).  That said I do think they are happy with the quality of the recruits - time will tell.

Thanks for the info Mugsy.  Looked up a bunch of the recruits. Finding stats on football players at this time of year can be a little tricky unless they are a Division I prospect.

Ryan Hoyt from Union High in OK was a big contributor to a State Championship team and Union has won the last 2 5A OK state championships so a good tradition there. 

Daniel Ransdell is an all state IFCA player at the 1A Brown County High School in Illinois.  It will be interesting seeing how an all-stater from a small school will develop in the CCIW.  6-2 240 is a good foundation for OL in the future.

Specer Ast from AZ was on the 2004 State championship team from Mountain Ridge HS.  He also appears to have a myspace page per google, but since I am not on my home computer, I couldn't get to it.

Looks like a lot of kids from MI are headed to Wheaton in the fall.  Interestingly enough, since I live in MI I thought it would be a little easier getting info on these kids.  However, most of the information I found simply listed them on their HS rosters.  Dan Dipzinski was honorable mention all-state at Gaylord High School.

[Mugsy]

Matt,

I'll check on the recruit from Gaylord High School.  I know the head coach there.

[matblake]

Thanks Mugsy!

[Mugsy]

Matt,

I'll check on the recruit from Gaylord High School.  I know the head coach there.

Matt,

From Coach William Cleaver at Gayloard High School regarding Dan Dipzinski,

"Yes, Dan was one of my captains here in Gaylord.  He is an awesome young man.  He will probably play down the road.  I don't know how much of an impact he will have day one.  He is a tough kid with a great attitude and leadership abilities.  I would say he is perfect for Wheaton.  Rod did a great job recruiting him. "

[BashBacker#16]

Mugsy,

How good is Wallick from Millikan?  Have you seen him play? Wabash plays them early.  He sounds tough.  Bash has had one of the top rush defenses in the country for a while now - should make for a great match up.  Wabash also has 1st team pre-season All American Adi Pynenberg in the middle (ILB).

[Mugsy]

Mugsy,

How good is Wallick from Millikan?  Have you seen him play? Wabash plays them early.  He sounds tough.  Bash has had one of the top rush defenses in the country for a while now - should make for a great match up.  Wabash also has 1st team pre-season All American Adi Pynenberg in the middle (ILB).

BashBacker,

I've seen Wallick play 2 times.  While I don't know the talent level of running backs that Wabash will face in conference, I can say Wallick could be one of the tougher challenges Wabash will face. 

He is a senior who holds most Millikin rushing records already - 3600+ yards rushing in 3 years.  He has a good mix of speed and toughness.  At 6'-1", 215lbs, he is big enough to carry the ball 25+ times a game.  In fact he had 35+ carries in 5 games last year.  He carried the ball 47 times for 217 yards against Wheaton last year. 

Last year 3 of the tougher defenses in the CCIW did a very good job shutting Wallick down (I'm not sure if he was hurt in any of those games though).  Augustana held him to 18yds on 15 carries, North Central held him to 69yds on 15 carries, and Carthage held him to 51yds on 18 carries.  It should be noted that in each of these games Millikin passed for less than 100 yards.

Seems to me the keys are holding him under 20 carries and how effective Millikin's passing game will be.  The more carries he gets on sustained drives, the better chance he gets into the flow and breaks one off.

Should be an incredible battle... particularily if Millikin can exhibit a passing attack, which they've struggled with over the past few years.  If Millikin has a threat to pass successfully, it will make stopping Wallick extremely difficult.

[79jaybird]

Mugsy, you are right on.  Wallick is one of the best backs I have seen and if not the best, one of the best rb's in the CCIW this year.
I would put him as a Pre-Season All American if I were voting.

[zorbadagreek]

I agree about Wallick. He is a helluva back. It will be interesting to see how they do. Any word on North Park and the new coaching staff? How are the new coaches and recruiting going??

[79jaybird]

 List of Incoming Student-Athlete Football Players

ELMHURST, Ill. - The following student-athletes have made a commitment to attend Elmhurst College next fall where they will also play football for the Bluejays.

2006 Elmhurst College Football Recruits
Position Name Hometown (High School)
OL Seth Bullington Decatur, Ill. (Macarthur)
LB Josh Burr St. Louis, Mo. (Lindbergh)
TE Lex Cisler East Grand Rapids, Mich. (H.S.)
DB Justin Copeland Great Lakes, Ill. (Carmel)
OL Rashad Daviston Chicago, Ill. (Hubbard)
TE Dan Djukic Chicago, Ill. (St. Francis DeSailes)
DB Jordan Edwards Sterling, Ill. (Sterling Newman Catholic)
WR Mitch Holmer Champaign, Ill. (Champaign Central)
WR Graeme Jarrell East Grand Rapids, Mich. (H.S.)
OL Dan Kindle Des Plaines, Ill. (Harper College)
QB Jared Krawczyk Freeport, Ill. (H.S.)
K Tyler Lomnicki Elmhurst, Ill. (York)
WR Matt Long Mt. Pleasant, Mich. (H.S.)
LB Edwin Monarrez Cicero, Ill. (Morton East)
DB Alex Morton Gurnee, Ill. (Warren)
DL Ryan Nugent Manhattan, Ill. (Peotone)
LB Nathan Pater Cicero, Ill. (Iowa Wesleyan)
RB Justin Peacock Elmhurst, Ill. (York)
WR Chad Prieskorn Cloverdale, Calif. (Santa Rosa JC)
RB Jeremy Rivers Matteson, Ill. (Rich Central)
LB Matt Robbins Peotone, Ill. (H.S.)
DL Chris Robinson Fox Lake, Ill. (Grant)
WR Dan Sabock Sycamore, Ill. (H.S.)
DL Demetrios Vrettos  Cicero, Ill. (Morton East)
DL Leon Andre Watkins Covert, Mich. (H.S.)
TE Craig Whitney Carol Stream, Ill. (Glenbard North)
RB David Wilharm Elgin, Ill. (Harper College)
OL Matt Wood Downers Grove, Ill. (Downers Grove North)
DB Cory Woods Prospect Heights, Ill. (Wheeling)
OL Sam Zuponeck Aurora, Ill. (Waubonsie Valley)

Courtesy of Elmhurst College Sports Information
SID Kevin Juday 
 

[Jim Matson]

Wheaton only lists 3 kids from Texas.  Don't they normally have 4 or 5 in the recruiting class?  And I too noticed the heavier Michigan turnout this year.  New Jersey on the other hand is typically our supply for soccer players, not football players...

[Mugsy]

Hiker,
Yes, Wheaton has had 4-5 Texas recruits per year since the mid-90's, so they are a bit thin this year.  However I believe they had 7 from Texas last year.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Hey Matblake:

To answer your question from a few pages back, Hoffman is 8A.  All the MSL West schools are 8A while the MSL East schools are 7A. 

Not all the MSL West schools are 8A. Hoffman's enrollment would put them in 7A. The conference was realigned from North and South to 211 plus Barrington (West) and 214 (East) for the 1999 football season. The 214's thought they were getting dominated by the 211's and a couple threatened to switch to the Suburban Prairie League. So the entire MSL was realigned and the bigger schools were put in the West and the smaller schools were put in the East.

But the football pairings are based on enrollment and Hoffman at 2,360 football enrollment would have been 7A in 2005. Hoffman is the smallest of the 211 schools.

Which has become very surprising - because since the switch to East-West the top East schools are getting the better of the top West schools in the crossovers and Prospect has become a dominant power in 7A and both Meadows and Elk Grove have won games in the 7A tournament as well.

MW