Alumni: February 2009 Archives

Any team interested in signing tight end Owen Daniels will have to surrender first- and third-round draft picks if the Houston Texans decline to match the offer. That's protection for the Texans, who on Thursday extended the maximum qualifying offer to Daniels, a third-year restricted free agent and Naperville Central graduate.

Within this recent notebook, Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean reports that there's little movement between the Titans and Justin McCareins, the wide receiver out of Naperville North and Northern Illinois. Wyatt writes of the contract talks:

Meanwhile, the agent for receiver Justin McCareins said it's been quiet so far regarding his conversations with the team.

"Justin really likes it there and is comfortable there,'' agent Cliff Brady said. "He would love to stay and try and leave there with a ring.''

Arizona is a relatively short flight from Chicago, and within days pitchers and catchers will report, giving the city's baseball fans a chance to escape the deep freeze. The White Sox recently moved their spring training facility away from Tucson to Glendale, but the college town is still a draw for transplants.

Bill Bedenbaugh has carved out a nice little niche for himself as the Arizona offensive line/running game coordinator. The Wildcats assistant is from St. Charles and later played at Iowa Wesleyan for Mike Leach, the passing-game savant, lover of pirates and his future boss at Texas Tech.

Part of Bedenbaugh's recruiting territory is Illinois, where he knows several coaches from his playing days. Bedenbaugh helped lure Nick Booth, the former Naperville North running back, out of the College of DuPage. This recruiting cycle Bedenbaugh landed North offensive lineman Jake Baratz. The assistant has also tried to convince Naperville Central wide receiver Riley O'Toole to accept a spot in Tucson as a preferred walk-on.

Over the phone on Wednesday, Bedenbaugh offered this nugget: Outside of Arizona and California, Illinois sends the most students to the university. That's general-population figures, but a specific selling point to recruits is New Year's Day.

"I grew up in that area. And you grow up watching the Big Ten vs. the Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl. Those people in the Midwest are more familiar with the Pac-10 than most parts of the country," Bedenbaugh said. "You grow up watching that and that being the bowl game. You get a feel for the other Pac-10 teams."

One of the points we tried to make in this column was how inexact recruiting is, no matter what the experts say. Perhaps the best example local example is Dan LeFevour, the Benet graduate who was shunned by the Big Ten schools but entered Central Michigan and then the Heisman Trophy conversation. Area coaches should probably keep that unexpected story on file for the next several years.

As it turns out, LeFevour and the Chippewas will open the 2009 season on Sept. 5 at Arizona, a school that is trying to make recruiting inroads in Illinois (more on that later).

By the way, Central Michigan's 34-man recruiting class - including preferred walk-ons - featured just two scholarship players from Illinois: linebackers Kyle Zelinsky (Bartlett) and Alex Smith (Barrington).