Football: August 2008 Archives

With the first day of practice under their belts Wednesday, The Heat Index sees no better time to start placing your bets (so to speak) on a couple of season openers:

Naperville North vs. Neuqua Valley and Naperville Central at Waubonsie Valley on Aug. 29.

In case you didn't read the blog title, we're talking football here.

Let's get right to it. Who will win and why? Ready, type...

Neuqua Valley wide receiver Josh Schaffer will be playing his college football at Western Michigan, and he told the Kalazmoo Gazette that the family atmosphere at WMU is what convinced him to commit to the Bronocos instead of his other suitors.

Both ESPN.com and Scout.com reported Schaffer's commitment over the weekend.

"I thought about playing my senior year and signing after," said Schaffer, who had interest from Central Michigan and Northern Illinois, among others, but no other offers yet. "But I went up Friday and watched practice. After that, I pretty much knew where I wanted to be.

"Coach Cubit, coach (Mike) Sabock, coach (Mike) Grant, the coaching staff, they made me feel like family. They made me feel at home, and the players are great to be around. It made me want to come to Western Michigan."

Who's Jake Baratz you ask? Good question...

Baratz is a 6-foot-4, 275-pound senior offensive lineman for Naperville North, the defending Class 8A state champs. He was a part-time starter last year and missed four and a half games because of injury.

Even so, he must have assembled enough game tape to lure not only Arizona into a scholarship offer but also Northern Illinois and Miami of Ohio. He finally verbally committed to Arizona on Tuesday night and reported it to edgytim.com on Wednesday, a week before the first day of practice.

In an email to The Sun on Thursday, North coach Larry McKeon said, "He has great potential as an offensive lineman."