Recently in Recruiting Category

Naperville Central guard Drew Crawford was named to Chicagohoops.com's Top Illinois Class of 2009 Basketball Prospects list on Thursday.

Crawford, who was The Sun's MVP this past season as a junior, is No. 29 on the 30-player list. He is the only player from the DuPage Valley Conference that was included in the rankings dominated by players from Chicago schools.

Warren Township guard Brandon Paul is No. 1 on the list.

Previously Crawford was named as one of "Six players who could break out this spring and summer" by Illinois Prep Bullseye and was ranked No. 20 on the City/Suburban Hoops Report's list of Top 50 College Prospects.

Neuqua Valley senior Jake Blackman told The Heat Index that he will attend Indiana University and play on its men's volleyball club.

The Wildcats outside hitter also made visits to Colorado and Missouri. He wrote in an email to The Heat Index on Thursday that playing for a Big Ten school was the main reason he chose to play for the Hoosiers.

"The main deciding factor was the volleyball team and how it's a big ten team and I can play against my friends from other big ten schools, not to mention I'll get to play my brother who is at Wisconsin Madison," Blackman wrote.

Already on the roster at IU is Naperville North graduate Scott Anerino.

Three local guards have made Division III college basketball decisions. Naperville North's Jake Hasse and Austin Weiss will head to Wisconsin to play for Carthage College and Beloit College, respectively. Waubonsie Valley's Kevin VandenBerg has chosen Aurora University.

Neuqua Valley senior Dan Pawelski will play his college basketball at Loras College, Chicagohoops.com reported on Tuesday.

Head coach Greg Gorton and Loras College have scored a major recruiting coup, and have landed 6-8 Neuqua Valley star Dan Pawelski. Pawelski is coming off of a huge senior season which saw him tabbed as a 4th team All-State selection.

Loras College is a Catholic liberal arts school in Dubuque, Iowa. As a NCAA Division III program, it does not provide athletic scholarships.

The Chicago Tribune cited on Friday an April 18 report on Chicagohoops.com that said Neuqua Valley forward Dwayne Evans now has a scholarship offer from Northern Illinois.

Evans, a 6-5 forward, is a long, athletic and highly mobile player on the basketball court. He is an outstanding rebounder and defender who is equally comfortable offensively both inside, and on the perimeter.

Evans is a prospect who is poised to see his recruiting stock soar this spring and summer on the heels of a strong sophomore season at Neuqua Valley High School.

Naperville North all-state swimmer Jackson Hill told The Sun on Saturday that he signed a national letter of intent to swim at Boston University.

As The Heat Index reported in March, Hill also made visits to Purdue and Michigan State.

Hill said he signed the letter of intent on Wednesday, which was the start of the regular signing period for swimming and diving. Since he put the letter in the mail, BU coach Bill Smyth has not yet received it and could not comment per NCAA rules when reached by email on Saturday.

Naperville Central star Drew Crawford and Waubonsie Valley forward Jelani Johnson were named to the City/Suburban Hoops Report's Top 50 College Prospects list going into the summer.

Crawford, who was The Sun's player of the year as a junior, was ranked No. 20 on the list.

As versatile as they get; makes those around him better.

Johnson was All-City as a junior, and is one of the players The Heat Index thought might next year make the same leap Crawford made from standout to superstar.

The 6-foot-4 forward is No. 38 on the list. The City/Suburban Hoops Report seems to share our opinion of Johnson.

under-the-radar talent just scratching the surface.

So you know, Gurnee Warren guard Brandon Paul is No. 1 on the list. Also, City/Suburban Hoops Report called Downers South guard Malcolm Herron (No. 16), "the most overlooked player right now in Illinois."

Naperville North senior Jon Bunge told The Heat Index on Tuesday night that he visited Orange Coast College last week and that the two-year school in Costa Mesa, Calif, could be where he plays his college volleyball.

Bunge said he hasn't made up his mind where he will go, but a deicsion will be made soon.

"It's getting to that time," Bunge said.

The All-City outside hitter may not know exactly where he wants to play, but he's got a pretty good idea where in general he wants to spend his college years.

"Hopefully I go West Coast," he said.

According to prepvolleyball.com, Waubonsie Valley's Alex Gigler and Naperville Central's Matt Yanz will be teammates next year at Carthage College.

The college recruiting page on the site's message board said the two seniors gave the Division III school in Wisconsin verbal commitments. Both Gigler and Yanz play their club volleyball at Sports Performance.

By Sean Fuchs

Both were runners-up at the swimming and diving state championships last month in Evanston. Both have a decision to make about if they want to continue their athletic careers and where that might happen.

Naperville North's Jackson Hill might end up at Purdue, Boston University or Michigan State.

Neuqua Valley's Chris Murray could end up at Indiana or Southern Illinois.

Through the recruitment of Naperville Central defensive end Josh Jelesky you could identify several big ideas shaping college football right now.

There's an urge to commit early that has flipped the recruiting calendar to junior year. The SEC continues to lure athletes to its deepening talent pool. Once there, how exactly do you defend the spread offense? And in the offseason, will your head coach jump to another program? Through it all new media continues to repackage the game.

And then there's the story of the Nevada high school football player who completely made up his own recruitment, announcing at an assembly that he had accepted a scholarship to California. The only problem being that Cal's staff had never heard of this kid, who filed a police report, claiming he got scammed before finally admitting it was all fiction.

This is where we're at on Feb. 7, 2008. Does Signing Day generate too much hype? Is it good for the sport? Is it fair to these student-athletes?