COVERITLIVE.COM

9:06

Good morning everyone, and welcome to The Beacon News' LIVE blog, where we're talking National Letter of Intent signings, as well as those athletes going to Divisions II, III and NAIA.

First off, I wanted to give you some insight as to why today's Beacon News featured a player who as of press time last night, is not signing with any college today. And when he does, it'll be NAIA or DIII.

While we can talk national recruiting classes here today, it'd be irresponsible journalism on our part to ignore all of the athletes in the area who are playing college football - regardless of what level of the NCAA those programs play at.

So we're also here to talk about all the local athletes who are moving on, including D1 guys Tim Riley & Jordan Jeffries

9:06	and all the D1-AA; DII; DIII and NAIA guys who have signed up

9:07	as well as the many athletes who have yet to do so

9:07	Here is the story on Pete Kariotis from today's Beacon: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/sports/1412340,2_2_AU04_KARIOTIS_S1.article

9:10	As you could imagine, there is an incredible amount of interest in what's happening today around the country - at least four television networks and countless websites are talking about the next wave of college players

9:10	Thank goodness for cable television - who knows what all these 18-year-olds calling press conferences would have done if no one showed up like a tree falling in the forest...

9:11	although i cant say that - it just hasn't happened in my neck of the woods yet. i guess some superstud could come along and do the hat trick and I'd have to be in attendance...

9:12	Fortunately in this area, we have a lot of humble kids who you have to twist their arm to talk about themselves, so it's been a pleasure covering them all....

9:14	I guess we'll kick off today's live coverage with a rundown of the 15 football programs in our area, so feel free to jump in with any comments and questions...we'll have some polls, pictures and video along the way....

9:16	On a national level - East St. Louis wide receiver Kraig Appleton (who played Geneva in the Class 7A state finals) was one of the first in the country to go back on his word - he burned Ron Zook and Illinois to go to Wisconsin this morning. d'oh!

9:16

9:17	I'll start with some of our smaller programs here in the Beacon coverage area

9:19

Sandwich coach Derek Avery said he has a couple of players looking at the junior college and Division III route.

The Indians made the playoffs for the first time since 2002, but many of its top college-level players were juniors. First team offensive lineman Luke Hallman is one of the players considering DIII schools....

9:21	by the way - other athletes can sign today too - this from my colleague Rick Armstrong who was up nearly as early as I was - Waubonsie Valley's Shakeia Pinnick did sign her national letter of intent for track with Arizona State today. The sprinter/hurdler will focus on heptathlon in college)

9:22

Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said none of his Knights have decided on schools. Almost their entire offense was underclassmen or juniors this past season, and whatever seniors they had on defense were undersized.

Kicker Chris Ott could have generated some interest I'm sure, but soccer is his first love...

9:23	Checked in with Mooseheart coach Gary Urwiler earlier in the week - the Red Ramblers were rebuilding the past year. Look out for Jonell Crump next year however....

9:24	Haven't heard anything out of Plano this year....the Reapers had a "down" year by just making the playoffs after two straight state titles...any news out there, let me know.

9:25

The interesting thing about Plano is/was kicker Kevin Jernigan. Kid was a stud for those state title games, but it was discovered prior to the start of the season that he had used up all of his high school athletic eligibility.

So, one of the best kickers in the state didn't kick this past season.
Apparently, when he had moved to Illinois there was some confusion as to where he attended school prior to, so that was that.

9:26	No news out of East Aurora today, but coach Bill Bryant said there are a couple guys looking at DIII programs....

9:29	Down in Yorkville, Jim Still had some good news for his Foxes program

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