Wide receiver
Jordan Westerkamp (Lombard, Ill./Montini Catholic) continues to be one of the most sought after junior prospects in the Midwest. The son of former Illinois wide receiver, Bob Westerkamp, added two more scholarship offers. "Boston College and Minnesota are the latest to offer," said the 6-2, 185-pounder. "I spoke to my recruiting coach (Dave Brock) at Boston College late last week and he told me that they were offering me a scholarship. Minnesota visited my school and then called my head coach (Chris Andreano) and told him that they were going to offer me a scholarship. I'm going to give coach (Jerry) Kill a call tonight." Boston College and Minnesota join Indiana, Bowling Green, Illinois, Iowa and Northwestern as schools that have offered Westerkamp a scholarship.
Taylor's dream schoolsIt's hard to argue the fact that Florida is the most fertile ground for producing football talent. There are already 78 prospects in the Class of 2012 in the sunshine state that have scholarship offers including tight end
Kent Taylor (Land O' Lakes, Fla./Land O' Lakes). Purdue and Cincinnati have offered and so have a few others. "South Florida, Purdue, Cincinnati, Kentucky, North Carolina State, Florida Atlantic, Northwestern and Oregon have offered me a scholarship," said the 6-foot-5, 220-pounder. "At this point, my favorites would be Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Stanford and Texas in no order. Those would be my dream schools."
Coney has some early favoritesLast spring I had the pleasure of watching
Bennie Coney (Plant City, Fla./Plant City) at the Clarkson Dreammaker Camp in Orlando. The 6-2, 205-pound junior held his own and then some against competitors such as
Teddy Bridgewater (Miami, Fla./Northwestern) and
Jacoby Brissett (West Palm Beach, Fla./Dwyer). Coney already has several FBS level scholarship offers. "I have somewhere around 12 offers right now," Coney said. "Auburn, Florida State, Cincinnati, Michigan, Michigan State, Boston College, Purdue, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, South Florida and Texas Tech are the schools I can think of off the top of my head that have offered. I do have some early favorites. I'd love a scholarship offer from Notre Dame. Purdue and Virginia Tech would be in my top five and I also like Texas Tech and Florida State."
Next great Chicago QBRobert Gregory (Chicago, Ill./Simeon) will be the most sought after inner-city signal caller since Demetrius Jones (Morgan Park) and Juice Williams (Chicago Vocational). Gregory put up monster numbers as a junior and was recognized as a standout performer at the Army All-American combine as well as a top performer at the Core 6 Invitational a few weeks ago in Chicago. Gregory is still in search of his first scholarship offer but he has lofty goals. "I grew up watching and idolizing Demetrius (Jones) and Juice (Williams)," said the 6-3, 180-pounder. "I went on visits with those guys to colleges. I want to achieve what those guys achieved and even more. I saw what they did and I know I'm capable of more. I'm open to all schools right now. I'm willing to look at anyone that's interested in me. I've been to a junior day at Iowa and I'm going to Wisconsin (Feb. 26) for their junior day and I also plan on going to Notre Dame in the spring."
Mathewson names favoritesAnother Illinois junior to watch is Luke Mathewson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville). The 6-4, 220-pound defensive end will be a three-year varsity member in 2011. Mathewson recently attended the Core 6 invitational in Chicago and was impressive in his work-out. "I don't have any scholarship offers yet," Mathewson said. "I'm getting all the mail that everyone seems to be getting right now and I've been invited to some junior days. Out of all the schools I'm hearing from, I'd have to say that Northwestern, Colorado State, Missouri, Nebraska, Northern Illinois, Colorado, Boise State, Nevada and Montana would be the schools I'm most interested in." Mathewson missed five games this past season with an injury but still had 26 solo tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.