This gets old about HF and leaving nothing. From the Chicago Tribune:
(Lightfoot was on the 02 team as a starter. Eric Steinbach 9 NFL seasons and a starter on 02. Oliver had 57 receptions at Iowa and was on the 01 team and had 18 receptions that year. Johnson played 22 games his fr and senior year 02.
Massaguoi was dismissed from the team. The cupboard was not bare.
Maybe Iowa hired an inexperienced head coach who was 12-21 at his former head coaching gig?
It was quite a year for high school football talent in the Chicago area.
Too bad not much of it plans to stick around.
UCLA came all the way to New Lenox for its quarterback of the future, Lincoln-Way's Cory Paus.
Michigan added Addison Trail's Dan Rumishek and Bolingbrook's Todd Howard to a recruiting class being acknowledged among the top three in the nation.
Penn State landed the No. 1 prospect in Illinois, Waubonsie Valley tight end R.J. Luke.
But Iowa came away with the biggest cache of all in All-Staters Siaka Massaquoi of Evanston and Eric Steinbach of Providence, second-team All-Staters Chris Oliver of Homewood-Flossmoor and Andy Lightfoot of Maine West plus special mention All-Stater D.J. Johnson of Naperville Central and late-blooming John Omotola of H-F.
Recruits will begin signing letters of intent to colleges Wednesday, the first day of the football signing period.
"We did better than we expected," said Iowa assistant coach and ex-Wheaton North and ex-Detroit Lion quarterback Chuck Long. "We knew Chicago would have an excellent recruiting class, and (coach) Hayden Fry made it a high priority."
Fry's down-home approach and the "Hayden hug" won over the Hawkeyes' prime objective, Massaquoi.
"I chose Iowa over Illinois, Michigan, Notre Dame and Northwestern because, well, coach Fry was the only coach who hugged me," said Massaquoi, who rushed for 2,035 yards and 29 touchdowns last fall. "Everyone at Iowa took more of a personal approach. On my visit, the Iowa players were great. It wasn't like I was some little chump coming into their world.
"The coaching staff said to do what's best for me and didn't keep harping on Iowa. It's not how I played, but who I was that seemed to matter. That whole place, you go there and just start smiling. I didn't want to come home after my visit."
The 6-foot-7-inch, 275-pound Lightfoot said a conversation with Massaquoi at a leadership conference helped persuade him to commit to Iowa.
"You could just see it in his face how happy he was to be going to Iowa," Lightfoot said.
"The Iowa coaches told me I was the first part of their recruiting plan and after that, it just snowballed," Massaquoi said. "I'll try to hook up Iowa with all the good players."
Steinbach talked to other top recruits before making his oral commitment in early November.
"It seemed like everyone had Iowa in their top five choices," said the 6-7, 235-pound Steinbach, who led the state with 26 sacks and was also recruited by Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgia Tech and Boston College. "I liked the way they didn't bug you and let you make the decision."
Steinbach's teammate, Providence All-State receiver David Popp, didn't receive a single Division I offer but may wind up as a walk-on at Iowa or Illinois, although Southern Illinois is showing some interest.
"Iowa owned the state of Illinois this year," said Chris Pool of the Great Lakes Recruiting Review in Joliet. "I thought this was a very good recruiting class, and Notre Dame didn't get anyone from Chicago. I guess the mystique just isn't there anymore.
"Ten years ago, if you had a chance to go to Notre Dame, there was no question. Now, I think Michigan has the edge."
While missing out on standouts such as Massaquoi, Steinbach and Luke, the Irish did recruit well nationally. The G & W Report out of Sanatoga, Pa., rates Notre Dame's incoming class third behind UCLA and Michigan. The Fighting Irish were also a finalist with Stanford for Sandburg's 6-5, 285-pound All-State tackle Jeff Roehl.
In Ron Turner's first full recruiting season, the Illinois coach is expected to sign Dunbar All-State running back Rausell Harvey, Schaumburg quarterback Kurt Kittner, Rich East QB Walter Young, running back Antoineo Harris of Bolingbrook and linemen Tony Pashos (6-7, 325) of Lockport, Dave Diehl (6-7, 285) of Brother Rice and Matt Carlton (6-6, 320) from the College of DuPage.
In all, Turner will hand out 23 scholarships in an effort to reverse last fall's 0-11 record.
"This is going to be a drastically different team, and we won't ever go 0-11 again," Turner said. "Our No. 1 concern was speed, and we'll sign four junior-college receivers, a juco cornerback and one other corner (Alonzo Wise of Rock Island). These aren't just guys who can fly--they're athletes who are playmakers.
"Our second biggest need was size and strength on both sides of the line, and we addressed that. In some ways, going 0-11 attracted top athletes who knew they'd become instant starters.
"Iowa got some top guys, but I feel good about our recruiting class. There are always players you'd like to get and don't (Massaquoi and Luke). But there's not much dropoff with the ones we got (Harris and Harvey), and tight end was a low priority."
There are indications Turner is so impressed with Kittner and Young that he might toss the incoming freshmen into the quarterback derby rather than redshirt them.
