By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com
In 1804, when President Thomas Jefferson sent the team of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to the Mississippi River to check out the new lands that comprised his Louisiana Purchase, St. Louis came to be known as the "Gateway to the West."
Two-hundred-plus years later, if Lovie Smith's coaching staff is able to continue its bountiful raid of the football-rich talent that resides on either side of the Big Muddy, St. Louis and Metro East might soon be referred to as the University of Illinois's "Gateway to Success."
Nearly a third of UI's 13 scholarship freshmen in 2019 are St. Louisans, including linebacker Shammond Cooper (Trinity Catholic High School), defensive lineman Moses Okpala (Ladue Horton Watkins H.S.), Metro East defensive end Keith Randolph (Belleville West H.S.) and quarterback Isaiah Williams (Trinity Catholic H.S.).
Second-year Illini tight ends coach Cory Patterson, a native of the city and the former head coach at Trinity Catholic, says much is expected from the quartet of St. Louis freshmen.
"We're really excited to have them on campus," Patterson says. "I've known most of these guys for a long time. They're all intelligent, hard-working playmakers, so it wouldn't be crazy to think that they're capable of contributing this year."
Tight ends coach Cory Patterson has helped spearhead an Illini recruiting boom in the St. Louis area, including four members of the 2019 recruiting class – Keith Randolph (left), Isaiah Williams and Shammond Cooper (middle), and Moses Okpala (right).
Patterson is confident that there will be a lot more St. Louis area college prospects in the coming seasons.
"I'd compare St. Louis and Metro East football with anywhere in the country," Patterson said. "These areas have coaches that are doing a great job. Now, the rest of the country is starting to notice. It's becoming a hot bed for recruiting."
Cooper, Okpala, Randolph and Williams are joining seven other St. Louis area products already on the Illini roster. Tony Adams (Jr., St. Louis University H.S.), Stanley Green (Sr., East St. Louis H.S.), Jordan Holmes (So., Columbia H.S.), James Knight (Jr., East St. Louis), Griffin Palmer (Jr., De Smet Jesuit H.S.), Jordyn Slaughter (R-Fr., Althoff Catholic H.S.) and Nick Walker (Jr., Miller Career Academy H.S.) have already been in Champaign-Urbana for a few years.
So, just how important is metropolitan St. Louis to Illini football?
"It's hugely important that we get a stronghold on those areas," Patterson says. "I talked with Coach (Greg) McMahon when he was a recruiter back in the day. St. Louis and Metro East kids lean a lot to us because we're close to home. There's a lot of great talent down there. If we can get them to come here and play at the University of Illinois, we don't have to go far to get some of the top guys."
Over the first 129 seasons of Illini football, St. Louis and Metro East have sent hundreds of football players to Champaign-Urbana, 112 of whom have won at least one varsity letter wearing the Orange and Blue.
On the Illinois side of the Mississippi, the Illini have secured a sizeable number of all-star players. Dating back to the 1890s, high school programs from East St. Louis, Belleville, Alton, Collinsville, Carbondale and Edwardsville have historically contributed the most athletes.
Among ESL alumni, linebacker Dana Howard—the 1994 Butkus Award winner—is the most decorated, but Flyers standouts such as Terry Hawthorne, Dennis Stallings, and Kendrick Jones also were stalwart Illini.
Dana Howard (left) of East St. Louis and Carey Davis (right) of Hazelwood Central are two of the many Illini greats to come from teh St. Louis metro area.
East St. Louis hasn't been the only source of Illini talent. Belleville prep stars who've matriculated to the U of I include Forry Wells, Garrett Johnson and Jason Ford. Carbondale has contributed players like Tony Laster, Mike Waller and Estus Hood. Alton standouts like Lavere "Liz" Astroth, Elmer Hickman and Travis Williams have attended Illinois. And O'Fallon has sent Rodney Byrd, Anthony McClellan and Darius Mosely to play Big Ten football.
Similarly, the list of St. Louis players who've traversed the Eads Bridge to cross into Illinois is a highly talented bunch.
From the 1970s through the '90s, Illinois's St. Louis standouts were plentiful, including Bonji Bonner (Sumner H.S.), Greg Foster (McKinley H.S.), Gary Jurczyk (Normandy H.S.), Calvin Thomas (McKinley H.S.), Darryl Wilson (University City H.S.), Thomas Rooks (Lutheran North H.S.), Craig Schneider (St. Charles Duschene H.S.), Brian Menkhausen (Hazlewood West H.S.), Henry Jones (University H.S.), Quintin Parker (Webster Grove H.S.), Jason Dulick (University H.S.), Robert Crumpton (Hazlewood Central), Neil Rackers (Aquinas-Mercy H.S.) and Jason Eberhart (Mehlville H.S.).
The flow of St. Louisans to Champaign-Urbana in the 21st Century has continued to be steady. The list includes Jamaal Clark (Riverview Gardens H.S.), Jason Davis (Lindbergh H.S.), Nathan Echard (Eureka H.S.), Mark Kornfield (University H.S.), Brian Koch (Francis Howell H.S.), Christian Morton (Riverview Gardens H.S.), Tim Russell (St. Charles H.S.), Brian Schaefering (Hazlewood East H.S.) and many others.
Carey Davis, a product of Hazlewood Central, who lettered at Illinois from 2000-03 then played five seasons in the NFL, glowed about his days on campus.
"It's two-and-a-half hours—three hours at the max—for guys from this area to travel to Champaign-Urbana," said Davis, fullback from 2000-03. "Their families don't have to hop on a plane to see their kids play. The one thing that I learned during all of my years at Illinois is that it's so different from St. Louis. With a mixture of people from Chicago, from Indiana, from different surrounding states, it's a place where I got to experience something new.
"Illinois is a place you imagine when you think about college football. Hanging out on the Quad, going to parties, meeting different kinds of people; the University of Illinois offers all of those kinds of things."
Nowadays, young St. Louisans refer to the U of I as "Littyville."
"Littyville is a name that Thad Ward came up with," Patterson said. "Everyone knows that the University of Illinois is one of the top academic schools in the country, but it's also a place where you can have fun. When you talk about having fun, a lot of young guys call that being 'lit'. That became Littyville. It's caught on and grew legs, so I continue to roll with it."
Patterson says Champaign-Urbana has "some of the nicest people I've ever met."
"Being in Champaign, it's one of the most eye-opening things I've ever experienced," says Patterson. "Everyone is so open and nice. I'm so happy that my family is here. It's a great place to live. It's one of those places where I'm hoping we can win some games and I can stay for a long time."
