By Mike Pearson, FightingIllini.com
Just how vital to the University of Illinois football program have Chicagoland high schools been over the years? Consider these stunning facts:
Of the six Fighting Illini players who've achieved Big Ten Player of the Year honors, five have hailed from Chicagoland.
Of the 12 UI athletes in the College Football Hall of Fame, eight are natives of metro Chicago.
And of the 50 Illini football stars who've been accorded first-team All-America acclaim, 24 had roots in Chicagoland.
The list is a virtual "Who's Who" of college football history. Grabowski, Brosky and Thorp. Mendenhall, Rice and Young. Karras, O'Donnell and Carney. Hundreds upon hundreds of Chicago area natives have played at Memorial Stadium.
Three on that impressive ledger—Alex Agase from Evanston, Red Grange from Wheaton, and Dick Butkus from Chicago—were so outstanding that they were included on the exclusive 1989 Walter Camp Foundation All-Century Team.
Another member of UI's Chicagoland alumni is current Illini running backs coach Mike Bellamy. When he was recruited by Mike White's staff in the late 1980s out of Kenwood High School and the College of DuPage, Bellamy says he and other Chicago Public League stars had their eyes focused on the University of Illinois.
"Back in the day, when myself and Howard Griffith, Mel Agee, Frank Hartley, Kameno Bell, John Wachter and Sean Streeter were all playing against each other in high school, whether you were from the city or the suburbs, Illinois was a destination place," Bellamy said. "Our high school coaches were pushing us to go to Champaign. We, as young men, made the decision that we wanted to be a part of something special."
Bellamy says the Illini cannot survive without the support of Illinois high school football coaches and their programs.
"Regardless if it's Lovie Smith or any previous coach," he says, "the University of Illinois is still the Illinois High School Coaches Association's state team."
Today, Bellamy says, prospect camps are extremely crucial to the success of a college football program and getting the very best players to attend those camps is essential.
"I want the same guys that are currently going to the top five teams in the country," he said. "When we were a top program in Illinois and the Big Ten, those were the players we got. The challenge for us is to recruit those types of players and for them to understand that we're just as good as anyone. Academically, we're comparable to any program out there."
A lack of success in recent seasons has undoubtedly made the job of Illinois's staff more challenging, but Bellamy says that they're attacking that battle head on.
"The kids we're recruiting today were eight years old when Illinois was successful," Bellamy said. "They haven't seen Illinois have the success that we always talk about. Their memories only go back two or three years ago. The only Big Ten team I lost to when I was playing was Michigan, but these kids wouldn't believe that. They find it hard to believe that we had a number one NFL Draft pick, a number two pick, a number three pick, and Butkus Award winners. Lately, we've been playing against the same kids that we want to play with."
"I tell the Chicago kids that they can go to Alabama and win the national championship, yet no one would know their name," Bellamy said. "But if you come to Illinois and go to a bowl game, everyone will know who you are. To me, there's nothing better than that. I know the importance of guys who want to be a part of something special."
Offensive coordinator Rod Smith says that it behooves the Illini coaching staff to mend some relationships with coaches and "fix bridges that might have been burned."
"Lovie Smith is a guy who can definitely do that," Smith said. "Are there things we can do better? Absolutely! The longer I'm here, the more I learn. When I listen to the concerns of head coaches up in Chicago, I learn a lot. We take very seriously what they tell us, good and bad. We want to rectify some things that maybe weren't as good last year, then add to the things that they thought we did well. Maybe we need to add more traveling clinics in Chicago and cater to those guys a little bit more. We have to do a little bit extra to fix some of those potholes that were created in the past. Saying that, I think we did a good job this year of identifying kids from Chicagoland, then going after them. We were more proactive than reactive."
Three talented Chicagoland rookies—Montini Catholic running back Nick Fedanzo, Brother Rice offensive lineman Evan Kirts and Phillips' defensive back Joseph Thompson—were on campus this summer working out with their teammates and are currently learning the ropes during Fall camp.
The trio joins 27 veteran Windy City area alums on the 2019 squad, including: Nolan Bernat (DB, Bartlett), Christian Bobak (DB, Hinsdale Central), Dre Brown (RB, DeKalb), Verdis Brown (OL, IMG Academy), Sean Coghlan (LB, St. Rita), Thomas Cronin (OL, Oak Park River Forest), Mark Di Iorio (LB, Barrington), Kurt Gavin (OL, Lincoln-Way East), Aidan Hall (LS, Benet Academy), Matthew Judd (WR, Lincoln-Way East), Doug Kramer (OL, Hinsdale Central), Conner Lillig (RB, Fenwick), Michael Marchese (DB, Stevenson), Alec McEachern (LB, Benet Academy), Jamal Milan (DL, Al Raby), Cam Miller (QB, Brother Rice), Marc Mondesir (LB, St. Rita), Donny Navarro (WR, Neuqua Valley), Lere Oladipo (DL, Huntley), Alex Palczewski (OL, Prospect), Alex Pihlstrom (TE, Glenbard West), Caleb Reams (WR, Warren Township), Ricky Smalling (WR, Phillips), Kendall Smith (DB, Bolingbrook), Jake Stover (OL, St. Rita), Ethan Tabel (LS, Barrington) and Bobby Walker (TE, Loyola Academy).Â
"There's a lot of talent in Chicago," Smith said. "It's recruited by everybody, so that speaks for itself. The more we get kids on campus, we can sell the university and ourselves. Kids feel at home here. It feels like a second home. The tide will turn. We have to have the same kind of uptick in Chicago that we've had in St. Louis."
Smith says that future success of the Illini Chicagolanders is much more than victories on the field and walking across the stage at Commencement. It's all about the Orange and Blue connection with nearly 166,000 other UI alumni who still reside in Cook, DuPage, Will, Kane, DeKalb, McHenry, Kendall and McHenry counties. Nearly fifty percent of the University of Illinois's 470,000-plus living alumni reside in the state and they love hiring fellow Illini.
"A degree from Illinois opens up a plethora of networking," Smith said. "Whether it be in the Chicago area or anywhere else, there are former Illini in the business world who are going to be connected with you. It's a huge selling point for us when we talk to recruits."
Bellamy takes the Illinois connection yet another step.
"What better place to play than the state that has his name on his birth certificate and drivers license," he said. "Guys who were in my wedding were all from Illinois. These relationships go from four years to forty years. When guys talk about playing together, why wouldn't you want to do it in front of your family and where you can be local heroes? I've never regretted my decision to come to the University of Illinois."
