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Buckeye state of disbelief
CHAMPAIGN - In many ways, the word used earlier this week in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer to describe Illini head football coach Ron Zook was the ultimate compliment.
"Poacher!"
It was used in a story that documented Illinois' aggressive recruiting throughout the state of Ohio, putting the Ohio State Buckeyes on the defensive and making fans, no doubt, somewhat aghast that a Johnny-come-lately like Illinois would have the audacity to think any athlete good enough to play for the beloved Buckeyes would dare consider playing for the Illini.
Turns out that's exactly what Zook and his coaching staff believe, and when wide receiver Cordale Scott arrives this summer from Cleveland Glenville, they'll be welcoming a player Ohio State tried to lure with its own scholarship.
The push continues as Illinois makes contact with Ohio prep stars, hoping to establish early relationships and get them thinking about playing for an Illini team that beat Ohio State 28-21 last November in Columbus.
Zook laughed Thursday as the keynote speaker at the Community Leader's Breakfast at the Decatur Conference Center & Hotel when he thought about the Plain Dealer story, which he said included a picture of himself and one of Ohio State coach Jim Tressel.
"They called me a poacher," Zook said, sounding almost proud of the label. "That used to be Michigan."
If Illinois now occupies the thorn-in-the-side status Michigan once held, that's already a major victory for the Illini.
What it represents is further proof that Zook and his coaching staff will go anywhere to secure the services of an athlete that can help Illinois climb to the top of the Big Ten Conference and that, in the process, they've got no problem shaking up the status quo.
That's why when Zook was finished with his talk Thursday morning, he was jumping a plane to Washington, D.C., where he, offensive coordinator Mike Locksley and two assistants were presenting a clinic to area high school coaches.
Illinois approaches recruiting like a prospector approaches a gold mine.
Zook mines shafts he's familiar with and he starts with the best in-state players in Illinois.
Funny, but when Ohio State or Michigan or Notre Dame come into Illinois to recruit a top prospect, it's rarely called poaching. It's called wise recruiting, and Zook understands there will be fierce competition for the best in-state kids.
Illinois does not have a birthright to Illini prep standouts. But neither does Ohio State in the Buckeye state. And neither does Notre Dame in every state in the union, a phenomenon I'm still not sure coach Charlie Weis understands.
Beyond the Land of Lincoln, Zook and his staff have solid relationships established in the greater Washington, D.C. area, in Florida, and in Zook's home state of Ohio.
Knowing the program needed an urgent upgrade of talent, Zook and his staff stormed into those areas and beat the bushes hard. This fall, there will be 15 players from the greater D.C. area on the Illini roster, 11 from Florida and 12 from Ohio.
That doesn't mean the Buckeyes would have taken all 12 of the Ohio players, but it does appear at last some of them could have helped the in-state power.
Illinois' ascent from near the bottom of the Big Ten to the Rose Bowl has taken three seasons under Zook and as he told a crowd of nearly 1,000 Thursday, there is still much work to be done.
Most of Illinois' blue-chip talent is still young and if you want to know why Southern Cal whipped the Illini 49-17 in the Rose Bowl, look at the results of last week's NFL Draft.
The Illini had one player (Rashard Mendenhall) drafted. Southern Cal had 10, including seven in the first two rounds. Southern Cal long ago turned a corner the Illini are just approaching.
There will come a day very soon when the NFL draft will be dotted with Illini players and it will signal a team growing into its role as a college football force. And Zook has no problem with the notion that some of those players will have been "poached" from Ohio.
Mark Tupper can be reached at mtupper@herald-review.com or 421-7983.
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