Early October 2015 Report

The Jeremiah Tilmon’s recruitment will be intriguing to follow, things look to be flowing smoothly now. The Tilmon clan should be ecstatic about East St. Louis alum Phil Gilbert being at the helm, he has the ability to quarterback all the ins & outs of the process if needed. The 5 who seem to be in strong are: Illinois, Missouri, Purdue, Indiana and North-Carolina.

Illinois State continues to stockpile talent outside of the area, they landed a verbal last week from six foot eight inch Andre Washington out of Dallas, TX, Arlington H.S. Washington thrives as a high-level rebounder, he’s a good athlete who runs the floor exceptionally well. He averaged 22 points per game and 9 boards last season as a junior. This summer he starred on the Adidas circuit with Marcus Smart sponsored club out of Texas. The Redbirds are awaiting a decision from 6-2 point-guard Madison Williams who visited campus over the weekend. He’s a high academic kid out of Augusta, GA. Both players are considered to be highly acclaimed from their respective areas. Both acquisitions would bolster a roster that already possess the most talent of any instate program we have in Illinois.

The trending buzz over in our neighboring state of Iowa had the Hawkeyes landing a verbal from 4 star recruit Tyler Cook. The six foot nine bruiser out of Chaminade H.S. in the St. Louis area. Iowa’s well respected assistant Sherman Dillard utilized some old ties to pull-off the coup with Cook and his family, congrats to Fran and their program. They have one of the better coaching staffs in the Big 10.

Former Loyola Academy grad now assistant coach at Holy Cross Joe Kennedy made his recruiting rounds in the Chicago area in recent days. The former Northwestern & Oregon State assistant made stops at Lake Forest/Loyola Academy/Fenwick/Niles Notre Dame could be next on his trail.

University Illinois at Chicago head coach Steve McClain and his enthusiastic/energetic staff continue to build momentum with some of the finer prospects in the state. This past weekend they had Belleville Althoff’s wiry wing Tarkus Ferguson on official visit along with high-jumping T.F. South forward Brandon Johnson, both considered to be top 10-15 prospects in the 2016 class. The Flames are also heavily involved in Bourbonnais jet quick play-maker Micah Bradford, certainly one of our upper-echelon performers in the 2016 cast.

Eastern Illinois quietly have made inroads in the Chicago area recently, assistant J.R. Reynolds was in viewing De LaSalle’s six foot three silk-smooth George Willbourn Jr. and Bogan’s underrated point-guard Bryce Barnes. The pair Reynolds absolutely loved. I like when Eastern navigates his way up in the Chicago area.

Bethune Cookman assistant Chris Cornelius a Joliet native as well as a former assistant coach at Wisconsin-Green-Bay will come thru the Chicagoland area next week, strolling over to see Willbourn, Barnes, Johnson – Thornwood’s 6-3 Drew Evans; Peoria Central’s DeShawn Jackson and Winnebago’s 6-8 Brandon Suggs. “Corn’s an innovator, he will snag an unheralded prospect out of here. You can bank that one!”