More Early Recruitin'

Here is Tom Lemming's Top 30 Area Football Players in the Class of 2009:

Red is interested in NIU
Bold is used to be interested in NIU and verballed to another school.

No. Player, School, Pos., Ht., Wt.

1 Craig Drummond, Morgan Park, DE, 6-5, 245
2 Chris Watt, Glenbard West, OL, 6-4, 275
3 Jon Budmayr, Marian Central, QB, 6-1, 185 (Wisconsin Verbal)
4 Evan Watkins, Glenbard North, QB, 6-6, 225 (Northwestern Verbal)
5 Pat Ward, Providence, OL, 6-7, 270 (NIU Offer)
6 Mike Schofield, Carl Sandburg, OL, 6-7, 275 (Michigan Verbal)
7 Lendell Buckner, Leo, DL, 6-2, 320 (Illinois Verbal)
8 Leon Hill, Leo, OL, 6-4, 320 (Illinois Verbal)
9 Mike Buchanan, Homewood-Flossmoor, DE, 6-6, 225
10 Charlie Goro, Maine South, QB, 6-3, 182
11 Sean Cascarano, Glenbrook South, OL, 6-6, 260 (Virginia Verbal)
12 Darren Jones, Thornton, QB 6-3, 195
13 Mike Trumpy, Wheaton North, RB, 6-0, 197 (Northwestern Verbal)
14 Darius Moffett, Hubbard, LB, 6-3, 225
15 Anthony Wells, North Chicago, DE, 6-2, 229
16 Shaun Pratl, Richards, TE, 6-7, 215
17 Dominique Bell, Morgan Park, RB, 6-1, 190
18 Jake Juriga, St. Charles North, LB, 6-3, 205
19 Jamal Gray, Thornton, WR, 6-3, 190
20 Cody O’Neill, Marian Central, OL, 6-2, 294
21 Kyle Zelinsky, Bartlett, LB, 6-2, 220
22 Demitrius Carr, Mount Carmel, DB, 6-1, 200
23 Gus Handler, Barrington, OL, 6-3, 265
24 Marty Hopkins, St. Rita, LB, 6-3, 230 (NIU Offer)
25 Jordan Roberts, Aurora Christian, QB, 6-1, 205
26 Austin Baker, Driscoll, TE, 6-5, 210
27 Scott Covert, Lake Forest, DL, 6-3, 235
28 Darwin Rogers, Leo, QB, 6-4, 205
29 Jack Baucus, Carmel, TE, 6-6, 233 (Arizona Verbal)
30 Alex Smith, Barrington, LB, 6-2, 225

As you can see, I think we have a good chance at getting a few commits from the latter part of that list, while the Big 10/BCS schools take most of the top 15 or so.