EDGY: Thoughts from the Early Signing Period

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So who came away as winners after yesterday's first ever football Early Signing Day Period, which ends on Friday at 11:59PM?

College Football coaches — The Early Signing Period no question drew even more than expected number of recruits who wound up signing it's Letter of Intent both locally and nationally. Out of my Top 50 Class of 2018 recruits, just 8 names failed to sign a Letter of Intent on Wednesday and only one player (Peoria QB Coran Taylor who is verbally committed to Illinois) was considered a surprise. Taylor, according to Peoria head coach Tim Thornton, is still fully committed to Illinois and is expecting to sign later this week. 

Committed recruits — While several critics of the early signing period made some very valid arguments against the early signing period (added pressure on kids/families to decide earlier) the bottom line is the same recruits and families in the end wanted to wrap up it's recruiting on Wednesday. 

"I'm just sick of recruiting and I couldn't wait to sign today," Marist and Indiana signee tight end TJ Ivy said on Wednesday morning. "It's just a long and drawn out process and I would have signed earlier if they would have let me."

Northern Illinois University — The Huskies and head coach Rod Carey ended up signing 24 players on Wednesday in its 2018 class and landed a very strong class of 14 in-state recruits. The NIU class was led by several headliners including three star ranked Waubonsie Valley WR/TE Charles Robinson, three star ranked Peoria OL Marques Cox plus three star ranked DeLaSalle LB Joe Bonds and Homewood-Flossmoor ATH Justin Hall and the overall strength of the incoming 2018 class is simply the best I've seen for NIU since covering recruiting in the State of Illinois for over 20 years. The Huskies for the most part have already wrapped up its Class of 2018 recruiting class, a huge win for the NIU staff.

Northwestern — The Wildcats as expected benefitted from the Early Signing Period and secured 18 commitments on Wednesday including six in-state names led by four star ranked Lincoln-Way East defensive linemen Devin O'Rourke plus former Glenbard North and IMG Academy three star ranked defensive back Greg Newsome. Northwestern also took a huge step on Wednesday towards wrapping up its Class of 2018.

Illinois State — The biggest question that the Redbirds and head coach Brock Spack had on Wednesday would be how much of an impact could several recent assistant coaching changes would have on it's Class of 2018 recruiting efforts? Illinois State was able to hold onto all of its commitments and signed 20 recruits on Wednesday including 10 in-state names led by St. Charles East safety Clayton Isbell and Lemont wide receiver Austin Nagel.

Southern Illinois University — The Salukis and head coach Nick Hill signed 16 names on Wednesday including 9 in-state names. Besides signing two Chicagoland area names in Cary-Grove OL Brett Groves and Jacobs OL Jimmy Wormsley, the Salukis also fared well in both Central and Southern Illinois. 

Others who fared well in Illinois on Wednesday? 

Iowa added some top level names including Oswego DT Noah Shannon, Prairie Ridge OG Jeff Jenkins and ATH Samson Evans.

Cincinnati and head coach Luke Fickell added four names from Chicagoland including Lyons Township QB Ben Bryant, Simeon wide receiver Jayshon Jackson, Mount Carmel offensive linemen Jeremy Cooper and Glenbard West wide receiver Alec Pierce.

Indiana also signed a nice core of Chicagoland area names including Marist DL Gavin McCabe, Marist TE TJ Ivy plus Brother Rice OL Nick Marozas and Hinsdale Central tight end Matt Bjorson. 

Western Michigan and head coach Tim Lester signed six Chicagoland names to a very strong Broncos class led by Naperville Central WR Jayden Reed, Carmel S Zaire Barnes, Fremd DL Will McCabe plus Rich Central OLB Matthew Stuckey, Niles North P Nick Mihalic and Lakes Community LB Ryan Selig, 

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