Josh Maize (DE), Deerfield
Deerfield senior three-star ranked defensive end Josh Maize (6-foot-4, 230 pounds) made his second official visit to UConn this past weekend.
"I had a great visit" Maize said. "Outside of the weather and some flight delays it was a terrific visit and experience for myself and my Mom and Dad at UConn."
Maize, who made his first official visit to Wyoming in November, has yet to set any additional official visits for now.
"I don't have anything set up just yet," Maize said. "It's going to be hard for me to fit in visits. I'm playing in the Blue/Gray All Star game and also the Team USA game so that will take up two weekends in January. That leaves two open weekends in January and one of those weekends falls in the recruiting dead period. I'm considering some mid-week official visits so I'm going to sit down and sort everything out very soon."
Illinois State recruiting
Illinois State head coach Brock Spack was able to secure two impressive in-state verbal commitments earlier this week.
St. Patrick senior wide receiver Andrew Edgar (6-foot-0, 170 pounds) and Freeport outside linebacker/defensive end Zeke Vandenburgh (6-foot-3, 211 pounds) both have given the Redbirds verbal commitments.
"Once Illinois State offered me this morning (Tuesday) it didn't take me long to commit," Edgar said. "Illinois State has been my top school for a long time so it was just a matter of talking it over with my parents after they offered me. It feels great to have an offer and to commit to Illinois State and it's been a wild day."
Vandenburgh, who played outside linebacker for the Pretzels in 2016, was sold on the Redbirds when he made his recent official visit.
"Illinois State was just the best fit for me," Vandenburgh said. "I think I have the best chance at being successful at Illinois State. My official visit really showed me everything that Illinois State has to offer on and off the field so I committed."
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Samson Evans (QB), Prairie Ridge
Prairie Ridge junior quarterback Samson Evans (6-foot-1, 200 pounds) is now up to eight scholarship offers, including ones from Illinois and Iowa State.
"They (scholarship offers) seem to just keep coming," Evans said. "It feels pretty amazing."
Evans now has scholarship offers from Army, Ball State, Central Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Illinois and Syracuse.
Ball State recruiting
Ball State has also been busy in Illinois this week. The Cardinals extended early verbal scholarship offers to several Class of 2018 recruits, including Marist tight end TJ Ivy, Loyola Academy offensive tackle Charlie Gross, Fremd tight end/defensive end Will McCabe, Hinsdale Central tight end Matt Bjorson, Marist defensive lineman Gavin McCabe and Homewood-Flossmooor junior linebacker Mario Wright.
Keyon Blankenbaker (DB), Oak Park-River Forest
Oak Park-River Forest senior defensive back Keyon Blankenbaker (5-foot-10, 170 pounds) gave Wyoming his verbal commitment.
"I made an official visit to Wyoming a few weeks ago," Blankenbaker said. "I loved it on my visit and I pretty much knew after that visit I was ready to commit. I took some time just to give everything some thought and I called up the Wyoming coaches tonight (Tuesday) and committed."
Blankenbaker joins a growing list of Illinois commitments in the Class of 2017 for Wyoming which includes Belleville Althoff wide receiver CJ Coldon, Rochester wide receiver Avante Cox and Brother Rice running back Xazavian Valladay.
Former Illinois and Michigan assistant coach Kurt Mallory recruit the Illinois for the Cowboys and head coach Craig Bohl.