(This article originally appeared on www.orangeandbluenews.com.)
An Illini recruit preparing to sign next week still can't believe he is part of such a heralded class of athletes.
"It's kind of crazy that I could be a part of something ranked so highly in the nation," said Steve Matas, a 6-foot-5, 275-pound defensive lineman from Mentor, Ohio. "Its very exciting. I'm just astonished by that."
Matas pledged his services to Ron Zook's Illini in October, but despite his relative early commitment, he told OrangeandBlueNews.com that the recruiting derby was a bit long for his liking.
"It started out extremely fun, you know, I got a whole lot of opportunities to talk to people I wouldn't have otherwise," Matas said. "But it started to get strenuous when coaches were allowed to call often, and during the heavy period, I'd be trying to sleep or do homework and just be getting bombarded by calls."
Eventually, of course, Matas chose Champaign as his collegiate decision and, like many Illini recruits from the class of 2007, he said Ron Zook's character was the key reason in landing his signature next week.
"A lot of other coaches were just alright, kind of stiff almost, like they didn't want you to see what they were really thinking," said Matas. "Illinois was kind of like: 'this is us. This is who we are.' They were very friendly and made me feel like a part of the program. I liked the personality of Coach Zook, Coach Sims and Coach Warinner. The players and the coaches really made me feel like I wanted to be a part of what they were doing."
According to Matas, the defining moment in his commitment came when he attended the Illinois vs. Ohio contest early in the 2007 campaign. The attitude of the players, coaches he met and buzz around the team that day was enough to convince Matas, a likely candidate to qualify for the Ohio State Wrestling Tournament at heavyweight, to sign with Illinois.
No comments:
Post a Comment