Chicago’s western suburbs played host to a sort of “high school crawl” for college football coaches Wednesday, with talent evaluators shuttling from one DuKane Conference football field to the next in search of recruits.
Conference coaches, led by St. Charles North’s Robert Pomazak, started the eight-school event — called “DuKane Day” — a few years ago in an effort to get more eyes on their players amid an increasingly challenging high school recruiting scene.
Coaches from more than 60 colleges at all levels attended to see players work out, chat with them and obtain their information from high school coaches. Pomazak said the day, which was modeled after a similar showcase in Indianapolis, is “a one-stop shop within our conference for them to see upward of 200 to 300 kids, which the coaches find very advantageous because the travel is pretty rigorous.”
Other high schools and conferences around the Chicago area are fielding similar events — or hoping to — as they look for new ways to promote their recruits.
“This allows us to promote our conference, which is important, but also promote every player within our program, not just the blue-chip athlete,” Pomazak said. “Because the majority of kids who go to college to play football are not Division I scholarship athletes.”
The NCAA transfer portal and this year’s uncertainty about Division I roster limits have changed the recruiting game for high school athletes — and the coaches who try to set them on the best college path.
The Football Bowl Subdivision saw 2,902 players transfer to new schools last year through July 2024, and 1,395 Football Championship Subdivision players transferred in that time, according to NCAA records. The biggest programs’ recruiting attention — and offers of roster spots — often is swayed toward…
Source link : https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/13/high-school-football-recruiting-showcases/
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Publish date : 2025-05-14 09:30:00
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