Illini well-stocked at QB after signing day

In a recruiting class experts don’t label as successful, Illinois can be happy with at least one position — quarterback.

Rivals.com four-star recruit Chandler Whitmer was the second commitment of the 2010 class when he pledged to the Illini last May, and the Illini picked up a three-star prospect in Mt. Prospect’s Miles Osei in mid-January.

Whitmer has a head start on his fellow classmates, as he is enrolled in classes this spring. Learning the playbook is one of the top priorities for the Kinesiology major.

“I tell people that my toughest subject right now is football,” the Downers Grove, Ill., native said.

Considered a smaller quarterback at 6-foot-1, Whitmer looks up to a former Big Ten quarterback who will be playing Sunday.

“I try to model my game after Drew Brees,” he said. “He’s one of the smaller quarterbacks, and I look up to him for that. He’s keeping the reputation up that smaller quarterbacks can play as well. I also idolize him as a person, he’s great in the community.”

Osei had previously committed to Northern Illinois, but Illinois offered him a scholarship with a possibility of Eddie McGee permanently switching positions from quarterback to receiver.

“I thought it was important for us to sign another quarterback,” head coach Ron Zook said, after previously telling Whitmer he’d only sign one.

“I called Chandler, and I said ‘I know this is what we said, but this is the reason why I think we need to look at another guy.’ We looked at a bunch of guys. Coach (Jeff) Brohm and coach (Paul) Petrino and I were in there watching.”

Known as a dual-threat quarterback, Osei passed for 4,498 yards and 38 touchdowns and ran for 2,426 yards and 39 touchdowns in his final two years in high school.

Zook, though, was as impressed with the lefty’s reputation as he was with his statistics.

“Everybody in that school was in love with him,” Zook said. “The principal came up to me and talked to me because he wanted to talk about what type of person he is. He’s a winner, he’s a competitor, he gets things done.”

Prosch stays with Illini

Jay Prosch, a fullback from Mobile, Ala., committed to Illinois three days before signing day, but that didn’t stop other schools from recruiting him.

“This is a story that would probably never get out,” Zook said. “We couldn’t figure out why he was so tired this morning, and I couldn’t figure out why. I figured out why this morning — he was getting pounded by another school this morning.”

While he played on offense in high school, the 6-foot-3, 245-pound Prosch will likely play on the defensive side of the ball.

“I think he’s going to be a guy that’ll surprise some people,” Zook said.

Negative media?

Zook didn’t hold any back punches when addressing the media Wednesday.

While he answered a few questions about negative recruiting, he also blamed the press for any negative perceptions about his Illini team.

“It’s incredibly hard, because of everything that people write,” he said. “People don’t even have to say anything, they can just take things that people write and put it in front of them. Obviously you’re defending your manhood, you’re defending everything about you every time you go out there,” Zook said.