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Xavier Silas was the most excited to finally become eligible for Northern Illinois after sitting out last season, but sophomore point guard Mike DiNunno wasn't far behind.

DiNunno knew exactly what Silas, a junior shooting guard who transferred from Colorado, could mean for him and the Huskies. For one, Silas would quickly add to DiNunno's assist total, and, more importantly, he would give Northern Illinois an instant advantage in the Mid-American Conference.

Both have been true.

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When I called Pat Fitzgerald the grinch of signing day, he politely demurred. And then he got rolling.

"I don't think I'm the grinch," he said the day after mocking the whole signing day hullabaloo in media reports. "I just think we should cut to the chase about what yesterday was really about.

"It's about young men solidifying their future," he said during a phone conversation from Columbus, Ohio, where he and his staff were speaking at a coaches convention. "We're overhyping the wrong things. ... We're glorifying the committing and recommitting and the hat dances. What are we doing?"

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NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- When Brian Kelly was introduced as head football coach at Notre Dame in December, he worked Irish Nation into a foaming-at-the-mouth frenzy with a spirited news conference. On signing day, he tried to temper moonstruck expectations while celebrating a quality recruiting effort.

An abbreviated courtship with the nation's top prep talent yielded Kelly and Co. a 2010 class ranked 21st by ESPN.com. It was a solid first at-bat. But even the hubris-fueled Kelly humbly acknowledged it wasn't a home run. Fact is, this is exactly what he expected when he inherited a program in severe need of a spit-shine.

"You need time to recruit," Kelly said Wednesday. "You need success if you want to be able to continue to recruit the very best. Clearly, we did not have either one on our side this time. We will. So the proof of our work as a staff and ultimately how I'll be judged is going to be down the road with this class, but more importantly next year's class as well."

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Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald was a traveling man in January. He and his assistants bounced from California to Florida checking on their recruits during the month.

Worn out by traveling when Wednesday's national signing day finally arrived, Fitzgerald stated during his news conference to announce the program's new class that he wished the NCAA would move forward the signing period. While some coaches have the luxury of traveling little to make sure their commitments are still secure as new staffs try to swoop in and steal players, Fitzgerald had 17 players in 10 states to keep tabs on.

"I believe we should have an early signing day," Fitzgerald said. "I believe it should be the same time as when the junior college signing day is in December. Twelve of our 17 recruits were committed verbally before that day. It sure would have saved our university a lot of money.

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Wheaton North senior Taylor Graham never felt obligated to play football, become a quarterback or commit to Ohio State because his father, Kent Graham, once did all those things.

No, Graham chose those paths because that's what he sought for himself.

"He's always told me if I love football, that's what I should do," Graham said. "If not, there's no problem with that. I have to do whatever I love and do it to my fullest. It turned out to be football."

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Olympia quarterback Trevor Siemian and wide receiver Rashad Lawrence never planned on attending the same college, especially one in the Midwest.

Not that they don't get along -- they have been friends since seventh grade -- but it never crossed their minds.

Each was focused on his own recruiting journey.

It was Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald's idea to put them on the same path. With Olympia (Orlando, Fla.) High School possessing a quarterback and wide receiver capable of playing in the Big Ten, it only made sense for the Wildcats to recruit them as a package.

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If Fremd senior offensive lineman Christian Lombard doesn't end up in the NFL, his high school coach, Michael Donatucci, believes he could pen a self-help guide.

"He should write a book on how to handle the recruiting process," Donatucci said.

Lombard's recruiting story is the opposite of most you hear these days. From the start, Lombard knew what he wanted -- high-end academics along with a solid football program. He also decided early he was going to end his recruitment early. He wasn't going to prolong it for extra attention. When he found his criteria in Notre Dame, Lombard ceased his recruiting in January 2009 and committed. He also didn't need to put "strong" or "soft" beside his verbal. Once he decided on Notre Dame, he was going to Notre Dame. End of story.

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GENEVA, Ill. -- The reality of his college football future struck Geneva defensive tackle Frank Boenzi before his senior year.

Boenzi had always assumed he was fated for the Big Ten. He had a Big Ten body and Big Ten ability -- as Geneva coach Rob Wicinski put it, "He has the unique body control of a 200-pounder in a 300-pound body."

The problem has never been his skill. Big Ten schools did want the 6-foot-3, 320-pound Boenzi, as they knew he has the makings of menacing defensive tackle at the next level. They just weren't so eager to have him as a student.

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Prospect quarterback Miles Osei expressed relief when he committed to Northern Illinois in December. He had taken his time with his decision, so he was confident the Huskies were the best available fit for him as a school and as a football program.

For Northern Illinois, it was also a key commitment. Osei was sought by a number of MAC teams that all saw the same thing: a future 6-foot-2 dual-threat star.

Then Illinois stepped in and complicated everything.

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Junior Mike Stovall arrived at DePaul this season believing he was recruited to be a point guard, so that was the way he played.

With his quickness, Stovall had an easy time flying past defenders and getting into the lane. Once there, Stovall felt obligated to distribute the ball to his teammates. That is what point guards are supposed to do, Stovall thought.

The problem was, his passes weren't hitting their intended targets.

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Unlike Arthur Agee, Jonathan Peoples wasn't forced to dodge the ever-present dangers of Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing projects. Different than William Gates, Peoples struggled little in the classroom.

There were no long commutes from the inner city to St. Joseph High School in Westchester to endure for Peoples, who grew up just a few miles away in the western suburb of Bellwood.

But similar to Gates and Agee, whose professional basketball aspirations while playing for legendary St. Joe coach Gene Pingatore served as the premise for the 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams," a poverty-stricken Peoples was equally consumed by a desire to reach the NBA and change his empty-handed family's future forever.

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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern coach Bill Carmody always has pointed to the Big Ten as being a long road whenever someone has brought up the importance of individual games.

His simple answer has been that every game is significant in the Big Ten, and he repeated that heading into Saturday's home game with Illinois.

"We've played six games in conference, there's 18 [total games] and then there's a tournament," Carmody said before practice on Thursday. "Every game is very, very important. Everyone is in the mix. You have Michigan State and Wisconsin, and everybody else has two, three, four losses. You have to wait a little longer to know."

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