ESPN

CHICAGO – Snoop Dogg’s passion for USC football is undeniable, but who knew his fandom went as far following the Trojans’ recruiting?

After Snoop Dogg threw out a first pitch for the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Park on Thursday, he didn’t blink when he was asked about recent USC commitment Ty Isaac, a junior running back at Chicago-suburban Joliet Catholic Academy.

“I heard about him,” Snoop Dogg said. “Isaac. That’s a great pick up for SC. It’s tailback university. I heard he’s a great running back. That’s a great fit for him, you know what I’m saying. Coming into that tradition, take him to the next level really fast.”

Isaac was surprised to hear Snoop Dogg knew his name.

“That’s tight him knowing who I am,” Isaac said by phone.

Isaac, who is 6-2 and 215 pounds, recently chose the Trojans over Michigan and Auburn. He was the 2011 ESPNChicago.com Offensive Player of the Year and is ranked No. 68 in the ESPNU 150.

Isaac rushed for 2,629 yards and 41 touchdowns on 203 carries and caught 16 passes for 369 yards and six touchdowns during his junior season. He rushed for a state-record 515 yards and six touchdowns in a 70-45 loss to Montini in the Class 5A state championship.

Simeon junior forward Jabari Parker, ESPN’s No. 1 ranked Class of 2013 player, is featured on Sports Illustrated’s most recent cover and is deemed “the best high school basketball player since LeBron James.”

Parker joins James and Sebastian Telfair as the lone high school basketball players to be featured on Sports Illustrated’s cover in the past decade. Kevin Garnett also made the cover when he was a senior at Farragut High School in Chicago in 1996.

In Sports Illustrated’s article, Parker talks about his Mormon faith and being torn on whether to go on a mission when he turns 19.

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Marshall senior guard Milton Doyle was prepared to commit to Kansas on Tuesday, but he was told to hold off because the Jayhawks are still waiting on the status of other recruits, Doyle’s mother said.

Doyle, a 6-foot-4 guard, made an official visit to Kansas on Monday and Tuesday and is set to return to Chicago on Tuesday night. He met with Kansas coach Bill Self on Tuesday afternoon.

“They told him they were waiting on other recruits and whether they would qualify,” Doyle’s mother Lisa Green said. “He’s disappointed. We have no choice but to wait because it’s late in the game. They told him they’ll let him know by Friday. We will be talking to other schools.”

Doyle previously signed with Florida International, but he was let out of his letter of intent after the school fired coach Isiah Thomas. Doyle averaged 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists while playing in the Chicago Public League his senior season.

“This is the school of his dreams,” Green said of Kansas. “He dreamed about Duke, Kansas and Kentucky.”

Doyle flew under the radar for much of his high school basketball career. He attended Tilden his first two years and then transferred to Marshall. He broke his wrist and did not play his junior season. He also didn’t play the summer club circuit prior to his senior season.

Joliet Catholic junior running back Ty Isaac committed to USC on Tuesday, his father said.

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St. Rita freshman guard Charles Matthews awoke to a phone call from his high school coach notifying he had been offered by DePaul and Illinois on Tuesday.

Matthews stayed home from school Tuesday because he wasn’t feeling well and had already missed one call from St. Rita coach Gary DeCesare before he was finally reached with the news.

“It was such a blessing,” said Matthews, a 6-foot-4 guard. “It’s truly an honor and a blessing to be offered these opportunities. I’m just a freshman, and I have three scholarship offers. I’m grateful.”

Matthews previously was offered by Arizona in April. DePaul and Illinois watched Matthews while he played with MeanStreets, a club team, during the April recruiting period.

“You always want to have an in-state school on your list,” Matthews said of the two offers. “My doors are going to be open to both of those schools in the long run.”

Matthews didn’t anticipate jumping on any of the offers soon. He said he has seen too many players make mistakes with early commitments.

“I’m going to take my time to look it over,” Matthews said. “I’m not going to rush into it. I notice a lot of people de-committing after they commit early. I don’t want to be one of those people to go back and forth with my college decision. I want to make a firm decision that I’m comfortable with.”

DeCesare, who was previously a Division I assistant coach, has mixed feelings about Matthews’ offers.

“I don’t think I believe in the system offering kids so early,” DeCesare said. “Who knows who’s going to be there three years from now? But I guess it’s a necessary evil because they look at who’s being offered.”

Matthews started for St. Rita’s varsity team as a freshman and averaged nine points and six rebounds.

“I think he’s got great versatility,” DeCesare said. “He could play in high school at all five positions. I think he could be an off-guard in college. I think he could be a point guard. He’s got great size to him. His size for a freshman to be a 6-4, 6-5 and handle the ball is obviously a huge plus for anybody.”

The National Federation of State High Schools announced Tuesday its basketball rules committee voted against the addition of a shot clock for its 18,000 basketball-playing schools, which includes Illinois. A shot clock is used some states, including California and New York.

“In addition to the fact that there is some concern about the costs associated with the use of a shot clock, the committee also expressed a belief that the game is typically played with an up-tempo style even without a shot clock,” NFHS director of performing arts and sports Kent Summers said in a statement. “In addition, the committee believes that coaches should have the option of a slower-paced game if they believe it makes their team more competitive in specific situations. This could be especially true for smaller schools with limited budgets, which comprise a significant number of the 18,000 basketball-playing schools. Since the NFHS writes rules for all sizes of schools and teams, it has to consider what is best for the masses.”

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Just because we traditionally have posted our final rankings of the recruiting-relevant class (rising seniors) in August doesn't mean we forget the seniors and just focus on the underclassmen.

During the fall club tournaments and high school girls' basketball season, the seniors are difficult to ignore. They are the leaders, a step away from college careers, and typically the best players on the nation's best teams. As we follow the high school season closely, it's impossible not to notice them.

It's just that we've never felt moved enough to do anything about what we witnessed -- until now. Call this first-ever spring tweaking of the 2012 class rankings the "Jonquel Adjustment" because it was the 6-foot-3 Jones' season at Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.) that opened our eyes to the necessity of making changes that reflect a new reality.

Let's be clear: While some may rank based on performance (number of points scored in a game or tournament, for example), we find performance to be beholden to so many variables as to be an unreliable predictor of success at the next level. Performance is not why we are making changes -- or ranked a player where we did in the first place. We are making changes because of attributes (physical, mental or attitudinal) that either were revealed or clarified.

We also only wanted to make adjustments that were substantial and clear-cut, so we settled on five.

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Even though Hillcrest senior Jayon’e Troutman witnessed Ryan Royall killed by a stray bullet in June of 2011, it took Troutman months to realize his close friend and high school basketball teammate was truly gone.

“I was in disbelief for two months,” Troutman said on Thursday. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Nearly a year has passed since Royall’s death, but Troutman hasn’t forgotten Royall. Troutman’s mission is to keep his friend’s memory alive, and the Chicago United Hoops Classic, an annual Chicago-area all-star game, will help his cause on Saturday.

All of the game’s participants, which include Troutman, are required to sign the Norm Van Lier Scholarship Fund non-violence pledge, a 125-word document vowing to avoid fighting with weapons, fists or language and declare, “The violence stops with me.”

“Norman could not stand the fact that so many kids were in harm’s way in their own neighborhoods where bullets fly frequently,” said Susan Van Lier, the wife of the late Norm Van Lier, a former Chicago Bulls player and television commentator. “We are trying to create a new generation of leaders who believe violence should be eliminated.”

The game will be held at the University of Chicago’s Gerald Ratner Athletic Center at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The annual game is a primary funding source for the Norm Van Lier Scholarship Fund.

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Bolingbrook junior quarterback Aaron Bailey committed to Illinois on Thursday, according to his high school coach.

Bailey, who is 6-2 and 216 pounds, is ranked the No. 37 athlete in the Class of 2013 and the 11th best recruit in Illinois by ESPN Recruiting.

Bailey was recruited by a number of other schools an athlete and not a quarterback.

“He wanted a chance to play quarterback,” Bolingbrook coach John Ivlow said. “That’s something Illinois saw him as. Other people projected him as a wide receiver, defensive back, this and that.

“People who think he’s can’t play quarterback don’t know him. They don’t know anything. They can ask anyone we play against. We run the ball 85 percent of the time. Trust me, he can throw it.”

Bailey was 58-of-131 passing for 1,039 yards, seven interceptions and 10 touchdowns last season. He also rushed for 1,983 yards and 30 touchdowns on 257 carries.

Bailey, who was an ESPNChicago.com all-area selection, led Bolingbrook to the 2011 Class 8A state championship. He threw 140 yards and rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns in the state title game.

The Illini now have five Class of 2013 commitments, including three from in-state.

Nearly 30 years after his death, Ben Wilson’s name still resonates in Chicago. Now it will ring out nationwide.

“Benji,” which debuted April 21 at the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival (part of the larger 11th TriBeCa fest), is the first feature film from Coodie & Chike, the team responsible for -- among many others -- Kanye West’s “Through the Wire” music video. In “Benji,” the duo has assembled an impressive collection of friends, family members, writers and celebrities to tell Wilson’s story.

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Naperville North junior offensive lineman Colin Goebel has committed to Iowa, according to his high school coach.

Goebel, who is 6-4 and 275 pounds, committed to the Hawkeyes while making a visit to the school on Saturday, according to Naperville North coach Sean Drendel.

“His recruiting process went pretty quick,” Drendel said on Sunday. “He visited a few different schools. He really went out to Iowa and fell in love with [head coach] Kirk Ferentz and [offensive line coach] Brian Ferentz. They were the first big school to offer him.

“He’s a great point-of-attack blocker, who has good feet, very physical, pretty physically mature. I know they’re going to make him an outstanding player.”

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Chicago’s King High School has always been touted for its basketball history.

From Marcus Liberty to Rashard Griffith to Leon Smith to Thomas Hamilton to Jamie Brandon to Imari Sawyer, the list of basketball stars to come through the Chicago South Side school has been plentiful.

King’s football program is a different story. It isn’t nearly as known, but Jeff Allen plans to change that.
Allen, who graduated from King in 2008 and started four years on the offensive line at Illinois, is expected to be selected somewhere in the opening rounds of the NFL draft next week.

“We have had some decent players from our high school program go onto college,” Allen said of King. “We just haven’t had any great players. That would be an honor for me. We’ve had some great players throughout time, but they obviously played basketball. To be included in the same sentence with them would be an honor.”

Always one of the bigger kids growing up, Allen gravitated toward football at an early age. His dreams of the NFL started not too long after he began playing when he was 9 years old.

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The Illinois High School Association board announced Tuesday it will decide at its June meeting between three sites to host the state football finals in odd years beginning in 2013.

The board will chose between bids for the football stadiums at Illinois State, Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois.

The state finals have been held at Memorial Stadium in Champaign since 1999, but the stadium will be required by the Illini football team every other year on the days of the state finals because of a change in the Big Ten’s scheduling.

Sites specifications included having a minimum of 12,000 seats and artificial turf field.

Illinois high school football will be full of senior superstars next season, and that was reflected when ESPN Recruiting announced it top 150 recruits on Tuesday.

Seven Illinois Class of 2013 players were named to the ESPN 150. Illinois hasn’t had more than two players on the list since 2009.

This year’s list is led by Crete-Monee junior wide receiver Laquon Treadwell, who is ranked 42nd overall and the No. 5 wide receiver in the class. Treadwell, who was an ESPNChicago.com all-area selection, caught 75 passes for 1,391 yards and 18 touchdowns last season. He’s uncommitted.

Joliet Catholic running back Ty Isaac was second on the list and was ranked No. 68 overall and the No. 6 running back. Isaac was the ESPNChicago.com Offensive Player of the Year. He had 515 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 26 carries in the Class 5A state championship. He’s also uncommitted.

The list also includes Lemont offensive lineman Ethan Pocic (No. 72), Lincoln-Way West offensive lineman and Notre Dame recruit Colin McGovern (No. 91), Peoria Manual offensive lineman and Michigan recruit Logan Tuley-Tillman (No. 97), St. Francis offensive lineman and Michigan recruit Kyle Bosch (No. 112) and Maine South quarterback and Northwestern recruit Matt Alviti (No. 113).

Waukegan senior guard Akeem Springs has committed to Northern Illinois.

Springs, a 6-4 guard, chose the Huskies over UIC. Springs previously made commitments to Tennessee State and Mississippi Valley State and decommitted from both schools.

"It's a tiring process," Springs said of his recruitment on Tuesday. "I remember my first letter coming from Kentucky when Tracy Webster was there. I was excited at the start, but the process is tiring. You feel like you're being sold a car every day. I'm definitely happy to be over with it and move past it."

Springs averaged 17 points, eight rebounds and two assists for Waukegan this past season.

"I can give them a big guard who can play a bunch of positions, a guy who can play defense and score from different spots on the court," Springs said.

Springs is the sixth player to join Northern Illinois' Class of 2012.

Northern Illinois went 5-26 last season in Huskies coach Mark Montgomery's first year. The Huskies' roster included seven freshmen and sophomore last year.