QB Blalock enjoys Illini visit

Aurora, (Ill.) Waubonsie Valley two star ranked dual threat quarterback Paul Blalock (6-foot-0, 190 pounds) was able to make his long awaited official visit to the University of Illinois this weekend.

"I finally was able to fit in my official visit to Illinois this weekend," Blalock said. "I play basketball for my school, and it was hard to fit in an earlier official visit. I'm glad that I had a chance to make my visit this weekend."

Blalock talked about his weekend in Champaign.

"I was in Champaign on Friday afternoon, so I missed a lot of the heavy snow storms on my way there. My host was Jody Ellis, and we got along really well on my visit. I was able to meet the recruits as well as getting to know some of the players at dinner on Friday night. We also had several tours on both Friday and Saturday. Saturday was a heavy focus on academics and we had meetings with several different academic advisors. We also had a great dinner on Saturday night, then we had a chance to just hang out with the players. Sunday morning I had breakfast with the recruits, then I had a chance to talk with both Coach (Ron) Zook and Coach (Mike) Mallory."

Blalock also got a kick out of the visitors from Georgia and Florida.

"Some of the recruits from Georgia and Florida were really excited about all of the snow, and they had a chance to go out and goof around outside. I wasn't as excited about the snow, since I wasn't heading back on a plane to 70 plus degree weather."

Blalock came away very impressed with the new Illinois coaching staff.

"The best part of this weekend was getting a chance to get to know all of the coaches and for me to get a chance to talk with them. I came away really impressed with the coaches, plus I was also impressed with the direction that the coaches have for the Illinois football program. The players also really like these coaches so far, and that is another big plus."

"I'm a solid verbal commit to the University of Illinois."