Rivals adizero Combine: Chicago takeaways
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GLEN ELLYN, Ill. – The Rivals adizero Combine returned to College of DuPage in suburban Chicago for the second-straight year and more than 1,000 players came out to compete. At day’s end, several earned an invitation to the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp presented by adidas in St. Louis on May 19.
There were a number of top prospects who already held FBS scholarship offers heading into Saturday’s combine, maybe none more than Cannon. Eight programshave already extended offers to Cannon, including Mid-American schools Central Michigan, Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green and Western Michigan. Cannon remains wide open in his recruitment, and continue to draw interest from programs such as Cincinnati and Purdue, both of which he visited this spring. After attending the Rivals Camp in St. Louis, Cannon plans to attend summer camps at Purdue and Michigan State.
Several underclassmen posted impressive testing numbers, and one of the most eye-opening was Cheeks. Running back is Cheeks’ primary position, but Evanston has the No. 1 ranked running back prospect in Illinois’ 2020 class, Quadre Nicholson, already at that spot so Cheeks did not get moved up to varsity until the post-season. On Saturday, Cheeks measured in at 6-foot-2 and 199 pounds and went 4.75 in the 40-yard dash on a day when times were high.
The first invitation of the day went out to one of the players who traveled the furthest to take part in Saturday’s combine. Joyce hails from Bentonville, Ark., home of Walmart. His parents and sister traveled with Joyce, and they planned to make a weekend of their trip to the Windy City. Joyce already holds offers from UAB, Tulsa and ULM. A true middle linebacker, college coaches have been attracted to Joyce’s speed and explosiveness, which he displayed at Saturday’s camp. Interestingly for a kid from Arkansas, Joyce has grown up a fan of Liberty grad and former NFL running back Rashad Jennings, who primarily played out his career on the East Coast.
The state of Iowa is known for producing top offensive line talent, and Petlon is another good one in the pipeline. The 6-foot-6, 308-pound Petlon played primarily defensive line on varsity as a sophomore because his team was senior-heavy on the offensive line. He will be a fixture on offense in 2019, however, and programs such as Iowa, Iowa State and Nebraska will be watching. Petlon has heard from each of those programs and been invited to their summer camps, which he plans to attend.
In addition to the prospects above, Mundelein (Ill.) Carmel Catholic 2021 cornerback Jalen Burton also earned an invite to the St. Louis Rivals 3 Stripe Camp with one of the best 40 times at the combine. Several prospects who had already been invited to the Rivals Camp in St. Louis also came out to take part in Saturday’s combine, including Barrington, Ill., defensive end Lukas Van Ness and La Grange Park (Ill.) Nazareth Academy freshman receiver Tyler Morris.
