Thornton adds three in one day

Lombard (Ill.) Montini 2015 wide receiver Leon Thornton came into this week with no scholarship offers. He will exit with at least four, after landing three on Thursday.

"During lunch I got on the phone with the Western Michigan coach and he extended me an offer," Thornton said. "Toledo came and saw me when I was in gym. He told me to give him a call later, so I called him after practice and he offered me. No more than ten minutes after the Toledo offer, Indiana offered me, so it was pretty crazy."

Three offers in one day has put Thornton in a much different state of mind with the recruiting process than he came into the week with.

"Honestly, I didn't even know how most of this worked," he said. "My mom went through a bit of it with my older brother, but I'm just going to stay deeply involved with it and see what schools come."

The offer from Indiana was Thornton's second from the Big Ten Conference this week, and he already has a high impression of their offense.

"I absolutely love their offense, obviously," Thornton said. "I think they were second in the Big Ten in total offense, and first in passing the last two years. Just the tempo of their offense, how fast they get the ball out and how much they spread the ball around."

Indiana assistant coach James Patton had come by Thornton's school during the day on Thursday, but it was not until a phone call with offensive coordinator Kevin Johns that evening that he learned about the offer.

"He just said he overall loves me as an athlete and as a receiver," Thornton said. "How I run routes, my hands, my blocking - he just loves my overall game. Even hearing that, though, I just feel like I have to get better."

Coaches from Iowa were also through Thornton's school on Thursday. Iowa State and Michigan State are two additional schools showing interest.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Thornton picked up his first offer of the process earlier this week from Illinois. He will make a visit to Champaign on Feb. 1 to meet with the Illini coaches, and plans to travel to Indiana for a visit on Jan. 26.