Tate: End results better than early hype

Too many Jeff Hecklinskis and Tim Laverys have come and gone – too many Eric Jeffersons and Mike Flaars – to take seriously the pre-college ratings of incoming Illini freshmen.

It's a crap shoot, pure and simple. It's anybody's guess.

Can Kurt Kittner, who played just four games at quarterback as a Schaumburg High School senior, buck history and outduel a senior regular to become the UI's first-ever pure freshman starter at quarterback?

Before we answer that, let's pick out a half-dozen former Illini who have successfully cracked the National Football League, and see where they were in their early years at Illinois.

Look who made it big

– Ken Dilger arrived here from Indiana at mid-year as a quarterback-athlete with developmental possibilities. He became a natural at tight end but injuries prevented him from reaching full potential until 1994. It was his misfortune to drop a game-winning pass at Missouri in 1991 and was tackled just short of yardage needed in a 22-16 loss to Purdue in 1994. But he's now an entrenched regular with 111 receptions in three seasons for the Indianapolis Colts.

– Howard Griffith was a non-scholarship walk-on from Chicago. He worked his way through the UI special teams into a ball-carrying position that allowed him to score a record 33 UI touchdowns. Working his way through Buffalo, San Diego, the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina, this steel-muscled blocker enjoyed a starring role at fullback for Denver in last season's Super Bowl triumph.

– John Holecek had nowhere near the press clippings that accompanied ultimate Butkus Award winner Dana Howard to the UI, and had to overcome serious knee problems along the way. Despite more leg troubles, Holecek made the NFL grade where Howard couldn't, and he is projected to start in the absence of Chris Spielman at inside linebacker for Buffalo.

– Dennis Stallings, a pass-catching receiver out of East St. Louis, fell short academically but dramatically lifted his grades in a year of ineligibility at the UI. He waited his turn as a linebacker, topped 130 tackles for Illinois in both 1995 and 1996, and is expected to join former Illini tackle Brad Hopkins (61 consecutive starts) on the Oiler team again this year.

– Scott Turner was a speed merchant out of Texas who moved from running back to wide receiver to cornerback to split end to cornerback, missing most of the 1992 season with a broken jaw. He started only in his final season at Illinois, but it was enough to propel him into the NFL with Washington, and the reserve cornerback led the Redskins' special teams in playing time in 1997.

– Ken Blackman is a big Texan who arrived at the UI as a tight end and switched to defensive tackle. As a sub, he is remembered for stuffing Ohio State's Robert Smith for a safety to key an Illini victory. But he didn't become a regular until he switched to offensive left tackle his last two years, starting 21 of 22 games. Now a 320-pounder, "Mean Man" enters his third pro season as the Cincinnati Bengals' most powerful lineman at the point of attack.

Who would have guessed?

No one could have predicted, at the outset of their college careers, such long-range success for Dilger, Griffith, Holecek, Stallings, Turner and Blackman. In fact, you could move along two years later in their lives and not be sure ... and of the six, only Holecek ever received All-Big Ten honors.

There are more stories similar to these. Buffalo star Henry Jones and San Diego's Frank Hartley slipped through most of their UI careers without many folks knowing how talented they were. Simeon Rice, for all his pass-rushing skills, didn't become a full-time regular until midway through his second season.

So you'll have to forgive the timid predictions on the latest Illini freshman class. We simply don't know if safety Muhammad Abdullah is the real thing. We don't know if Rocky Harvey can overcome his lack of size, or if Tim McGill will develop the way Griffith did. And who, pray tell, can predict how Steve Fitts will apply his foot to the ball with fanatics swarming at him and a cross-wind sweeping across packed stands.

For now, it's enough to concern ourselves with how JC transfers – a full two years older – perform. If there's going to be a different team this year, the transfers are the difference makers ... Connie Moore, Johnnie Harris and the rest. These third-year students have already gone through one phase of the weeding-out process, and UI coaches know their chances of success are always greater than rookies straight out of high school.

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette.

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