The Huskie football team welcomed 16 new faces Wednesday, the first day high school seniors could sign letters of intent.

Five recruits are Illinois products. Six are from Wisconsin and the others hail from throughout the country’s mid-section.

Head coach Jerry Pettibone’s staff can boast the signing of two of Illinois’ top 75 prospects, linebacker Jason Keene from Bloomington and halfback Arthur Russell from Richards High School in Chicago.

Russell (6-1, 190 lbs.) gained 973 yards on 170 carries for the 1989 4-A state champions, while Keene (6-1, 190), a Chicago Sun-Times all-stater, set a team-record 149 tackles last year in addition to rushing for more than 1,000 yards for the second consecutive year.

Mike Duchane (6-3, 190), an outside linebacker from Grayslake, gathered 76 tackles and two interceptions in 1989. Elroy Glover (6-2, 210), a halfback from Englewood H.S. in Chicago gained 1,579 yards and 18 touchdowns on 179 rushes. All-purpose Corey Chattic (6-0, 180) from Sterling rushed for 654 yards and caught 11 passes for 173 more. Chattic averaged 26.4 yards on kickoffs and 21.1 yards on punt returns.

Teammates from DeLaSalle H.S. in New Orleans, Bobby Stevens—2,629 yards and 27 TDs rushing and passing in the last two seasons—and safety McArthur Griffin (67 tackles, four interceptions) will travel the furthest from their homes to DeKalb.

From Minnesota comes Dane VanHulzen (6-4, 230), a Minneapolis Star-Tribune First Team All-Metro selection at defensive end.

Quarterback Robert McDonald (6-3, 185) from St. Louis rushed for 540 yards and threw for 300 last fall.

Sean Allgood (5-9, 170), a wishbone quarterback from Ashtabula, Ohio, rushed for 1,837 career yards and 30 TDs while passing for 1,204 yards with nine scores.

The Wisconsin contingent includes Greenfield’s Jason Bart (6-0, 185), a free safety and linebacker; Darvell Ecford (6-2, 208), Milwaukee Sentinel First Team All-Area and City Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and halfback Tom McKinney (5-11, 183) from Cudahy who gained 2,203 yards on 265 rushes in the last two years. Linebackers Nick Meske from Delafield and Bryan Preiss from Germantown and halfback Kevin Slosarek from New London round out the signees.