During college, students learn that networking and forming connections can bring major success in the business world.

The same holds true in the world of athletics, as those connections can reel in talent from various parts of the country. This year’s recruiting class, which consists of 13 players, features only three from the state of Illinois.

“The advantage we had is coaching in five different states throughout my coaching career,” said Jerry Kill, NIU head football coach. “There are still a lot of connections with people.”

One connection from Kill’s past is a junior college coach who steered Kill to recruit Brandon Jacobs to play at Southern Illinois. Jacobs, a running back, recently won Super Bowl XLII with the New York Giants.

“The young man that sent us Brandon Jacobs is the guy that called us on Brandon [Rogers],” Kill said. “He said, ‘Hey, I’ve got one of those guys for you and you need to listen to me.’ When you get sent Brandon Jacobs, you have to listen to the guy that gives you a call.”

Kill and his staff recruited players from high schools in Washington, D.C. and Moss Point, Miss., as well as two players from Florida.

In the past, the majority of recruits for NIU have come from the Midwestern region. All 19 members of the 2007 recruiting class are from that area.

Kill’s hiring late in the recruiting season limited his in-state recruiting. However, in Southern states, players commit much later than Northern states, Kill said.

Players in the Chicagoland area commit as early as December, whereas players from the South wait until right before national signing day, he said.

“We’ve got five coaches recruiting in the Chicagoland area, but we’re recruiting mostly juniors because we were so late getting out there,” Kill said. “It’s important for us to get out there in the junior recruiting because we’ll have a big class next year.”

The significance of the amount of players from different parts of the country is that the players genuinely want to be a part of the program at NIU. Kill stresses that is the number one thing he looks for in a recruit.

“We’ve got kids that want to come to Northern Illinois and that’s important,” Kill said. “When you’ve got a kid from Moss Point, Miss. [running back Meco Brown] and he comes up here in the snow and wants to come to Northern Illinois, that’s because he wants to be a part of the program. He hears about Garrett Wolfe, and [Michael] Turner, and he wants to be a part of it.”