NIU football coach Joe Novak is an artist.

No, he doesn’t carry a canvas and easel around searching for inspirational scenes to paint across campus.

What the dean of MAC coaches does is take athletes that today might not be a finished product in terms of their football ability and mold, craft and form them into standout Division I football players.

The hunting grounds

Novak and staff have primarily stayed inside Illinois to stock the Huskies roster over his tenure as coach here at NIU.

This year’s class of 19 players is no exception as 11 of those recruits hail from Illinois, according to the recruiting Web site Rivals.com.

Novak showed a specific affinity for players from the Chicago suburbs and the newly minted exurbs in both 2006 and 2007.

However, a few recruits trickle in from around the Midwest as well.

A trip down I-57 has brought in two recruits each of the last three seasons from the St. Louis area. NIU is expected to make it four straight seasons this years.

Recruits from Indiana have been a recent trend. It may continue as a 2006 trip to Indianapolis bagged an impact player in offensive lineman Jason Onyebuagu.

NIU also steps outside the Illinois boundary and dabbles in high school talent from Wisconsin and Michigan. The most notable Badger state recruits came in 2002 being offensive lineman Doug Free and safety Dustin Utschig.

A rare trip to Minnesota in 2002 brought in tight end Jake Nordin, and a 2006 voyage to Florida nabbed quarterback Billy Lowe.

Then there is always the odd recruit out of nowhere like long snapper Tommy O’Brien, the lone NIU recruit from sunny California.

The up-hill battle

But recruiting in a region rich with football tradition – the “three yards and a trail of dust” Michigan lore, the legend of Knute Rockne at Notre Dame, and the overall prestige of the Big Ten – is a daunting task for a small directional school in DeKalb.

Going along with location is the actual setting of DeKalb. The New York Times ran a story in 2006 bemoaning the rural nature of DeKalb, the cornfields and the “ah, shucks” attitude.

Those are cosmetic stereotypes and ones that coaches like NIU men’s soccer coach Steve Simmons say really shouldn’t play into recruiting.

“A lot of big universities are in the middle of a corn field,” Simmons said. “We get kids here that want to be a part of something special.”

The main thing for NIU is that despite the uphill battle against larger profile schools, that it keeps trying and remains realistic.

“We realize who we are,” Novak said. “My wife can pick out the best high school players in the country. We know that Notre Dame, Southern Cal and Michigan kids aren’t in our league.”

The artist

“What we need to do is evaluate the next group of kids that aren’t great today,” Novak said. “but with the right work in the weight room, can become good college players.”

Heading into his 12th year at the helm of a program he has brought to national prominence, Novak remembers Free as a 6’6″ 245-pound freshman who played defensive end in high school. But with the right amount of artistry, Novak saw potential at offensive tackle.

All size and length at the time, Free has been transformed into an immovable object that with the potential of being a first day NFL Draft selection in April. Or in other words, exactly what Novak and his coaches look for on their journeys for recruits.

National Signing Day is Wednesday. It’s time for the artist to return to his canvas.