Two weeks before he was set to sign with NIU to play football, Mundelein Carmel high school standout Eddie Adamski was faced with a decision.

On one hand, the 6-foot-4 center had verbally committed to NIU recruiting coordinator Mike Sabock.

But he had also received a call from newly-hired University of Illinois coach Ron Zook, who was offering Adamski the chance to play Big Ten football.

“Obviously, they were doing some late recruiting,” said Adamski’s coach at Carmel, Andy Bitto. “They really liked him and wanted him to play center at Illinois, but it was two weeks before signing day.”

Though flattered, Adamski wasn’t so sure about the Illini coach’s motives.

“I was a little shocked by it at first,” Eddie said. “I wasn’t too sure if they were really interested, or if they were just scrambling with their new coach to get recruits.”

Zook was hired Dec. 7 after former Illini coach Ron Turner’s contract was not renewed following three straight losing seasons. In the last two seasons, Illinois has won one conference game and has a 4-19 overall record.

“I think Zook and his crew were just looking to fill scholarships,” said Eddie’s father, Edwin “Buzz” Adamski. “They hadn’t actively recruited him, and they never talked seriously to him. They just didn’t have any definite plans for him.”

Still, Sabock, not being one to take chances, wasted no time in taking action with offensive line coach Sam Pittman.

“Right away, I took Coach Pittman with me and we drove down to have dinner with his family,” the 21-year Huskie recruiter said. “His mom made homemade pizza and we just reiterated how important he was to us and this class.”

Over a few slices, Sabock and Pittman asked Eddie if they needed to start looking for someone else to fill his scholarship.

Eddie’s answer was no. He was sticking with NIU and he wouldn’t have to turn down NIU coach Joe Novak.

“I don’t think I’d be able to tell Coach Novak, ‘I don’t want to go to Northern anymore’ to his face,” Eddie said. “I called up [Illinois’] head coach and told him I didn’t want them calling me anymore.”

And they didn’t. Eddie and his family said they felt Novak and the rest of the NIU coaches had a plan for the high school standout that the Illini didn’t.

“Eddie’s a pretty honest, loyal kid,” Bitto said, “and his parents did listen to Illinois, but they never took a visit or any of that kind of stuff. They felt they had to listen to Illinois’ pitch, but in the end, [Eddie] felt very loyal to Northern.”

Even though his recruit could have been nabbed by the Illini, Sabock didn’t show any negativity toward the situation.

“The fact that Illinois is going after our recruits is a compliment,” Sabock said. “If you look at it from that standpoint, it’s nice to see that we have the quality of the Big Ten.”

After Feb. 2, Sabock and fellow NIU coaches could breathe a sigh of relief as the signed letters of intent whirred out of the Huskie football office fax machine.

Now Adamski, along with 23 other recruits, were signed and committed for the fall. Sabock could smile at his list of recruits, which was ranked by collegefootballnews.com as the best class in the MAC.

“I think they identified him correctly: ‘He’s a Big Ten player’” Bitto said. “I’ve had six Big Ten players, and he’s as good a player as I’ve ever coached.”

Lake County is prime territory for offensive linemen. It’s not only home for Adamski, but also Libertyville offensive lineman David Moosman and Barrington’s Dan Doering. The two signed this year with Michigan and Iowa, respectively.

So how good is the newly-signed NIU center?

“Eddie’s better than both of them,” Bitto said.