Illini offer scholarship to sophomore
Posted: Wednesday April 02, 2008 06:35AM ET
Illinois coach Bruce Weber, who already has two commitments from the Class of 2010, has offered a scholarship to another high school sophomore: Lenzelle Smith of Zion-Benton (Ill.). Smith, a 6-foot-3-inch wing, averaged 13 points and seven rebounds for the Zee-Bees, who finished second in the Class 4A tournament. mith also has an offer from Southern Illinois, his father said. Smith said his son ranks 12th academically in a class of 844 and has heard from Northwestern, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Virginia, Kentucky, Southern California, Stanford and Indiana State.
Bruce Weber, AP
Comments (7)
recruiting high school sophomores is just WRONG -- what is the kid -- 15 or 16?
silverblack23 | 04/02/08, 11:21 AM
Report Offensive CommentMy 10 year old son can hit 80% of his free throws. Think John Calipari at Memphis might be interested?
thejobarules | 04/02/08, 12:00 PM
Report Offensive CommentHow is this even news? Almost every good sophomore already has tons of offers. It's sad, but definitely not newsworthy.
RhodiumHoarder | 04/02/08, 12:53 PM
Report Offensive CommentWeber is finally doing it right... After the Gordon trainwreck, he's starting to recruit as a 'backup plan' in case his high-profile recruit falls thru. With all that's happened this past year with Jereme Richmond, there's no guarantee that a scholarship won't be available for Smith. He lost out on a couple recruits because he counted on Gordon and now he's preparing earlier and better than in the past.
JohnL22767 | 04/02/08, 01:30 PM
Report Offensive CommentBeing ranked 12th out of a class of 844 is a nice little booster shot to the illini program as well. If I recall correctly, Dee Brown had similar bragging rights. He didn't turn out to be a straight-A student, but academics were never a concern.
JohnL22767 | 04/02/08, 01:33 PM
Report Offensive CommentZee-bees!!!!!!
1Hawkeye1 wants Vida | 04/02/08, 02:46 PM
Report Offensive CommentMy unborn son is a 6 foot 5 inch QB that can run the 40 yard dash in 4.1 seconds, he also can throw the ball 80 yards.
Can he get a scholarship to Illinois too?
J. HOVA: ALL FOR THE LOVE | 04/02/08, 04:49 PM
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