Lake Zurich’s Bryan Sanborn got an early look at the recruiting process when Wisconsin successfully courted his older brother Jack a few years ago.
“I had a chance to meet some of the coaches,” Bryan Sanborn said. “I pretty much saw what Jack saw.”
And he liked what he saw as much as his brother did, committing to the Badgers in December.
“They’re going to be straight up with you and they’ll treat you like a family,” said Bryan Sanborn, a three-start prospect who plays the same position as his brother. Bryan Sanborn is rated No. 10 in Illinois and No. 13 nationally among inside linebackers in 247Sports.com’s composite rankings for the class of 2021.
It wasn’t preordained that the Sanborns would be reunited in Madison. Their late father, Paul, was a three-year letterman at Oregon in the 1980s, and Bryan kept an open mind in the recruiting process.
“The whole goal was to make a commitment before my senior year,” he said. “I didn’t really have a timeline. It was just when I knew it was home.
“I found my home for the next four years.”
The fact that Jack will be there for two more seasons offers a comfort level most incoming freshmen don’t enjoy.
“He’s been a huge help with me, even coming up to high school, learning what football is,” Bryan Sanborn said. “He’s the big brother, so I looked up to him for everything.”
Jack Sanborn, who led Lake Zurich to a state runner-up finish in Class 7A as a senior in 2017, also set the bar for his younger brother.
“I wanted to be better than him, that was my goal,” Bryan Sanborn said. “I told him, ‘I’m going to beat your records.’”
The Sanborns are the latest in a long line of defensive mainstays for the Bears, and Bryan is glad to carry on that tradition.
“Every year, our focus is on being a hard-nosed, blue-collar defensive team,” he said. “The defensive coaching staff pushes us to be that defensive team that Lake Zurich has had over the years.”
That coaching has helped him become a better player, and ultimately a Big Ten recruit.
Justin Walters picks Irish
Justin Walters came to Bolingbrook as a quarterback, but it wasn’t working out well his freshman year.
“My coach was yelling at me to stop running into people,” said Walters, whose response was: “Coach, I want to hit people.”
Walters got his wish, moving to safety. And on Feb. 2, the three-star prospect committed to Notre Dame. He’s the No. 15 player in Illinois’ junior class and No. 18 nationally at his position.
It’s an almost surreal progression for a kid who was splitting his time between football and baseball before his gridiron career took off.
“I was like 6-0, 155,” said Walters, who is now 6-2, 175. “I really didn’t think I had a chance [to play college football]. I had no confidence in myself.”
But then the offers started coming — 23 at last count, including eight from the Big Ten, two from the SEC and the Irish among others.
Walters made a campus visit to South Bend two weekends ago.
“I had no intention of committing,” Walters said. “I went in thinking I wanted to take all my official visits and commit after them.”
But Walters liked what he saw and talked things over with his parents.
“Why waste all these other coaches’ time?” Walters wondered. “Why waste my time?”
Walters also recalled one coach telling him: “When you know, you know.”
He knew Notre Dame was the right fit.
“They really made me feel welcome,” Walters said. “Nowhere else can you have that level of academics and football at the same time.”
Pipeline to DeKalb
In recent years, a steady stream of Aurora Christian players have made the short ride down I-88 to continue their careers at Northern Illinois. Joel Bouagnon, Brandon Mayes, Anthony Maddie and Chad Beebe are among the Eagles who have gone on to become Huskies, and now quarterback Ethan Hampton has added his name to the list.
Hampton became NIU’s second in-state recruit for the class of 2021 on Monday, following Solorio safety Brian Whitsey, who committed last month.
