Beth Long’s weekly recruiting roundup

The last high school football weekend of the year is in the books, that is if you count All-American games. The Chicago area had five seniors wrap up their careers with appearances in bowl games.

In the Offense-Defense Bowl in Orlando, DeKalb running back and Illinois commit Dre Brown, WW South linebacker and Northwestern commit Tommy Vitale and Warren tight end and Illinois commit Caleb Reams all participated.

“I would say my favorite part was being able to test my talent against some of the top recruits in the country,” Reams said. “And on our down time of the field it was awesome to meet new people and hang out with them.”

Two Semper Fidelis All-Americans are both headed to play their collegiate ball at Notre Dame: Providence wide receiver Miles Boykin and Bolingbrook defensive end Micah Dew-Treadway. Boykin sat out the game because he is recovering from a minor injury sustained during the high school season. He still traveled to Los Angeles and took part in all the week’s festivities.

“It was awesome meeting people from all over the country and seeing what it takes to play at the next level,” Boykin said.

The Semper Fidelis All-American game was played Sunday evening in Carson, Calif.

“The best part would be that I got to spend time with the west coast athletes and talk about just how different Chicago is from California,” Boykin said.

Brown and Dew-Treadway plan to enroll in January in their respective schools, and the rest of the highly-touted athletes will start their college journeys in the summer.

New offers for Jones

Two new offers are in for Evanston junior defensive lineman Naquan Jones, who already has a handful from the Big Ten.

Eastern Michigan and Purdue both pulled the trigger and offered the three-star prospect in the past week.

“I picked up my sixth offer from Eastern Michigan,” Jones said. “I was on the phone with Coach Creighton and he offered me over the phone.”

Followed shortly by the Boilermakers — who have been talking to Jones for quite some time.

“Got the offer from Purdue, I was just on the phone with Coach Johnson and he offered over the phone,” Jones said.

Jones is planning a spring visit to Eastern Michigan to see what they have to offer.

“I like that they are a genuine school when they talk about family,” Jones said. “Family there is very important and that’s what I like most.”

On top of the newest offers, Jones has offers from Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and others. Now that Purdue has joined his list of Big Ten suitors, he’s looking forward to learning more about the program.

“I don’t know much about Purdue yet,” Jones said. “The Big Ten is a great conference and I am excited to have an offer from any school in that conference.”

Evanston is also home to several other prospects getting recruited, including junior quarterback Matt Little, who is committed to Western Michigan, and defensive back Travion Banks.