(Editor’s note: This is one part of a series on December signees by Illinois FCS programs. We conclude tomorrow with Western Illinois.)

There were times when Eastern Illinois started five freshmen in its offensive line last fall. While that group certainly took its lumps, the Panther coaching staff knows the value of early experience. Those same coaches also realize the importance of depth.

EIU football announced the addition of 23 new players Wednesday during the first day of the December signing period. Included in the mix were two offensive linemen from the high school ranks (though one is also listed as a long snapper) along with three transfers.

That trio consists of two junior college transfers and one from a four-year school.

Perhaps that should come as no surprise as EIU head coach Adam Cushing coached the offensive line in his long stint as an assistant at Northwestern.

“The staff did an incredible job on putting this class together,” Cushing said in an EIU release. “The day that COVID started to impact this recruiting class, we didn’t flinch, we embraced the mantra of what does this make possible.  The staff remained focused on finding the best players we could for our program athletically, academically and socially.  I can’t say it enough times, the credit goes to the guys on our staff that grinded this out.”

Quotable

“In this class we 23 players from several different places including a third of the class from Illinois,” Cushing said. “The point is we are going to go recruit where we have relationships to get the high character players we are looking to add to this program.”

Where are they from?

As Cushing mentioned, nine players played Illinois prep football. Eastern also landed four players from Ohio and three from Kentucky — all from Louisville. 

Two players each came from Michigan, North Carolina and Texas. The other player hails from Missouri.

What positions do they play?

Six recruits are defensive backs, while four play on the offensive line and two are linebackers. The class also included a quarterback, running back, wide receiver, kicker and an “athlete”.

What accomplishments do they bring?

The class sports a 3.3 grade point average with 16 of the 23 players named team captain.  The group has helped teams win 25 conference championships, make 48 state playoff appearances and 21 state championship game appearances.  

This weekend three of the players will face off against each other in the Kentucky Class 6A state championship game.  In addition the group includes 29 all-conference selections, six all-state selections and 19 of the 23 were multi-sport athletes in high school.   

Eastern will play a seven-game Ohio Valley Conference spring schedule beginning Feb. 21. 

EIU December signees:

(Name, position, height, weight, hometown, previous school)

Nick Coates                  Defensive Back             5-10      175       Louisville, Ky.               Male HS
Liam Conaghan             Defensive Line              6-3        240       Glenview, Ill.                  Loyola Academy
Simon France                Offensive Line               6-1        265       Elyria, Ohio                   Elyria HS
Jeremy Gelino               Linebacker                    6-0        220       Lombard, Ill.                  Glenbard South HS
Zachareus Gentry          Defensive Back             6-0        165       Anna, Texas                  Anna HS
Alton Jefferson             Defensive Line              6-0        260       Louisville, Ky.               Trinity HS
Chauncey Lee               Wide Receiver               5-9        175       Bellwood, Ill.                 Immaculate Conception HS
Jason Moore                 Running Back                5-10      190       Chicago, Ill.                   De La Salle Institute
Julian Patino                 Kicker                           5-10      210       Chicago, Ill.                   Chicago Mount Carmel
AJ Pontrelli                   Defensive Line              6-2        205       Lemont, Ill.                    Lemont HS
Kinstin Reaves              Defensive Line              6-0        285       Statesville, NC              Statesville HS
Ethan Roberts               Defensive Line              6-0        290       Lumberton, NC              Saint Paul’s HS
Blake Ruffin                  Safety                          6-4        200       Louisville, Ky.               Trinity HS
AJ Sanders                   Safety                          6-0        185       Pickerington, Ohio         Pickerington Central HS
Matthew Spofford         Athlete                          6-1        200       Painesville, Ohio           Riverside HS
Elijawah Tolbert             Linebacker                    6-1        225       Country Club Hills, Ill.    Thornton Township HS
Zach Trainor                  Quarterback                  6-1        205       Milford, Mich.                Walled Lake Western HS
Collin Tyson                  Defensive Back             6-0        185       Kansas City, Mo.           Platte County R-3 HS
Jack Valente                 Off. Line / LS                6-4        250       Batavia, Ill.                    Batavia HS
Sereno Winn                 Defensive Back             6-1        165       Cincinnati, Ohio             Walnut Hills HS

JUNIOR COLLEGE / FOUR YEAR TRANSFERS
NAME                           POSITION                    HT        WT       HOMETOWN                 LAST SCHOOL
Ben Mason                   Offensive Line               6-3        290       Lucas, Texas                 Navarro College 

Michael McNicholas       Offensive Line               6-4        310       Lombard, Ill.                  Kent State University 

Dakota Kerr                  Offensive Line               6-4        275       Brownstown, Mich.        College of DuPage 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17

Don’t Ask Tig 6:30 p.m. Tig Notaro with Judd Apatow. Special guests, plus a chance to ask your question  live.

The Second City Holiday Happy Hour 7:00 p.m.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18

Prateek Srivastava 34 for 34 7:00 p.m. Prateek celebrates his 34^th birthday with 34 comedians. The best standup from comedians from around the country. You’ll recognize many from The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Comedy Central..  Show is free, but donations to St. Judes Children’s Hospital are appreciated. You can donate directly here. Look for Prateek Srivastava’s new album Nick and Sheila’s Kid on December 22!

Riffing for the Georgia Runoffs 7:00 p.m. With Sarah Silverman, Dulce Sloan, Fortune Feimster, Sarah Cooper, Patton Oswalt and more. Volunteers receive free tickets. A production of The Comedy Resistance.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19

The Really Awesome Improv Show 3:00 p.m. Second City’s All Ages online event.

The Annoyance’s Super Spread the Cheer 8:00 p.m.  “A holiday variety show determined to make you laugh in spite of it all.”

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20

KO Comedy Live on Zoom 9:00 p.m. Sammy Obeid’s online comedy club.

Access to the third branch of government–the judiciary–is a basic right in a democracy to fix real or perceived wrongs.

That President Trump or his supporters have sued many times to challenge the outcome of the presidential election does not make him a threat to democracy. Nor does it mean that those defending his right to do so are joining him in an “alternate universe.”

The extreme rhetoric is coming from both the political left and right, with the bulk coming from the former. Which is extraordinarily ironic, because Democrats are a handmaiden of the trail lawyers, personal injury attorneys and  ambulance chasers. They make their living by filing lots and lots of lawsuits, some of them frivolous.

OpenSecrets.com, the non-partisan follow-the-money tracker’s research shows that lawyers and their law firms contribute significantly more (I’d say a lot more) to Democrats than to Republicans. In lawsuit-friendly Illinois, trial lawyers share, with public employee unions, an extraordinary grip on state .  politicians. One can safely conclude that Democrats are more likely to do the bidding of trial lawyers.

So, the source of many trial lawyers’ wealth is exactly what Trump does: file plenty of lawsuits, even those without merit.

Take Cook, Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois, national leaders in the number of frivolous lawsuits filed–a veritable “Plaintiff’s Paradise.” 

The American Tort Reform Foundation concludes:

This trio of Illinois counties continues to be a preferred jurisdiction for plaintiffs’ lawyers thanks to no-injury lawsuits, plaintiff-friendly rulings in asbestos litigation, and the promise of a liability-expanding legislative agenda each and every year. Illinois is ground zero for no-injury lawsuits, thanks in large part to its Biometric Information Privacy Act and the courts’ expansive interpretation of the law. While 2020 did not bring the normal volume of litigation due to COVID-19 shutdowns, there is no reason to think it will not resume to normal levels once the pandemic has ended.

The Illinois General Assembly continues to look for innovative new ways to expand liability for businesses, increasing the financial burdens of doing business in the state. At a time when business is reeling from the economic impact of COVID-19, the legislature should consider enacting reforms to ease the economic burden caused by abuses of the state’s civil justice system. A recent report by The Perryman Group estimates that excessive tort costs to the Illinois economy result in $5.7 billion in annual direct costs and 99,966 jobs when dynamic effects are considered. These excess costs result in a “tort tax” of $761.81 per person.

by Edward Shanahan, a Chicago Psychic Medium.

You Are Special To Someone.

I wanted to bring this to you all, and it is also a good read for around the Holidays or to pass along to someone, as some people need to know this around the holidays, as they may miss the one they knew loved them.

We all have lost someone who has passed away, someone we have loved and have loved us, but for some people, that is all they had or all that remained in their long life, and sadly many feel they now have no one who loves them.

PLEASE remember the ones who have passed away and loved you will always love you; they still do and will always do so. Also, remember they are the ones you can still go to with your thoughts and problems, and in reality, they may be able to help you even more being in the Spirit World than they could of here in the living world.

They all cross over, and more information is documented on that than there are about ‘ not knowing their dead – being lost – not crossing over – etc. No one will ever get me to believe that they do not cross over or are lost, or some spirits do not know they’re dead. It is beyond what any higher power would allow.

So never think that your loved one has not crossed over. I have done my readings for many individuals, using an item of their loved one, who has passed away, usually see a smile come across my face during the reading with the item. It is because I pick up on the happiness of the spirit and the knowledge that the living loved one is being well watched over by the one who loved them and has passed.

For your fact-finding about if ‘spirits do cross over, ‘do an Internet search on Near-Death Experiences, as you might as well get it from the actual source, that being those who experienced it. I had a tremendous gift given to me by the Spirit World; I had the opportunity to talk to a young man 38 years of age, who died and was brought back to life.

During the conversation, it was a beautiful thing to see what came across his face as he discussed dying and crossing over, along with what I felt by way of the energy coming off him. No experience before, nor after (as of now), has come close to it.

But for many, remember you’re loved and will always be loved. The holidays and anniversaries are a time of year that is hard for some of you, and I understand. Nevertheless, you are blessed, blessed with the fact that you will always be special to someone, and loved forever.

For those who it is not as hard for, because you are surrounded by those who love you, do not forget those who have passed away and you loved; it is somewhat easy to do so during the hustle of a holiday.

Bring the loved one(s) up during the Holiday conversations when your other family members are together. So the one(s) who passed away will know during this time of the year that they are still part of the holiday gathering, as in the past.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
Edward Shanahan

To find out what Edward Shanahan has to offer for you, go to his web site at: https://edwardshanahan.com

Edward Shanahan is a Psychic Medium in the Chicago land area. Edward Shanahan does Private Readings, Phone Readings and Psychic House Parties / Gatherings with Spirit Communication Sessions for private readings and house parties if it is desired.

Edward has been written about in six different books and has written two of his own.

©2020 Edward Shanahan