RECRUITING NOTEBOOK

By Jeremy Crabtree

updated 2:11 a.m. ET Aug. 29, 2008

Missouri and Illinois face off in one of the biggest opening games of the college football season Saturday in St. Louis. But the rivalry weekend doesn’t end there.

Missouri’s quarterback of the future, Blaine Dalton of Blue Springs (Mo.) South, and Illinois’ quarterback of the future, Nathan Scheelhaase of Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst, go head-to-head at 11 a.m. Sunday in a nationally televised game.

“We’ve been getting ready for this game and this opportunity for almost six months now,” said Scheelhaase, the nation’s No. 7 dual-threat quarterback and the No. 3 player in Missouri. “It’s going to be an amazing game. Everybody has been talking about it around here ever since it was announced.”

Scheelhaase (6 feet 3/184 pounds) is the only junior to ever win the Simone Award as Kansas City’s top player, and he was named the Missouri Gatorade player of the year in 2007. He also earned first-team all-state honors after helping Rockhurst win the Class 6A state championship.

He committed to Illinois in mid-August, turning down offers from Kansas, Ole Miss, Missouri, Oklahoma and others.

Right behind him in many of the rankings is Dalton (6-1/190), who was the state player of the year in 2006 after leading South to a state championship. He has thrown for more than 3,300 yards in his three years as a starter and committed to Missouri in October 2007.

If last year’s game is any indication, it will be another Scheelhaase-Dalton showcase. Scheelhaase produced two scores and 164 of Rockhurst’s 231 first-half yards in a 27-21 victory in ’07. Dalton helped rally South from a 27-0 halftime deficit with two touchdown passes in the second half. South was driving for the possible go-ahead score when Dalton was picked off with two minutes remaining.

“There have been two really big games against Rockhurst that I’ll never forget,” Dalton told local reporters. “We got them two years ago, and they got us last year. Nathan and I know each other really well, and this is going to be a real challenge. He’s such a competitor, and so am I. Neither one of us wants to lose, and that’s what makes a game like this even more special.”

LSU looms large in Lone Star State
When Les Miles was coach at Oklahoma State, he developed some ties in Texas. In the past few years at LSU, he has started to dig deeper into the Texas talent pool. The class of 2009 shows it.

The Tigers definitely have become a force in Texas, much to Texas’, Texas A&M’s and Oklahoma’s chagrin.

LSU already has commitments from four Texas prospects, including Houston quarterback Russell Shepard - the nation’s No. 4 player overall. News came Monday that four-star safety Kenny Vaccaro now is thinking about LSU despite making an early commitment to Texas.

“LSU has kept up with me throughout pretty much the whole process,” Vaccaro told TigerBait.com. “I committed to Texas right when (LSU) was offering. I committed to Texas a couple of days before a whole bunch of schools got in. After you commit, the recruiting process gets real boring. It’s just kind of exciting to hear new info.

“My lineman, Stavion Lowe, is going out to LSU and he told me to take a look at it. I’ve talked to Russell Shepard, too. He just tells me lots of good things about LSU, and it gets me excited.”

Vaccaro said he tentatively has made plans to attend LSU’s Oct. 25 game against Georgia. Vaccaro committed to Texas in late February and is rated the No. 19 safety in the nation.

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