When La Salle-Peru football coach JJ Raffelson was playing at Lake Zurich High School and looking to get recruited to play in college, he relied mostly on sending his tape out.

Now, high school players have more opportunities to attend showcases and go to camps at colleges.

The IHSA added another opportunity for high school football players to get recruiting exposure this spring with about 20 combines around the state.

Raffelson, who played college football at Western Illinois, took nine L-P players to a combine at Rockford Boylan on Thursday.

At the event, the athletes warmed up together, then broke down into position groups to run agility and position-specific drills.

“I think it was good for the kids to get that exposure and also be able to get back into the realm of competing against other kids,” Raffelson said. “It was a good experience.”

The Cavalier players – juniors Mason Morscheiser, Jaron Morscheiser, Cody Orabutt, Logan Harmon, Brady Twardowski, Daniel Edwall and Camden Greathouse, sophomore Evan Downey and freshman Sam Carter – were joined by players from about 15 schools with about 15 college coaches in attendance.

Colleges ranged from NCAA Division III to Division I. Some of the colleges represented were Western Illinois (FCS), Winona State (DII), Wheaton (DII), Elmhurst (DIII), Monmouth (DIII), a Division II school from Michigan and a few Division III schools from Wisconsin.

“I talked to about a dozen schools about our boys,” Raffelson said. “A lot of them have interest in numerous of them.

“I’ve been in contact with a lot of those coaches already since the combine who are trying to come by this week to see the kids and get more information on them, like GPA and all those things. It was definitely beneficial.”

Princeton sent nine athletes to the Moline combine Thursday, which had 36 college coaches in attendance, and Ottawa had three players attend a combine at Bloomington on Wednesday.

“This being the first year, there were a lot of unknowns going into it, but they did a good job,” said new Ottawa coach Jared Mundt, who took current juniors OL/DL Carter Price and RB/LB Wes Weatherford, as well as current sophomore FB/LB Jordan Gomez. “Boys playing football, there was a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’. It was a competitive atmosphere.

“They got to play with athletes from other schools, build some relationships with other high schoolers, but also get a chance to show what they could do in front of the college coaches.”

Mundt said it’s an experience he’d definitely recommend to his players should the IHSA combines return next year.

“Absolutely,” he said. “It’s just a fun way to get the kids together and see how they stack up with some athletes they don’t normally see in the area or their conference. We saw multiple schools from the Bloomington area that normally our athletes wouldn’t have ever had exposure with and had a chance to measure up and see how they looked against them.

“Anytime you get an opportunity to compete, it’s great, and I think it was a neat opportunity the IHSA put together.”

Raffelson said the combines are particularly beneficial for players from smaller areas that don’t always have the chance to get as much exposure as players from the Chicago suburbs and other larger areas.

“We have a lot of smaller schools,” Raffelson said. “Up in the suburbs, colleges are going to flock a little bit more to the masses. When you go up to the Chicago area, you can hit many different schools and many different kids a lot easier than you can down here. It gives us the opportunity to go up somewhere and compete with those schools, so it’s definitely beneficial for this community.”

Raffelson said he’d like to host a combine at Howard Fellows Stadium in the future to help not only L-P players but players throughout the area, some of whom he works with at his gym, JJR Next Level Training and Fitness.

“All we want as coaches is to help every single kid get their name out there, no matter what school they’re from,” Raffelson said. “If they want to play ball, we want to be able to help them.

“Hopefully, the IHSA continues to offer more things like this. It’s all for the kids. That’s why we do it. It’s for the kids to help them grow and achieve what they want to achieve.”

Along with getting recruiting exposure, Raffelson said it was a good bonding experience for the players and got them back on the field with summer workouts starting in about a month.

“We’re less than a month away from June, and that’s when we start our summer stuff, so just getting their hands on the football, running around, lacing up those cleats again and putting the helmets on, it’s just a good experience,” Raffelson said.