Eastern football announced their signings for the 2005 recruiting class on Wednesday, and the Panthers showed a change in recruiting focus from past years.

Of the 14 recruits that inked last week, 10 of them were in-state players.

That doesn’t seem that it would be out of the ordinary for an Illinois program, but in the past, Eastern has recruited players out of Florida heavily.

In fact, 24 players on last year’s roster came from the Sunshine State.

But this year the Panthers only had two recruits from Florida sign on Tuesday.

Brian Flynn, Eastern wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, stressed that the Panthers wanted to focus on in-state recruiting, and said they want around two-thirds of their team to be in-state players.

Eastern head coach, Bob Spoo hinted that there were some restrictions in recruiting this year.

Whatever the reason for Eastern focusing on Illinois recruits, I think it’s a positive move for the program. Not to say that Florida hasn’t been good to us in recruiting, but Illinois players can help strengthen the program’s fan base.

When Spoo recruits players like Chip Keys from Paris High School and running back D.J. Walker from Mattoon High School, it helps keep local interest in the team.

The Panthers also recruited outside of their normal turf this season when they signed two recruits from Ohio. It looks like Eastern may be gaining a reputation outside of its normal recruiting area.

Outside of the recruits the Panthers signed on Tuesday, Eastern also had some transfers in the off-season, most notably quarterback Justin Midgett from Florida. If he steps up like Wisconsin transfer Matt Schabert did last season for the Panthers, it should be a good year for Eastern football.

With Eastern returning 10 starters on offense and eight starters on defense, it may be a couple of years before fans get a chance to evaluate this year’s recruiting class. But like Eastern offensive line coach Mark Hudson said, there are always surprises. And with players like wide receiver Joey Coia, second all time in IHSA career receiving yards, quarterback Kyle Kniss, IHSA 2A all state, and defensive lineman Daniel Moore, St. Louis Post Dispatch’s Defensive Player of the Year, it looks like the Illinois recruits could provide some surprises for the Panthers this season.