Aurora Christian’s Maddie picks Western Michigan

Updated: June 29, 2011 9:04PM

Anthony Maddie was prepared to wait it out, bide his time and see how the summer unfolded before making a college decision.

The Aurora Christian quarterback had firm offers from Bowling Green, Western Michigan and Illinois State — as well as solid interest from Northwestern, Minnesota and Northern Illinois.

But then the senior took a trip to Kalamazoo, Mich., two weeks ago to meet with the coaching staff of the Western Michigan Broncos, as well as survey the campus.

Soon enough, the other suitors paled in comparison — Maddie committed to the Broncos Tuesday night.

“Everything they have as a school is more than I can ask for,” he said. “I really loved it and I didn’t want to waste time because if somebody else committed then they had to pull my scholarship, so I didn’t want to wait. I knew how much I loved the school. I knew that’s where I wanted to end up, and I knew that’s where I saw myself and I made my decision much sooner than expected.”

Maddie threw for 2,468 yards and 26 touchdowns against 15 interceptions while rushing for 611 yards and another four TDs last season.

Former Northern Illinois assistant Mike Sabock was the man most responsible for bringing Maddie to Western Michigan, and quarterbacks coach Ryan Cubit also played a role.

The Broncos, coached by Bill Cubit (Ryan’s father), finished the 2010 campaign 6-6. Cubit runs an offense heavily reliant on the quarterback — the Broncos threw the ball 475 times last season for 3,429 yards.

Maddie said he will redshirt his first year on campus, the 2012 season, and then will have an opportunity to start for four years. It’s a situation he couldn’t pass up.

“You can’t ask for anything better than that.” he said. “It’s a perfect situation for me.”

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