Football: Oswego QB Ryan West chooses Southern Illinois

Updated: December 5, 2011 7:39PM

Southern Illinois University head coach Dale Lennon couldn’t believe his fortune.

It’s December, and Oswego senior Ryan West was still out there, waiting to see if major programs like Iowa, Purdue, Illinois and Vanderbilt would eventually offer the quarterback a roster spot.

Lennon didn’t wait, and neither did West – he verbally committed to the Saluki’s early Sunday morning.

“The coaching staff, they’re just great people and I really think in their offensive system, I can excel in it,” West said. “Their academic system is strong, their campus is really, really nice and their facilities are really some of the top facilities I’ve really seen.”

West, a Class 7A Illinois High School Football Coaches Association all-state selection and the Southwest Prairie Conference Offensive MVP, finished his three-year varsity career as the Panthers’ all-time leading passer in yardage (6,546) and touchdowns (67).

“Just a little (surreal), the stuff that happened with records and college recruiting,” West said. “It’s overwhelming sometimes but it’s also a great ride and a lot of fun. All this couldn’t have happened without my teammates. They deserve so much credit and they’ve helped me out so much, so I’m very thankful for where I’m at right now.”

The team changed offenses prior to West’s junior campaign, moving from a traditional power-I running offense to a spread.

“He became a student of the game,” Panthers coach Dave Keely said. “Ryan’s going to have a lot of school records when he walks out the door in May.”

Southern Illinois is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference and participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). The Salukis finished 2011 4-7 overall and 2-6 in the MVC.

“All the hard work he put in, all the extra work paid off, all the extra time, the extra throwing, all the little things he did that not everybody sees to try and take his game to the next level,” Keely said. “It’s far and few between the young men who have an opportunity to get a full ride to go play football somewhere. It doesn’t happen very often.”

West said he will redshirt his freshman season in Carbondale to learn the offense and will have an opportunity to compete for playing time the next four years.

“They’re excited about him coming down there,” Keely said. “They weren’t really interested in taking a quarterback at this point in time because they’ve already got some quarterbacks in, but they were like if this opportunity is out there, they didn’t want to pass it by.”

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