When talking about Buffalo Grove ATH Tommy Zbikowski, who last night verballed to the University of Notre Dame, it all goes back.....way back! Back to the time when as a skinny sophomore from Buffalo Grove, Zbikowski was lighting up the Tim Graf Speed ClinicClick Tommy Z verbals to Notre Dame!Here to view this Link. on a Sunday morning! Graf, who's never shy about telling me about his "kids" comes up to me and tells me "EDGY, I just found the next Dan Marino!" The next Dan Marino? Well, Graf is a track kind of guy, so I excused him for putting such high praise on that skinny kid. The point of this? How many kids do you know who would get up at some ungodly hour on a Sunday morning, drive from Arlington Heights to Joliet (roughly a 50 miles one-way trip) to work on his speed, in the middle of the winter no less?

The after talking to Tommy's father Ed Zbikowski (more on Ed later!) you begin to understand the legend of Tommy Z.......from the stories of his highly successful amature boxing career (again....traveling from Arlington Heights to the West side of Chicago to box and train) to the track meets and the overall physical talents. Then you ask? It's in the eyes as I like to say.....the really great one's have the desire, and you can read it in their eyes! Call it a burning passion if you will. Tommy Z had the desire and the passion as well as the incredible work ethic to be one of the great ones.

Eventually, I got around to talking to Tommy Z. And? Grounded? No question. Being the son of Sue and Ed can't always be easy, and I mean this in the best possible light. Here was a kid who had incredible athletic successes, even before the "gurus" of the recruiting world could spell Zbikowski if you spotted them the "bikowsk" inbetween the Z and the i, yet Tommy Z talked like a kid just picked last in dodgeball.....he just was glad to compete and be a part of the game.....no matter what the game was! Being the son of Sue and Ed meant towing the line at all times, being respectful and being part of the team, yet also understanding the big picture as well.

The feats on the field? One thing was painfully obvious from early on..... from Buffalo Grove head coach Rich Roberts to the pee-wee football players in the stands on Saturdays at BG....get the ball into the hands of Tommy Z, and good things were bound to happen. Tommy Z will no doubt go down in the history of Illinois Prep Football as one of the many great players and athletes. I've seen a few players and a few more great athletes in my years of covering Illinois prep football, and while it's unfair to those who've come before him as well as those who will come later to play the name game, be assured that Tommy Z is in the class picture.

Oh....now about Ed Zbikowski? My personal favorite Ed Zbikowski story goes back about 6 months ago when he was returning one of my phone calls (did Ed ever not return a phone call?). Ed was on the cell phone and stuck in traffic, when suddenly Ed told me to hold on a minute.....it seems that another driver had an issue with him. Then I heard Ed basically challenge this irate driver who threatened him and who was looking to start trouble. See, in the world of Ed Zbikowski you get respect when you give respect, simple as that. I wouldn't want to be stuck in a dark alley with Ed Zbikowski, that is unless he's on my side! Recruiting-wise? Ed took control of this recruiting thing from the get-go, Ed took notes and did his homework. Alot of parents could and should learn from Ed Zbikowski and they way he handled it all.....from the way he raised his family to the way he handled the recruiting process for Tommy Z!

Notre Dame you say? They just don't get it out there! They? They as in the millions of anti-Notre Damers, those rabid fans from across the country who openly campaigned for the services of Tommy Z. Notre Dame in Chicagoland has a unique advantage because when your a Catholic in Chicagoland and Notre Dame calls.....you listen. I guess the best way to describe this is in the movie Rudy, when one of the neighborhood kids asks Rudy's father, played by Ned Beatty, if they could watch the Indiana/Purdue game on the television, and Beatty responds with "Son, we only watch one team in this house (Notre Dame)." Was I the only one who really felt that scene? I seriously doubt it, bowl wins or no bowl wins!

The Hype? Certainly I saw this coming.....just ask Ed Zbikowski when I told him a few years ago to expect to lose use of his phone for a few years and then some. Basically we are all guilty of over-hyping kids, nyself certainly included, yet YOU the readers are also as guilty as the rest of us. We are the dealers....you are the users, it's as simple as that. At times the hype and critques of Tommy Z ranged from the upsetting to the hysterical to the disturbing. I saw major college websites write open and mushy love letters to Tommy Z (again is anyone else fearful of these sites and the potential for recruiting violations and other questionable practices) to flat out and bold-faced lies. Overall, Tommy Z handled the hype as well as any 18 year old kid should be expected to handle it.

So my message to Tommy Z? Where are the many quotes from the Zbikowski family, Tommy's girlfiend, his mailman or the family's doctor or their neighbors? Certainly those neighbors have something to say on his commitment, right? Honestly, I figured at this point I'll save my message to Tommy Z, and hasn't the Z's phone rang enough over the last year plus anyways? But what will I remember most? I'll remember a kid who busted his a$$ from the get-go, a kid who never stopped working and a kid who just never stopped. I'll remember a family who supported him and a family who always treated me with way too much respect.

Congrats Tommy Z. Who knows.....I might even become a Notre Dame fan!