Sports editor Jim Rossow has picked 12 of his favorite stories from 2009. The list includes Bob Asmussen's preseason story on Illini lineman — and cricket expert — Clay Nurse:

By BOB ASMUSSEN

The tap on the shoulder happened in the High Point cafeteria. There stood sophomore Clay Nurse, minding his own business, when football coach Messay Hailemariam asked him, "Why aren't you out for football?"

Nurse's answer was some version of "What's football?"

Raised in Georgetown, Guyana, before moving to the Washington, D.C., area at age 15, Nurse knew all about cricket and soccer. But in his South American homeland, American football is about as common as a snowstorm.

"We saw it on TV back home," Nurse said. "But we just never felt like playing it. We didn't have the balls. We didn't know the rules."

Hailemariam looked at the sophomore's size and thought, "defensive end."

Good call.

"He just had unbelievable size," Hailemariam said. "You see a kid like that walking around and you say, 'Who the heck is this?' "

Six years later, and still relatively new to football, Nurse is competing for a starting spot on Ron Zook's defense.

Nurse gives plenty of thanks to Hailemariam, who looked past his inexperience to see his potential.

"He took me under his wing, taught me everything I needed to know," Nurse said. "He kept it really simple. I guess he taught it to me the way you'd teach it to a little kid."

Credit also has to go to Mike Locksley, the former Illinois offensive coordinator who recruited the D.C. area. While looking at a film of another player, Locksley kept noticing No. 88.

"He was jumping off the tape," said Locksley, now the first-year head coach at New Mexico.

Locksley wasn't eager to have anybody else recruit Nurse.

"As soon as he saw him, he said, 'Don't you dare call anybody else about this kid,' " Hailemariam said.

Locksley calls him a "diamond in the rough-type guy."

"In recruiting, you can't take too many of those guys," Locksley said. "But the philosophy has always been if you're going to make a mistake, make it with athleticism."

While there is value in Nurse's background in soccer and cricket, neither sport prepared him for the physical part of football.

"That's where he's had the biggest road to make up," Locksley said. "He's always been a guy you can put on the edge and he'd rush the passer. But was he physically able to hold up against the run? Those are the things that he's had to learn."

Learning curve

Nurse's first few days of football weren't smooth.

"When he came out there, and I kid you not, he didn't even know how to put his stuff on," Hailemariam said.

"I thought I had it right the first time," Nurse said.

Nurse's talent was obvious the first practice.

"We put him on special teams," Hailemariam said. "He ran down and ran through the kid, with his chest open. He decleated the kid. I was like, 'Oh my God, we have something pretty special on our hands.' We didn't know how special until he started learning the game."

In an early practice, Nurse hit the quarterback hard enough that the head coach ran over to find out who made the play. The Guyanese version of "The Waterboy."

"He was like, 'Who's that? Who just hit that guy?' " Nurse said. "I thought I did something wrong, so I didn't want to put my hand up at first. They were like, 'It's the new dude, Clay, the one from off the boat.' "

Six games into Nurse's first full season, Hailemariam started seeing it click. Nurse started to understand what was required.

His background as a soccer goalie helped. So did the hand-eye coordination Nurse picked up from cricket.

As a junior, Nurse started showing the ability to play in college. He first heard from Maryland.

"I always grew up to be content with what I had and if I needed something, I'd work for it," Nurse said. "When I found out I could actually play a sport in college and get my education paid for, I was like, 'That's all I need to hear. I'm playing a game for an education. That sounds like a win-win to me.' "

Illinois kept following his progress and made an offer during the middle of his senior season. Nurse made a commitment on Dec. 7, 2006. He didn't have any other offers, but Maryland, Syracuse and UConn had shown interest.

It didn't matter.

"Clay fell in love with Illinois when he walked on campus," Hailemariam said.

The players treated him well during his recruitment and kept it up after he arrived at Illinois.

There is curiosity about his background. Nurse told his teammates about hunting and eating alligator, a delicacy in Guyana.

"They find it weird that I know how to track animals," Nurse said.

Free school? Cool

Marcia Leitch promised her son he was going to college. Even if it meant working three jobs.

Illinois made it easier on her with a scholarship offer.

"There's not enough words for me to explain what it means," Leitch said.

She remembers praying for college help.

"I said, 'God, I don't know much about scholarships,' " Leitch said. "But whatever it is, I ask that you bless Clay with a scholarship.' Three times I prayed that prayer. I think, honestly, that God picked that football coach to start Clay out."

Leitch had pushed academics to her son from early in his life. He followed her wishes.

"I wanted him to turn out to be somebody great in life academically," Leitch said.

When Nurse first asked his mom about playing football, she didn't object. Of course, football to her meant soccer.

"I had no idea about the game," Leitch said. "When I saw it the first time, it was complicated to me. It was like a child learning to walk or learning to read for the very first time. Or you put a puzzle in front of a kid and you say, 'Fix that puzzle,' and you don't know where to start."

Nurse sat down with his mom and helped teach her the game. They would watch football on television.

"He said, 'Mom, if I'm going to play the game, you have to understand the game,' " Leitch said. "He would tell me what a touchdown was and that kind of stuff."

Leitch soon realized football had become an important part of Nurse's life.

"It is amazing the way he took to the sport," Leitch said. "He loved that sport. He slept with a ball. I have that ball now in my china cabinet."

Waiting his turn

Nurse suffered a shoulder injury as a freshman at Illinois and took a medical redshirt. He played in five games his second year and all 12 in 2008.

Finding the right spot for him wasn't easy. The coaches thought he could play linebacker or tight end. Finally, they decided on defensive end.

"He's kind of in that tweener mode," Locksley said. "He just continued to get bigger and stronger. His best football is probably ahead of him and, hopefully, he'll have a big year for them this year."

That's the plan for Nurse, who is competing with Antonio James for the starting spot opposite Doug Pilcher.

Nurse is coming off a solid spring. He is as healthy as ever. Time to make an impact.

"It's like a dream come true," Nurse said. "Last year, I felt like I was going to play, but we had two or three NFL guys playing. Everybody wasn't going to get snaps."

Nurse's track is normal. Linemen don't often get on the field early in their careers. So, he turned to special teams.

"They found another way to get me on the field, found another way to expose me to the game," Nurse said. "When I got on the field. I'm not going to be in shock. I'm not going to be a deer in the headlights. I know what it's like to be on the field in front of the crowd. I know what it's like to make a play out there. It's going to come more natural for me."

There are plenty of people rooting for Nurse, including his former coach.

"I'm so happy for him," Hailemariam said. "There's so much out of him that hasn't been tapped into. The harder the competition, the better. He's going to be a good one for the next couple years."