MADISON, Wis. – When it came time to pick a college, Tony Simmons wanted to cross the line. The state line.
The Chicago St. Rita star studied his choices and picked Wisconsin. He didn't bother visiting anywhere else.
"I fell in love with the place," Simmons said. "It had everything."
Including a border between the school and his hometown.
"I wanted to go away from home, out of the state," Simmons said. "Most of my friends stayed in Illinois. I just wanted to get outside the state for a change of pace. I wanted to go somewhere different."
For Illinois high school players, "somewhere different" often means Wisconsin. Twelve Illinoisans play for the Badgers. Five are listed among the two-deep. Three, including All-Big Ten candidate Simmons, are starters.
The numbers are too high for Illinois coach Ron Turner.
"It doesn't surprise me," Turner said. "We've just go to make sure they don't keep getting them. We want to get all the players in the state that we want. That's what we're striving to achieve."
There's no deep, dark secret that keeps bringing the Illinoisans to Madison, Simmons said.
"They're selling the same thing Illinois is selling," Simmons said. "It's just 'Where do you want to go?' It's not like 'I want to go to Illinois because I'm from Illinois.' That doesn't mean anything. If that was the truth, everybody would be in-state players."
Geographically speaking, Simmons didn't give up anything when he picked the Badgers. The wide receiver is 21/2 hours from home. Had he gone to Illinois, the drive would have been about the same.

The big game

Seven or eight of Simmons' friends from Chicago make it to Madison for most games. They were in the stands for Indiana and Boise State. But Illinois is the team they really look forward to.
"It's a big deal to them," Simmons said.
The game isn't a big deal to the senior wide receiver.
"It's another game," Simmons said. "That's how you're supposed to treat it."
This is not just another game to Wisconsin offensive coordinator Brad Childress.
The Aurora native has a history with the Illini. Some of it's good. Some of it is not so good.
Childress was a member of Mike White's Illinois staff that made it to the 1984 Rose Bowl. He worked for five years with Illini running backs and wide receivers.
Childress, an Eastern Illinois graduate, joined Barry Alvarez's staff in 1991. He was promoted to offensive coordinator the following season.
Because of his background in the state, Childress is Wisconsin's go-to recruiter in Chicago.

A familiar face

The coaches in Chicago have learned to trust Childress and the Wisconsin staff. They know he'll be back year after year, looking for another Tony Simmons or Scott Kavanagh.
"I've recruited down there 20, 25 years," Childress said. "You have those relationships with coaches.
"We recruit Chicago like an in-state area."
Chicago is the second-most important recruiting area for the Badgers. First, they want to take the top seven or eight players out of Wisconsin.
"Then, we're going to go down there and see if we can get the kids we want out of there," Childress said.
Wisconsin isn't the only school looking in Chicago. Because the city is so easy to get to, Childress thinks it is overrecruited.
"I believe that there's always a handful of blue-chip kids," Childress said. "There's other good football players. There's a lot of scholarships that come out of there in the Big Ten."

Bob Asmussen is a News-Gazette staff writer. His column on college football appears Saturdays throughout the season.