-The entire Corner publishes Sundays on HQ. To read a transcript of Klee's latest chat, click here.

WHAT I'M HEARING
-Here's a new one for you: DEVIN LANGFORD, a 6-foot-5 guard out of Huntsville (Ala.) Lee High School. And the 2011 prospect is firmly on the Illinois radar.

UI coaches have tripped to Huntsville on three occasions during the fall contact period, including a trip Monday by head coach BRUCE WEBER.

"Illinois is a school he really likes. I called them once and talked with the assistant coach, I think it was coach (JERRANCE) HOWARD," Lee coach GREG BROWN said Wednesday. "I said, 'Coach I have a kid down here that you have to come down here and see.' He said, 'I'll be down there next week.' Just like that he was here. That's the easiest I've ever had a coach getting him in here. Then coach Weber, he came down."

-Truth is, Langford now is on recruiting radars from coast to coast. College staffs ranging from Maryland (ACC) to UNLV (Mountain West) to Georgia (SEC) to Illinois (Big Ten) have made the trip to Huntsville in recent weeks. Brown said the Kansas staff, among others, is scheduled to visit before the fall contact period concludes Tuesday.

"I get to the gym and we've got like four or five coaches in there," Brown said. "Not a day goes by that there's not four or five coaches in the gym. It's been crazy."

-The attention devoted to Langford wouldn't be exceptional - except that three or four months ago he largely was an unknown, at least nationally. Langford competed only sparingly on the club circuit in July, limiting his exposure. That decision hasn't limited his opportunites at a college scholarship.

"He didn't do a whole lot this summer with playing AAU. He played in one or two tournaments, that's about it," Brown said. "He'd play real well, a coach would see him, then he (Langford) kind of disappeared because then he wasn't at the next tournament. He would just kind of pick-and-choose where he would play."

-Brown said Langford averaged about 18 points as a sophomore. He plays three guard positions and is used as Lee's primary ballhandler.

"He's a really bright kid, a really good kid. He can play either one of the three positions, 1-2-3," Brown said. "A lot of major schools are looking at him for the point guard spot. He's got a lot of big-time skills that a lot of schools want."

-An Alabama standout attending Illinois certainly would be rare. The Illinois media guide indicates only one Alabama product to play for the Illini - Cleotis Brown, from 1998-2000.

Brown said Langford actually approached him about Illinois. And so the coach contacted the Illini coaches to let them know of his interest.

-But just as Midwest prospects sometimes view the ACC or Big East as the ultimate, Brown said players in the South view the Big Ten as a bigger stage than the schools they grew up watching. It's almost a grass-is-greener kind of thing.

"They look at that as a situation that very rarely happens for kids down south. The kids down south are really looking forward to programs like that," said Brown, who had six players on his team last year that earned Division I interest. "Only so many look forward to getting to Alabama and LSU and the SEC. But when you hear from Illinois it's different."

-The question is: Does a kid from the South have genuine interest in Illinois? Brown said yes.

"It's coach Weber, for one. He's basically become a legend," Brown said. "I've always been impressed with him, the way he treats his kids and the things his kids say about him when they leave. His relationshiop with his kids is never really over. They consult him about advice. It's very hard to find that type of relationship. I know it's a business, but he's a coach that takes it a little further than a business."

-Lee is scheduled to compete in several national events this season, including a stop in St. Louis for the Midwest Showdown in December.

-Weber was in Carbondale to see the Brehm Prep prospects earlier this week. That could include 2011 recruits JAMES SIAKAM, DRE HENLEY and BRUCE BARRON and 2012's EMMANUEL OCHENJE.

-An Illinois staffer also was in California this week to see 2011 big man KEVIN JOHNSON.

-Illinois' trio of 2010 recruits - CRANDALL HEAD, MEYERS LEONARD and JEREME RICHMOND - likely will reschedule their official visits for the Homecoming weekend of Oct. 10, when Illinois football hosts Michigan State. Head's knee surgery Wednesday prompted the change.

-UI freshman TYLER GRIFFEY has ties to Illinois' quarterback-of-the-future, NATHAN SCHEELHAASE. The two played against each other on the basketball court starting in the second or third grade, Griffey said.

"He was always really good. He always on the best team from Kansas City and I was on the team from St. Louis," Griffey said after a workout Tuesday.

pklee@news-gazette.com