Eastern Illinois connection

There is just something about that school. Eastern Illinois seems so incredibly unremarkable as a college university at first glance. They enroll about 8,000 students and feature a football program in the FCS portion of Division I. In other words they’re supposed to be one step below the cream of the crop. Yet for some reason it’s a school that continues to produce some outstanding individual talents.

Tony Romo is a four-time Pro Bowl quarterback from there. Mike Shanahan and Sean Payton are both NFL coaches who got degrees from there and have three Super Bowls between them. Garoppolo made his name there as well. Coincidentally, so did Bears GM Ryan Pace. It’s an exclusive group in the NFL, one that likes to stick together.

Many don’t remember that Romo was heavily recruited by both Shanahan and Payton a decade ago when he was an undrafted free agent. He ended up joining Payton in Dallas. The rest is history. Perhaps Pace is looking for some of that same magic with Garoppolo. After all he has deep connections with the school. He knows everything there is to know about the young quarterback and has been high on him since he was still with the New Orleans Saints.

More interesting info on the Garoppolo. #Bears have liked him since seeing him in preseason. Pace liked him when he was still with Saints. pic.twitter.com/nCwrXhVHZl

— Erik Lambert (@ErikLambert1) February 2, 2017

If Pace is interested in Garoppolo, it’s because he has a good reason. No other GM can say he went to the same school as his quarterback. That isn’t the primary reason the player and team make sense, but it’s one that can’t be ignored.