Western Courier | April 18th, 2018

Sports: NFL draft approaching.

Opinions: Don't fire Mueller.

Sports: Baseball takes on the Bradley

Wednesday, April 18, 2018 - Vol. 118 Issue 79

Higher values in Higher Education discussed

By Marc Ramirez assistant news editor

JOSH PURNELL/COURIER STAFF

Debbie Kepple-Mamros, Assistant to Vice president for Quad Cities & Planning Joe Rives (bottom) discusses the Higher Values in Higher Education 2017-2027 document in the Student Government Association led by Patrick Quinlan (top).

The Student Government Association had a guest speaker during their general assembly meeting on Tuesday. Debbie Kepple-Mamros, Assistant to Vice President for Quad Cities & Planning Joe Rives joined the meeting via Zoom to discuss the proposed Higher Values in Higher Education 20172027 document.

Kepple-Mamros held the discussion to get the student body’s perspectives on different areas of improvement in the years to come to support Western Illinois University and the institution’s different goals within the upcoming years.

“This is the university strategic plan and we would really like your feedback,” Kepple-Mamros said. “This document is the Universities' goals for the next 10 years.”

The goals in this plan were expressed as maybe seem-

ing off. They were intentionally done this way to provide leeway in hopefully getting these goals reached within the next 10 years. Within the plan it was expressed that Western hopes to stabilize enrollment at 10,000 students and get retention and graduation rates that place in the top 25 percent of peer institutions.

“We really need to prioritize these goals, so our first prioritized goal is going to be enrich academic excellence, number two will be stabilize enrollment and number three will be support faculty and staff,” Kepple-Mamros said.

With supporting our faculty and staff, the plan wishes to address Faculty Senate at Western and their previously brought up concerns with student to faculty ratio and wish to have a more solid number. However since the university wishes to be able to compete and stay up to date with those of the schools around us, they do not wish

to put in confining numbers, so we can remain flexible to that of the surrounding institutions, according to Kepple-Mamros.

Members of the Student Government Association pushed to have students involved in various task forces across the different goals of the Higher Values in Higher Education document in efforts to ensure students voices are heard when it comes down to making changes that would affect them. For example, in providing students with electronic services to give them real time support for online services.

According to Kepple-Mamros, electronic advances could not be laid out due to the fact that technology grows with years to come and different possibilities could be assessed.

SGA page 3

City Council settles on a budget

GARY CARTER/ COURIER STAFF

Alderman at Large Dennis Moon (right) and Mayor Mike Inman (left) discuss the next fiscal budget.

By Steven Barnum assistant news editor

The Macomb City Council has officially adopted a budget for the next fiscal year.

The budget, which has been available for members of the public to examine and was recently discussed at a public hearing, totals to $25,677,000.

While the budget was passed for the next fiscal year of May 1 of 2018 to April 30 of 2019, not every council member had an optimistic outlook about the town’s future.

“We can’t continue to pass deficit budgets,” Alderman at Large Dennis Moon said.

“I’m afraid, next year, we’re going to have to start making some tough decisions.”

The highly touted 2018 Street Improvement Project, which will call for construction from Calhoun Street to University Drive, was discussed on Monday night.

Several bids were received until Gunther Construction was selected to complete the project.

Since the combination bid offer was significantly high-

er than the construction estimate, the city of Macomb negotiated with the company and recently came to a compromise. According to Public Works Director Scott Coker, the city made several changes in the project in its effort to drive the cost down to a more reasonable number of $400,877.

“We feel that’s a doable

number within our budget to complete the project,” Coker said.

Leery, the unplanned adjustments will backfire on the city, Moon voted no on the motion, which was carried with a vote of six to one.

Coucil

page 3

2

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

NEWS

WesternCourier.com

Western features

Pakistan in the last Cultural Cafe

By William Turkington courier staff

The Center for International Studies hosted their last Cultural Café of the academic year featuring the country of Pakistan in the Heritage Room of the University Union on Monday.

The crowd of 70 or so consisting of faculty members, Western staff, and students enjoyed an authentic Pakistani lunch prepared by Sodexo, with the recipe provided by Muhammad Omer, the afternoon’s presenter.

The lunch featured briyani rice with chicken, along with rice pudding.

Omer is currently completing his master’s degree in com-

Joshua Bowling courier staff

Local emergency response organizations, including Western’s Office of Public Safety and Western Emergency Services teamed up to hold a Mock DUI in Q-lot on Monday.

The cold weather didn’t pre-

WC Located on the third floor of the Heating Plant Annex on the south end of campus across from Sherman Hall.

Mail: 1 University Circle, WIU, Macomb, IL 61455 Phone: 309-298-1876 Fax: 309-298-2309 Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays E-mail: micour@wiu.edu Member: Illinois College Press Association, National Association College Press

puter science at Western and is graduating this May. He also works as a graduate assistant for the Center for International Studies, the organization who puts on these events.

Omer started his presentation by telling about the geography of Pakistan. He explained that the “stan” in Pakistan means “land” in Persian, which is why we see so many countries in the region have “stan” in the name of their country.

Omer said that English was the official language of Pakistan but Urdu was considered as the national language.

“Only 10 percent of Pakistani’s speak Urdu because there are over 60 languages spoken in the country,” Omer said.

Pakistan has a very interesting national animal, the Markhor, which is a sort of mountain goat with curly horns. Markhor means “snake eater.”

“The reason why it’s called ‘snake eater’ is because there is an animosity between it and snakes,” Omer said.

“This animal will find and kill all snakes.”

Omer then talked about the rich history of Pakistan’s culture and how it formed throughout its history.

“In the past few thousand years there have been Turks, Afghans, and Greeks invading and when they do they bring their own culture,” Omer said. “Over the centuries it infused and became its own beautiful culture.”

Omer explained how different terrain in different parts of Pakistan shape its culture especially when it comes to food. The Sindh province specializes in seafood because it is a coastal area; whereas in the Balochistan province, lamb is the preferred meat.

The province of Punjab, where Omer and 56 percent of the Pakistani population is from, shares much of its culture with India because of its proximity and history with India.

“Punjabi culture is one of the oldest in the world,” Omer said. “The scope, history, and density of the culture is vast.”

During the question and answer portion of the presentation, the crowd seemed very interested in Pakistani

wedding practices, and asked Omer about the proceedings of the ceremony, what gifts to the bride and groom are considered normal and how the bride and groom are paired up.

Unlike Western culture, it’s the elders who pick the bride and groom,” Omer said. “The ceremony can take an hour or several days depending on the families.”

If you’re interested in getting to know foreign cultures more, look out for Cultural Cafes like this next year. The Center for International Studies is also hosting its last International Coffee Hour of the semester on May 2, from 3-4 p.m. in Horrabin 1 which will feature the country of South Korea.

vent the event from taking place and showing Western students, faculty and local area high school students the dangers of drunk driving and the response from local emergency services. At the event there were two damaged cars and five passengers dramatizing a drunk-driving accident.

One of the people involved in the crash called 911 and then all the organizations present began reacting to the crash as if it were real. During the event DUI statistics and information were being read.

“Every 120 seconds a DUI accident occurs,” the narrator said. “Traffic accidents are the

leading cause of death among teens and many of them involve alcohol.”

Many local emergency response teams were at the event showing how they would help in a DUI accident.

The organizations involved were: Macomb Police Department, Macomb

Fire Department, Illinois State Police, McDonough County Sheriff's Office, Office of Public Safety, Western Emergency Services, the county coroner and an air-evac that provided a helicopter and ambulance.

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DUI

from page 2

The ‘Jaws of Life’ were used by the Macomb Fire Department to remove the passengers from one of the vehicles. One of the passengers played dead and the other passengers were taken away in an ambulance.

A helicopter was supposed to arrive but unfortunately couldn’t participate in the Mock DUI. “This is a realistic response to a DUI accident. If something like this were to happen, a dispatch would come out and all available emergency response organizations would come to the scene,” Madison Merritt, Special Project Coordinator for WEMS said.

Council from front page

Giving a lengthy presentation on the town’s water facilities and future were Maurer Stutz and Keith Plavec, business partners in a consulting engineering firm.

Plavec explained that for each cup of water collected from Spring Lake, 20 percent of the water turns into waste after it runs through the water treatment system. It was also explained that Spring Lake might not be a reliable water source for Macomb in the future; 26 percent of the lake’s water was lost from May of 2016 to April of 2017.

Since Spring Lake cannot be expanded, several solutions were proposed.

One recommended solution was to adopt a new primary water source, while moving Spring Lake to the backup source. One way to do that would be to look for a remote location to put a water plant, which would increase

SGA

from front page

Mobile student ID and online tutoring were topics that could possibly be implemented in years to come.

The legislative session also consisted of light discussion on amendments to the Student Government

Wednesday, April 18, 2018 Local high school students also attended the event.

“We like to bring our students to things like this to remind them of the dangers of drunk driving especially around Prom time,” Tammy Williams, a teacher at Cuba High Sc,hool said. “We are privileged to be here. I think this will have a positive impact on our students and affect them for the rest of their lives. I just wish it wasn’t so darn cold.”

“I remember doing something like this in high school and it definitely had an impact on me,” Merritt said. ”It’s good to remind people not to drink and drive.”

the overall water capacity to keep up with the community’s demand. Another solution was to put in a pump station next to the town’s water pump to decrease the amount of water that turns into waste.

In other business, the city fee schedule and the citywide clean up were also discussed.

Amending the city fee schedule was approved despite Alderman Gayle Carper voting no. The monthly increase has been discussed in depth in previous meetings. Residents of Macomb’s northwest quadrant will be given another opportunity to discard their unwanted items; in addition to May 14 -17, they will now also have Monday, May 21.

To cap the night off, Mayor Mike Inman received concurrence from the council on reappointing Al Reusch to the Macomb Police Pension Board and Ron Runser to the Macomb Zoning Board of Appeals. For more on Macomb, city council meetings are held each Monday at 5:15 p.m. in City Hall.

Association Constitution.

The association also went into an executive session when discussion of the UPI Local 4100 Chapter intending on proposing a strike.

The SGA has previously passed legislation to not get involved with such issues unless they begin to conflict with the higher education of students enrolled at Western.

NEWS 3

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

4 OPINIONS

WesternCourier.com

You can't fire Mueller, Donnie

A common campaign promise from most presidential candidates is that they possess the ability to work with both sides. A promise that most politicians make but very few who win the presidency or any other position that has to work with a governing body demonstrate.

President Barack Obama ran on a platform that he worked across the aisle on bills as a freshman senator and would be able to do it as president. When it came to bills during his presidency though,

congress was as separated as a middle school dance.

Recent action by a few senators though has shown that President Donald Trump does have the power to bring the parties together. Just not in the way he would have planned. After the recent decision by Robert Mueller to raid the office and hotel room of Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen looking for financial records, Trump has been pretty clear about his opinion on Mueller and the investigation on Twitter. He states

that Mueller’s special investigation is a witch hunt and that they are just trying to distract people from real issues. Including a tweet where he said that if he would have wanted Mueller fired by now, he would have fired him.

This sentiment is what has worried both sides of congress. Trump has already proven he has no problem firing people he doesn’t like or may get in his way. Including former FBI Director James Comey and more recently former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was just hours away from qualifying for retirement. A move which many people think was cold. With Trump’s habits of pulling the pink slip with ease, some lawmakers are worried that Mueller may get the slip if he gets

Money is important Is there a relationship between money and happiness? I know and understand that not having enough money to cover your basic needs can cause stress. But there have been examples where the meaning of basic needs have been looked at differently by different people.

Maybe it’s more about the expectations and what we desire rather than what we need. We also know many people who make great amounts of money but are still not happy. If having a great amount of money is equivalent to happiness, how do you explain those who do not have a lot of money but are happy?

Looking at my personal life, I’m not filthy rich, but my family and I are pretty well-off and I am still happy. I don’t have money where I can just spend, spend and spend but I’m still happy; happy with my academics, and where I’m at in my life right now. I do not think that money can buy happiness; there is no correlation between mon-

ey and happiness.

What makes you happy are the other things in life; such as family, friends, your significant others, pets, jobs, etc. Things that we enjoy doing and things we look forward to are the things that make us happy in life. Happiness is about your life, the components of your life and how you live your life. If you are happy with making a lot of money, then money and your job makes you happy. There is a certain amount of money where we all have to meet our required necessities and accomplishing those basic needs make us happy.

Having more money, your worries and stress level increase greatly. You begin to worry more about getting more money to pay bills, go on trips, and look good with all of the money you have. Having just enough money, you do what you have to do with your money and then you know you’re satisfied which brings happiness. The fear of losing money, spending

useless money, and even being taken for granted for your money becomes a worry and headache. Trying to make a whole lot of money to make you happy sometimes may mean you need to have a stressful and hard job that may or may not interest you.

In today’s society, there is no real meaning of happiness. Happiness is feeling joy and bliss whether it comes in spurts or is a constant. Today’s happiness is different then past generations, where it was easier to obtain.

Today’s generations only know being excited and joyful for a moment of time due to an instant event that happened. After the instant that happiness ends, we lose that feeling and begin to look for other things to bring those emotions back. It goes the same way with money; once we have made a certain amount we are content and once that amount is gone, we are desperately seeking other ways to reach that point again in both emotions and finances.

Money can’t buy everything we want in life. We can’t buy peace, joy, health and strength with money. It could help acheive these things in life but in life happiness comes from the way we live.

to close to uncovering something about Trump.

According to CNN, Senators Lindsey Graham of South and Thom Tillis of the Republican party and Democratic Senators Chris Coons and Cory Booker have combined to offer legislation that would protect a special counsel from being removed by the attorney general unless he is incapable or abuses the powers he’s given.

Any special counsel removed would have 10 days to petition for a judicial review to see if they were removed for a just cause. During the review, all evidence collected by the special counsel would be protected. While the legal nature of this bill is still being questioned and looked into the point is clear.

Lawmakers don’t want to see

this investigation get sweept under the rug or stopped for enough time to have evidence destroyed.

Mueller waited a long time to finally look into Trump and his financial records and Trump’s reaction suggests there’s something there. The Stormy Daniels situation being brought to light is part of what is leading to this new direction of the special investigation, as it may be an easy way into Trump’s financial records for Mueller, as the use of shush money shows some of Trump’s people’s tactics when it comes to keeping the image of the president clean.

Whether or not this pans out to anything, Mueller’s job must be protected until the special investigation is concluded.

Beyonce is not a goddess Beyonce's two-hour, “HBeyCU” themed Coachella performance has the media raving about where she stands in comparison to other legendary artists. As the first black woman to headline Coachella, Beyonce’s performance symbolized black pride.

There was a marching band, quotes from black activists such as MLK and Malcolm X, she even sang the black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice.” It’s no doubt that her performance was stellar.

However, I don’t think she tops Michael Jackson as the best entertainer of all-time. To me, that’s a stretch.

Last week Wendy Williams named Beyonce “the greatest performer of all-time.” Her comment quickly raised debate over Twitter and Instagram on whether she should even be compared to great performers before her time such as Prince and Jackson. Many people, including myself, strongly disagree that Beyonce is a better performer than Jackson.

He not only was a remarkable vocalist, but his dancing alone could never be compared. He was more of a natural dancer rather than a choreographed performer. He studied the moves of James Brown and Jackie Wilson, and he didn’t need much choreography when he performed. I am not knocking Beyonce for her talent. She is amazing at what she does. But the line has to be drawn somewhere.

I feel as if people praise celebrities

more than they would an actual religious figure. They are perceived as powerful and more than human.

I read an article from “HelloGiggles.com” that said “We’ve had our suspicions, but this act confirms that Beyoncé must be at least halfGod.” Seriously, half-God? All because she can sing and dance.

It’s getting to the point where a divide is being made in the human race, placing celebrities at the top tier where regular working people go unrecognized for what they do.

What about doctors, firemen and soldiers who all devote their lives to saving the lives of others while putting their own in danger, shouldn’t they be considered half-God too? I don’t feel it’s right that just because a person is put in the limelight that their abilities and talents should be the only ones that are considered important. We all have contributed to this world one way or another, and we all deserve equal respect for those contributions.

Back to Beyonce’s performance.

I will commend her for using her platform to pay homage to those who paved the way in order for her to have the opportunity to headline Coachella as a black woman.

In my opinion, I just don’t think she’s better than Jackson. And I certainly don’t think she should be considered a God. There are plenty of people in this world who do amazing things Publicity and fame shouldn’t make any person superior to others.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

@WesternCourier

Value your education We were all fortunate enough to get an education growing up, in fact we are very fortunate to be allowed an education. If you take a look at our past history, you will notice that not everyone was allowed to walk into a school, sit down in a nice desk and learn for multiple hours a day.

Because of the education we received growing up we know the history and the difficult times some students would have to go through.

As early as the 1800’s, the education system was designed for men.

Since that time you can only imagine the increase of female students.

How about I bring up something that was less than 60 years ago? In the late 1960’s most African American, Latino and Native America students were taught in completely different schools than the White students. Since those times things have obviously changed for the better.

Men and women are allowed to receive an education without any stares from other people and all races are being taught in the same classrooms. As I quickly wrap up this little history lesson, I just want to point out how difficult it must have been for people to get an edu-

cation compared to what we are given right now.

Students woke up with fear, as they were getting ready to attend class because they were afraid someone would want to kill them that day, just because they wanted to educate themselves. Every day, students would risk their lives because they wanted to better educate themselves.

The main point of this was to point out how important education is. Without education I wouldn’t be typing up this article on my laptop, because it wouldn’t have existed without Adam Osborne’s who did not just wake up one day and know how to invent a laptop, but he learned how to do all of that.

Without education, you wouldn’t be reading this article right now because well, you wouldn’t know how. Anything and everything eventually evolved from education. Our professors don’t wake up each morning and willingly go to class to teach students things they thought were not important, they do it to educate us and help us better ourselves. Growing up I despised going to school. I thought that school was a complete waste of my time and energy and it would

never benefit me in the future.

Until one day I had a complete eye opener.

In high school I would volunteer my time and help students with disabilities in physical education class. A typical day would include a quick lesson of how to play a certain sport, the rules and the correct way to play. A few weeks beforehand, I taught my students a few racket sports and the differences between them. One day I had one of my students tell me that they went home and told their families that they learned to play a new game in P.E. and even gave them a quick lesson on how to play!

The student then thanked me for teaching them this fun game and continued playing.

From that point on I knew I wanted to become a teacher one day. It was a simple complement like that, that showed me that students are always learning, even if it is something as simple as the difference between two racket sports. I would love to be the reason why someone learns and actually enjoys it. From that point on I looked at the education system in a completely different way. I appreciate what I’ve been taught, and I want to further my education because of it.

So the next time you contemplate skipping your 9 a.m. class because you’re tired, remember that someone would love to take your spot and educate themselves.

OPINIONS 5

Editorial Policy The editoral views of the Western Courier shall be confined to this editorial and are to be separate from news coverage otherwise noted. The editoral presented is based on the ideas and views of the WC editoral board.Columns are the opinions of the columnists alone and should not be construed as the opinions and beliefs of the WC staff as a whole.

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2018 Spring Semester Editorial Board Editor-in-Cheif - Nicholas Ebelhack Edge Editor - Baylee Bryntesson Opinions Editor - Ryan Zurek

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

6 SPORTS

WesternCourier.com

Baseball from back page

He is now getting out of the infamous “sophomore slump,” and hitting .239, and leads the team with junior Deion Thompson with two home runs. Even though they don’t have a lot of powerful hits this season, they make up for it with their ability to steal bases and bunt the ball. Thompson and Galassi lead the team in steals, both having 19 of them.

Bunting the ball has been just as efficient for the Leathernecks, driving in two of their five runs from last Friday’s game.

The key of the game on defense for the Purple and Gold is to obviously slow down Bradley’s offense. Last game the Braves scored 12 runs in the first three innings, whoever pitches is going to have to do a better job of containing them early on.

GOLEATHERNECKS.COM

Jasmine Brown lands in pit after triple jump.

Track

from back page

Last Friday, Mizzou posted two top-five finishes. Senior Mark Sheridan finished fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.81. Sophomore Faramola Shonekan followed right behind as she finished in the women’s 800-meter run at 2:20.45.

Additionally, redshirt junior Will Fife came in second with a personal best mark of 52.14 meters in the men’s discus.

For the women’s discus, redshirt junior Gabi Jacobs won the event with the season-best throw of 55.42 meters. This was her third consecutive win for the outdoor season. She also adds this new personal best to her school, as this is the newest school record to beat.

On Saturday, the Tigers would continue breaking records in the field events, with Fife finishing in first place in the shot put with 17.82 meters. Junior Karissa Roman also took first in the high jump

with 1.70 meters.

For the track events, redshirt freshman Karina Liz crossed the finish line in the 800-meter run with a third place finish, and a new personal best time of 2:10.78. Freshman Chris Conrad also finished in third in the men’s 800-meter run at 1:51.26.

This weekend will have a lot of highlights and possibly new personal bests for both the Tigers and Western.

The events will kickoff on Friday at 4:30 p.m.

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For offense, their goal should be to score early and often.

It might sound cliché, but Western was down 14-1 last game. They’re going to have to match the intensity of the Braves offense if they want to win.

The next eight of nine games will be on the road for the Leathernecks. It won’t be an easy task, but they can get some much needed momentum with a win on Wednesday.

The Leathernecks will be on the road this week. They are looking for some revenge on Wednesday in Peoria against Bradley University, who beat them earlier in the year. Then they will play three games against North Dakota State University. They won two out of three the first time they played Bison and look to win another series against them.

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Deion Thompson at bat for the Leathernecks.

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Looking for 2 roommates to share a 3-bedroom furnished house beginning in August for 2018-19. 10- to 12-month contract. New carpet, air, garage w/ storage, laundry. $300 each per month, plus utilities. Call Sharon at 309-338-3888.

RATES $5.50 per issue (open rate) $4.00 per issue (campus rate)

For Rent Available now: Close to campus, clean studio apartments, excellent condition, reasonable rent, and partly furnished.

Ceiling fans and a/c. Professionally maintained. No pets.

Semester leases offered. Call 309 837 4369 and leave your phone number if not there. Email: MandKhousing@gmail.com ALL APARTMENTS - ALL INCLUSIVE Get control of your budget. Know exactly what you are spending each month. Each apartment includes free a/c, free heat, free electricity, free water, free cable tv, free hi speed internet, and free off street parking. Laundry on site.

No noise policy. Bus stop across the street. Close to campus. Well maintained. Studios are $460/mo, One bedrooms are $620/mo. Call Doug at 309-255-8179 for an appointment.

Westen Investments still has affordable 1-4 Bedroom Apartment/Houses available. Be sure to check out our website (www.westeninvest.com) to see our available listings, and call our office at 309-833-5995 to schedule a showing. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to win prize giveaways!

APARTMENT FOR RENT: FOR QUIET PERSON. ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT FOR RENT LOCATED AT 314 West Carroll ST Macomb, Ill 61455. Available end of August 2017-new carpeting yearly lease SMALEST FURNISHED IN MACOMB $345.00/month - HEAT & AC INCLUDED private entrance, off-street parking included call for appointment309-837-4748 or 255-5075 woodburning fireplace, ask for Paul.

For Rent: Little Swan Lake, 30 min from campus. 2br, 2bth, heated double car garage with work area. $600 per mo.

(309) 335-2206 after 6:00 pm, may leave message anytime.

Spacious 3 Bedroom Upper in Duplex close to campus and Jackson St. All utilities furnished and appliances Includes cable and internet 18/19 school year $375.00 per Br Ph 309 255 8086 Please leave message

Sports 7

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

@WesternCourier

A guide to the NFL Draft

The National Football League will hold their annual draft on Thursday, April 26, 2018. The draft will be held at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. The draft is always exciting, but this year has the potential to be even more thrilling.

The NFL Draft has a total of seven rounds, and each team has the same number of draft picks.

With these draft picks, each team has the opportunity to draft a prospect, or trade their pick to move up and down in the draft order. This is why some teams have more picks than other teams. This is one of the most anticipated events for football fans during the offseason and gives each fan a glimmer of hope for their favorite teams. This year’s draft is going to be something special because of the surplus of quarterback talent at the collegiate level.

This year, plenty of teams at the top of the order are in need of that franchise altering quarterback, and this draft class has plenty of them. The Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, New York Jets, Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals and the Buffalo Bills are all trying to find their franchise quarterback. The top quarterbacks in this class are Sam Darnold from the University of Southern Carolina, Josh Rosen from the University of Californa Los Angeles, Josh Allen from the University of Wyoming, Baker

Mayfield from the University of Oklahoma and Lamar Jackson from the University of Louisville.

These quarterbacks figure to be the picks for these “quarterback needy” teams. However, there are some notable “can’t miss” prospects at the top of the draft order that are being over shadowed by this strong quarterback class.

Running-back Saquan Barkley from Penn State could potentially be the best running-back of this generation, and pass-rusher Bradley Chubb is the most physically gifted edge rusher to come out of college since Jadevon Clowney. You also can’t forget about the top offensive lineman in this year’s class. Quinten Nelson out of Notre Dame. He is drawing in pro comparisons to Zach Martin, and has some experts calling him the best player in this draft class. Because of the heavy amount of quarterbacks that are going to be picked in the top ten of the draft, it is going to allow teams further on down the order to snag one of these elite prospects that normally would not be there.

Teams like Chicago, Tampa Bay, Indianapolis and San Francisco can potentially get a franchise-altering talent in the back end of the top end.

This is absurd to think because some of these players that are going to fall in the draft would normally be drafted in

the top three of any other draft, and this is even without any trades happening.

My guess is there will probably be around two trades in the top ten to trade up for either a quarterback or one of the other elite prospects I listed above. I believe the top ten will go something like this.

The Cleveland Browns will select Quarterback Sam Darnold from USC with the first overall pick in the draft. The Browns have been awaiting their franchise quarterback for as long as anyone can remember, and what better way to secure “their guy” than with the first overall picks in the Draft.

Second overall, The New York Giants will select Josh Rosen from UCLA. The Giants are in the dwindling era of Eli Manning and need to find their new heir. Josh Rosen still needs development, and what better way to develop than under a two-time Super Bowl champion.

The New York Jets traded up with Indianapolis Colts to select their quarterback at the third pick. The Jets will select Baker Mayfield from Oklahoma. Baker has some character concerns, but he is one player that can change the culture inside a franchise and that is what the Jets sorely need.

The Cleveland Browns own the pick from Houston due to a trade last year. The Browns selected the dynamic running back Saquon Barkley at the fourth spot. While running back is not essentially a need for Cleveland, they opt to take the best available player.

The Denver Broncos select

offensive Guard Quinten Nelson with the number five overall pick. Denver signed quarterback Case Keenum in Free Agency and opt to go with the best player available to protect there newly signed QB. In the sixth spot, the Indianapolis Colts get extremely lucky and select the most physically gifted player in the Draft in Bradley Chubb. He will be the foundational piece in their very poor defensive unit.

Tampa Bay goes for the defense and drafts stud corner Minkah Fitzpatrick at number seven. This is another player that slips because of the surge of quarterbacks taken early in the draft.

With the eighth pick in the draft, the Chicago Bears look to bolster their defense with linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. He is arguably the best Linebacker in the draft and has drawn comparisons to Ray Lewis.

At the ninth spot in the draft, the 49ers find themselves desperately needing to find Jimmy Garoppolo more opportunities, and that is why they reach for a position of need, and draft ride receiver Calvin Ridley from Alabama.

To round out the top 10, the Oakland Raiders go with the best player available and draft Denzel Ward from Ohio State to be the No.1 corner in their weak secondary.

Now this is all subject to change on draft night where we have seen that anything can happen, but this is a great blueprint of how things will shape up on the night that changes so many young athlete’s lives.

Eaton and Snodgrass lead the way

Drew Eaton follows through on a swing.

GOLEATHERNECKS.COM

MACOMB, Ill. - The weather was much more cooperative for the final round of the 46th Annual Beu Mussatto Invitational on Tuesday (April 17) and the scores showed it.

Western Illinois men's golf had two teams in the field, with the grouping of Drew Eaton (+7), Trent Snodgrass (+9), Sean Miller (+9), Jackson Wetherbee (+10), and Kyle Irlbacker (+13) finishing in sixth place with a score of +34. The Leathernecks' 'B' team of Dennis Reedy (+12), Wyatt Spier (+16), Joe Burke (+20), John Duggan III (+21), and Graham Conrad (+21) finished 11th in the 16-team field.

Both improved on their scores from the first round with Western 'A' bettering day two by 14 strokes.

"We had a really good field today with national experience," said head coach Mel Blasi. "We didn't play very well yesterday, and we got ourselves in a position where we had too many strokes to make up today. We have a young group and I think we are very capable going into the Summit League Tournament.

We haven't played our best yet and these guys work hard and are capable of doing great things.

"Drew and Trent finished their rounds well today and Jackson was steady. Those three guys have been consistent all year long."

Indian Hills Community College won the Beu Mussatto Invitational with a team score of +14. The remainder of the top five was filled by Iowa

Western Community College (+20), William Woods (+26), Cardinal Stritch (+27), and William Woods 'B' (+32).

Individually, Brian Murtagh from Cardinal Stritch won the tournament with a 36-hole score of +1.

Eaton posted a teamhigh score of +7 for the Leathernecks to finish tied for 12th, and was joined in the top 25 of the 90-player field

by Snodgrass and Miller who both tied for 21st (+9).

The tournament, originally scheduled to be a 54-hole contest, was adjusted to 36 holes (18 Monday and 18 Tuesday) due to inclement weather.

Western will be back in action at the Summit League Tournament in Newton, Kan., from April 29 - May 1.

GoLeathernecks.com

Necks run off to Missouri

By Brie Coder copy editor

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Western Illinois University track and field teams will head down to the University of Missouri’s turf to compete in the Tom Botts Invitational this Friday and Saturday. This will be their fifth outdoor competition of the season Last Saturday, the Leathernecks traveled to Normal, Ill. and took fifth out of six in the Redbird Invite. It was all about breaking previous personal records, as freshman Nick Olson finished No. 1 during day one of the invite.

Olson took part in both the shot put (14.81 meters) and javelin (49.68 meters). For being an individual competitor, his endurance was up to par this past weekend.

Seven members of the Purple and Gold competed in the 200meter race, and six came out with some strong PR’s. Senior Raytoria Richardson received a ninth-place finish with 25.25.

Following Richardson was sophomore Michaela Busch (26.43), freshman Claire Young (26.49) and sophomore Rachel

Hilton (27.01). Each of these ladies set new collegiate bests.

For the men’s 200-meter race, sophomore Justin Montalto and junior Darius Patterson broke their previous set times with new ones this past weekend, with times of 22.63 and 22.70.

Sophomore Abigail Richter upped the ante, by clocking in at 11:22.52 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. She currently has the sixth-best time in Leatherneck history. Richter was just seconds off on Saturday competing in the same event with 11:24.38.

In the hurdles competition, sophomore Josh Kirby placed fourth in both the 3,000 and 110-meter hurdles. Wrapping up the new and approved PR’s is sophomore Bo Brasseur, who took fourth in the 400-meter dash with 49.46.

The Missouri Tigers are quite the rivals for Western to have.

Last weekend, the track and field teams of Missouri traveled to Fayetteville, Ark. and participated in the John McDonnell Invitational. Their records did not disappoint.

Track page 6

Jasmine Swanagan competes in hammer throw event at home meet.

GOLEATHERNECKS.COM

Baseball looks to bash Braves Chris Bean courier staff

Mitch Ellis steps into the batter's box for Western.

ANGEL STRACK/ COURIER STAFF

Peoria, Ill. — The Western Illinois men’s baseball team will travel to Peoria on Wednesday to get their rematch against Bradley University. The two teams played earlier in the month on April 4, in a game Bradley University dominated, 14-7.

The Leathernecks come in with a 7-20 record, and a 5-6-conference record. They lost 8-5 last Friday to Omaha.

They found themselves down early 5-1 after three innings, but were able to tie the game at five in the sixth.

They gave up three runs in the top of the seventh that determined the difference. With bad weather last Saturday and Sunday, both of their games were rained out.

The Braves come in with a 20-9 record, and a 7-2 conference record. They are on a three game winning streak, after they swept the University of Evansville this past weekend. They continued to swing the bats well like they have all season. They scored eight runs or more in every game.

They have relied on their offense all year long. They

have six players who hit over .300 that play in their everyday lineup. They have eight players who have an on base percentage of .400 or above. Helping them drive in 188 total runs, and hitting for 17 home runs. In the first game they played against the Leathernecks, they hit two home runs and won the game.

The Purple and Gold offense has struggled most of the year.

Having senior leader Mitch Ellis back in the lineup helps them put more depth in the lineup. Ellis had a hand injury for a majority of the year, and didn’t come back until last week. Even though he has only played six games this year, he is hitting an incredible .450 batting average. If he can continue to hit like this, the Leathernecks won’t have any problem scoring runs.

Another big part of this lineup is sophomore Drue Galassi.

Galassi had a very good freshman year, but it did not correlate to the start of this season.

He started the year very slow, hitting below .170.

Baseball page 6