BOWLING GREEN — While everyone in American sports was awaiting a return to play, Zachary Barlev was playing a waiting game of a different kind.
The three-star offensive guard from Plainfield, Ill., had a wide array of scholarship offers — his choices ranged from Ivy League schools to a Power Five offer — but an unexpected lull gave Bowling Green time to lure a key player in the class of 2021.
Barlev, who committed to the Falcons on July 4, was widely expected to commit to Illinois, even by some of the schools who had been recruiting him.