pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
We’re looking south for help
Now , That's my kind of posting content........good job Mr. Oracle........It really really is........................
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
- Status
Now , That's my kind of posting content........good job Mr. Oracle........It really really is........................
The eyes of Texas are upon them. Smart move Texas.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
The inability to land in-state talent is astounding. Underperforming this season really crushed any momentum we had there. The 2025 class will be Lovie-esque from an in-state standpoint
Racki isn’t telling kids not to come here. Look at where their players have gone. We have also passed on several of their players over the years.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
yeah, imagine a HS kid, particularly from a good academic school, choosing Stanford
we never get Naz players until we do. gotta shoot our shot (same holds for everywhere)
sure, it's frustrating. but some are not factoring in the abyss we're climbing out of
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
oh , I realize that
but it is frustrating when we get maybe 1 or 2 of the top 15 kids instate . it simply seems to me we are snake bit with certain schools .
Julian Love went to ND which was his dream school. He went to their games as a kid
Tyler Morris and JJ went to UM.
Kaminski just committed to standford. Who can blame any of those kids
We have passed on
Garret Reese - committed to IU. He goes to. Naz and is from Elmhurst. He must really be ABI
CJ West - Kent State, one of the top transfes available right now
Isaiah Lee - Iowa state
Tanner Koziol- Ball state and just transferred to Louisville
Michael Love - niu,
Ryan Keeler- Rutgers
Justin Taylor- Wisconsin
These are just some I could think of the top of my head. People don’t realize the damage Lovie did in state. I know several of those kids his staff never contacted. I also know if they would’ve gotten Michael Love they had a much better chance with AJ Hennjng and a couple other players. Instead Lovie went after Kyron Cumby.
It’s just funny how any time we don’t land a recruit ABI is brought up.
Last edited:
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Missing out on Kaminski stings, but misses happen. The [brewing] problem:
(a) Illinois just had their best stretch of defensive line play ('21-'23) in ~15 years
(b) This elite play was opportunistically timed, as the '24 and '25 in-state class were/are loaded with defensive line/edge talent:
- Justin Scott, Marquise Lightfoot, Eddie Tuerk, & Dillon Johnson for 2024.
- Iose Epenesa, Nathaniel Marshall, Jaylen Williams, Chris Burgess, Caden O'Rourke, Jason Dowell, and Gabe Kaminski for 2025.
(c) The staff smartly knew the defensive line play was going to get national attention and they pushed hard and early and some of these guys (Scott, Lightfoot, Tuerk, Marshall, Burgess)
(d) While the '25 class is still TBD, it's looking likely that Illinois is only going to net one of these names over a two-year stretch (Tuerk).
I wanted to group all of these names together because there are (valid!) excuses on why Illinois ended up missing specific names. You still need to land a couple more of these guys regardless of who's also interested. That's how you move up the pecking order; you win in recruitments where there are obvious, more established programs that want them as much as you do.
(a) Illinois just had their best stretch of defensive line play ('21-'23) in ~15 years
(b) This elite play was opportunistically timed, as the '24 and '25 in-state class were/are loaded with defensive line/edge talent:
- Justin Scott, Marquise Lightfoot, Eddie Tuerk, & Dillon Johnson for 2024.
- Iose Epenesa, Nathaniel Marshall, Jaylen Williams, Chris Burgess, Caden O'Rourke, Jason Dowell, and Gabe Kaminski for 2025.
(c) The staff smartly knew the defensive line play was going to get national attention and they pushed hard and early and some of these guys (Scott, Lightfoot, Tuerk, Marshall, Burgess)
(d) While the '25 class is still TBD, it's looking likely that Illinois is only going to net one of these names over a two-year stretch (Tuerk).
I wanted to group all of these names together because there are (valid!) excuses on why Illinois ended up missing specific names. You still need to land a couple more of these guys regardless of who's also interested. That's how you move up the pecking order; you win in recruitments where there are obvious, more established programs that want them as much as you do.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
I'm very high on Boyd. The benefit for him, and potential long-term problem pending the rivalry renewal, is that Missouri has one of the best '25 QB prospects committed to them (247's #6 QB), so as long as they hold onto him, I don't see concerns about the in-state NIL rule swaying him. That said, I'm fully expecting some other SEC programs to take another, hard look at him later this summer/early fall and the staff will need to make sure they can hold onto him. But this is a good thing! I want Illinois to have a prep QB that's a battle to keep from most established programs.
There are lots of (warranted) high hopes for Petty, and his size is better suited for college/B1G, but I like Boyd's ceiling. I've said this before but it warrants repeating: This is the best the Illinois QB room has been in a long, long time.
We never offered Dillion Johnson. DL recruiting has been underwhelming for awhile. Cam Brooks would be a good addition but he’s not the same type of prospect as the others.
Brad Fitzgibbon, Marist , Defensive Line
Brad Fitzgibbon is a 6-4, 280-pound Defensive Line from Chicago, IL.
247sports.com
Another kid we have passed on. His sister is on our gymnastics team.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
geezBrad Fitzgibbon, Marist , Defensive Line
Brad Fitzgibbon is a 6-4, 280-pound Defensive Line from Chicago, IL.
Another kid we have passed on. His sister is on our gymnastics team.
have we ever had a player from Marist ?
IlliniFanAtEIU1953
- Rantoul, IL
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
he is .
albeit a walk-on, but a player nonetheless
He’s also a juco walk on
The recruiting has been solid. Imagine the momentum we would have right now if we just managed to go 6-6 in years 1 and 3 instead of 5-7.
illini80
- Forgottonia
I agree. We’ve been so close to a break out and missed its gut wrenching. I still believe BB is our last best hope at ever breaking thru.
turnaround3
- 1st & Daniel
I can tell you for absolute certain that in at least the 21 years since I first stepped foot in the halls of Marist HS we have not had any football players of consequence enroll at Illinois.
Although prior to just over a decade ago there very plainly were not any football players of consequence going anywhere from Marist. Carmel, Rita, and to a much lesser extent Br Rice gobbled up that talent out of 8th grade for decades on end.
Ironically, going co-ed was the best thing that ever happened to Marist football.
Although prior to just over a decade ago there very plainly were not any football players of consequence going anywhere from Marist. Carmel, Rita, and to a much lesser extent Br Rice gobbled up that talent out of 8th grade for decades on end.
Ironically, going co-ed was the best thing that ever happened to Marist football.
I think BB is doing a good job and has raised the floor. We fumbled the bag last season, we need to pull off some upsets this year and get bowl eligible.
- Status