Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#1,053      

mhuml32

Cincinnati, OH
They absolutely have however, they are not the home school. You have a different expectation of your family members than others correct. The pride is within the State right. I will say this, in my experience, the schools you mentioned above excluding Minnesota and Michigan State are pretty upfront and honest during the recruiting process. Not a lot of pretending, just strait to the point. There is a huge difference but I won't go into that. I am not looking to bash this staff. I am simply saying in State is not a priority for this staff which is okay. Don't blame coaches and kids for that.


And this is what becomes problematic for the picture you are painting: There are higher expectations for the in-state school + there is an uphill battle for attaining the most talented players that are also being recruited by prominent Big Ten and other regional schools. These higher expectations tip the balance for the staff seeking out recruits outside of the state; you can get a similarly-ranked player from another state and if the recruit ends up disappointing or there is difference of opinion between the recruit and the coaching staff, you aren't risking a greater risk as you do within the state. You know way way way more than me about individual recruiting battles and approaches, just speaking to the meta recruiting topic and the constant battles between the Illinois football coaching staffs and Illinois high school coaches over the past 15ish years.

I think you're absolutely correct that avoiding blame on coaches, athletes, etc. Each situation is different and it's too difficult to translate a singular recruiting win or loss as an established theme. I would say that there are certain areas within the state that have ample evidence that they are not an area of strength for Illinois football (just as an example, the strong relationship building between the West Suburbs and Fleck). And that makes a ton of sense to me and I am not blaming anyone for making that decision (Fleck is possibly the hottest young coach in the country, he's from that area).
 
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#1,054      

mhuml32

Cincinnati, OH
It looks like Ryan Easterling put in the CB for Craig to come here. Easterling is usually just an extension of Werner so I find this to be rather odd.

Craig seems somewhat conflicted here.


Is he choosing today? Getting him and McConnell would be two solid gets on the edge for the 2021 class.
 
#1,055      

FT35

Naperville
Is he choosing today? Getting him and McConnell would be two solid gets on the edge for the 2021 class.

Yes, in about 10 minutes. Anything is possible but I've heard we will land him. Illinois made a very late push for him.
 
#1,057      

FT35

Naperville
Craig just picked Louisville on Instagram so it's not him.
 
#1,059      
And this is what becomes problematic for the picture you are painting: There are higher expectations for the in-state school + there is an uphill battle for attaining the most talented players that are also being recruited by prominent Big Ten and other regional schools. These higher expectations tip the balance for the staff seeking out recruits outside of the state; you can get a similarly-ranked player from another state and if the recruit ends up disappointing or there is difference of opinion between the recruit and the coaching staff, you aren't risking a greater risk as you do within the state. You know way way way more than me about individual recruiting battles and approaches, just speaking to the meta recruiting topic and the constant battles between the Illinois football coaching staffs and Illinois high school coaches over the past 15ish years.

I think you're absolutely correct that avoiding blame on coaches, athletes, etc. Each situation is different and it's too difficult to translate a singular recruiting win or loss as an established theme. I would say that there are certain areas within the state that have ample evidence that they are not an area of strength for Illinois football (just as an example, the strong relationship building between the West Suburbs and Fleck). And that makes a ton of sense to me and I am not blaming anyone for making that decision (Fleck is possibly the hottest young coach in the country, he's from that area).

I will table this discussion until later. The commitments today and tomorrow should be the focus right now. Enjoy the wave.

I am not a huge fan of Fleck but his recruiting strategy works for him.
 
#1,068      
It's difficult to get kids to come to Illinois compared to other power 5 schools, especially Big 10 schools, when they come for a visit and see a lackluster crowd of 30,000 people, a half empty student section and a crowd that dwindles down to about 7,000-10,000 or so by the end of the third quarter compared to our competitors that for the most part have double or triple our attendance and enthusiasm! I know this might seem like a small issue but if we can't get the fans to buy in then why do you think an athlete is going to buy in if he has comparable offers! How much Blue Sky do we have to sell? It's the chicken and the egg debate on which comes first but I think they should reduce ticket prices to get more fans in the seats and then when we start winning consistently raise them back up!
 
#1,069      
I know Moffitt does not have the rankings or offers we want, but he intriguing to me in terms of being an athlete. Lovie likes speed and this guy has it. Also, he heals a 37 inch vert which shows he is an athlete. His dad was all big east too about 15 years ago. Normally, like kids that have better offers, but Lovie is good at finding underrated gems and this guy has the traits to possibly be another.
 
#1,070      
It's difficult to get kids to come to Illinois compared to other power 5 schools, especially Big 10 schools, when they come for a visit and see a lackluster crowd of 30,000 people, a half empty student section and a crowd that dwindles down to about 7,000-10,000 or so by the end of the third quarter compared to our competitors that for the most part have double or triple our attendance and enthusiasm! I know this might seem like a small issue but if we can't get the fans to buy in then why do you think an athlete is going to buy in if he has comparable offers! How much Blue Sky do we have to sell? It's the chicken and the egg debate on which comes first but I think they should reduce ticket prices to get more fans in the seats and then when we start winning consistently raise them back up!
100% agree with this. Our gameday atmosphere needs to be better. I get why people wouldn't want to show up when we are losing by 25 every game and winning 3 games a year. But this team should be good, and we owe it to these seniors to show up. The student section thing needs to be addressed by the school. There is 8,000-12,000 kids that would rather hangout outside the stadium or at kams rather than inside. And honestly i don't blame them. We need to give students free tickets out of their tuition.
 
#1,072      
100% agree with this. Our gameday atmosphere needs to be better. I get why people wouldn't want to show up when we are losing by 25 every game and winning 3 games a year. But this team should be good, and we owe it to these seniors to show up. The student section thing needs to be addressed by the school. There is 8,000-12,000 kids that would rather hangout outside the stadium or at kams rather than inside. And honestly i don't blame them. We need to give students free tickets out of their tuition.
And half price beer
 
#1,075      
When the team wins, fans show up.

This. Just look at past turns (2007, 2010 & 2011, 2018 with the Purdue game). Fans showed up despite the overall lack of success or feeling of a disappointing letdown simply because there was some hope. There is no other program similar to ours over the last 25 years that still has as much support. Even Minny, in the middle of a historic season, was selling out their stadium, and they have had more success in the last 10 years than we have.
 
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