Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

[BlueGuy27]

Honestly, this will be forgotten about fairly quickly. Everyone on here is making a bigger deal out of this than it really is. It may be because we've been so bad for so long that we don't know how real football programs operate, idk. Yes, this sucks for Kevyon Davis, but it is just how recruiting works.

We can be the nice guys and continue to go 3-9. Is that really what we want though?

 

[BlueGuy27]

Doesn't matter. It's the wrong thing to do. I know this is how major college football recruiting works but I'm not sure it's worth it to do this to these kids. Especially with Davis, I mean you need to figure out his scholly before you have him on campus for the weekend right before signing day. I know other schools do this, but they don't bungle it quite this bad, like day of his commit bad. These are very public examples of the program treating these kids very poorly. Kids from Texas and Florida. It is pretty naive to think others won't see this and other schools won't use this against us.

Dude, this happens every signing day...Welcome to the show...

 

[blmillini]

Honestly, this will be forgotten about fairly quickly. Everyone on here is making a bigger deal out of this than it really is. It may be because we've been so bad for so long that we don't know how real football programs operate, idk. Yes, this sucks for Kevyon Davis, but it is just how recruiting works.

We can be the nice guys and continue to go 3-9. Is that really what we want though?

It is also most likely better for the player too.

 

[BlueGuy27]

You are correct, this is how recruiting works, scholarships get pulled. However, it is rare that they get pulled on commitment day, the day before signing day. Everyone knows that this happens, not the issue. Issue is our staff needs to have its s$%t together so it does not happen so publicly and on the day the kid has planned to commit. We look like amateurs, like we don't know what we are doing.

The publicity of the situation is totally dependent on the recruit. I'm sure we've told plenty of recruits that we cannot take their commitment. Its just up to them on how they want to handle it. Some take shots at the staff (Littlejohn, Davis, Walker) and others just play it off and move on.

 

[BlueGuy27]

If you think it is normal for a staff to invite a kid for an ov, then pull his offer two days later an hour before his commitment ceremony you do not understand recruiting as well as you think.

I think I understand it pretty well. There is a reason why we didn't let him commit. Recruiting is fluid, dude. There is also no evidence that his offer was actually pulled. We just could have just told KD he couldn't sign in the early period, a fairly reasonable action for a fringe recruit.

I can try talking you off of your soap box, but I don't think it is going to work. Others on this thread already have tried.

 

[UIGrad03]

I kinda doubt the paysites have been posting direct comments from staff members about unsigned recruits.

 

[BlueGuy27]

I kinda doubt the paysites have been posting direct comments from staff members about unsigned recruits.

They haven't.

 

[BlueGuy27]

There it is again, perfect. The " we don't know what actually happened" defense. Thanks for making my point again. We know what happened, it was actually reported. If you're good with it then fine. If you think this is par for the course in big time recruiting, I'm talking timing wise, I don't know what to tell ya. Dude.

Erik Swenson. Two weeks before signing day after being committed for over two years. Michigan recruiting doesn't seem to have been affected by the fallout.

 

[IlliniMed]

Are premium sites worth the money ?

 

[South Farms]

It is also most likely better for the player too.

yessir


Not to take anything away from NTSt football players, Mean Joe Greene being a former one himself, but the fact KD is seemingly signing with them and not LSU or A&M in a way says a lot.


We wont win the B1G West with the players on NTSt roster.

 

[blmillini]

There it is again, perfect. The " we don't know what actually happened" defense. Thanks for making my point again. We know what happened, it was actually reported. If you're good with it then fine. If you think this is par for the course in big time recruiting, I'm talking timing wise, I don't know what to tell ya. Dude.

You have said it at least twice now... it has been reported. You do know those guys are selling stories and subscriptions, right? And, I'm sure that while they would generally prefer to get the story right, they can not be certain because coaches can't talk about it. I find it laughable when people swear that everything a reporter writes is fact. The truth is they don't know but are trying their best to share what they can, which could come from anyone with an agenda... except the coach.

 

[Chieftain13]

I live in the metro east (Illinois side) of the St. Louis area and drive across the river to work every day. Today on my way home, I noticed for the first time a new bright orange Fighting Illini billboard with Lovie on it. What is significant about this? It seems they “coincidentally” placed the billboard right at the I-270 westbound exit that is no more than 1 mile away from Trinity Catholic HS.

 

[Illiini]

I live in the metro east (Illinois side) of the St. Louis area and drive across the river to work every day. Today on my way home, I noticed for the first time a new bright orange Fighting Illini billboard with Lovie on it. What is significant about this? It seems they “coincidentally” placed the billboard right at the I-270 westbound exit that is no more than 1 mile away from Trinity Catholic HS.

Oh, yes. This.

 

[Centennialillini]

It was put up Monday I believe. You can't miss that billboard and the sign is so bright it probably glows in the dark

 

[georgeuremovich]

Dude, this happens every signing day...Welcome to the show...

 

[wma500]

I kinda doubt the paysites have been posting direct comments from staff members about unsigned recruits.

Exactly my point. If the staff can't talk about it and adheres to that rule, then anybody doing any reporting is not getting the full story. The "it's been reported" line that keeps getting thrown around here, is inherently hitched to just one side of the story.

When it's down to the wire like this, staffs may offer a scholarship to a marginal player, with the condition that it's only good for say 7-10 days. It makes it clear a decision needs to be made quickly, for the benefit of both sides, but gives the player time to evaluate. Not saying the optics look good here, but I wonder if there weren't some conditions attached to the offer. We'll never know the full story.

Time to move on and wish the kid well at North Texas.

 

[froggy101]

There it is again, perfect. The " we don't know what actually happened" defense. Thanks for making my point again. We know what happened, it was actually reported. If you're good with it then fine. If you think this is par for the course in big time recruiting, I'm talking timing wise, I don't know what to tell ya. Dude.

I think there's also something to be said about the fact that this is the first time college coaching staffs are going through an early signing period. Not to mention that our staff is relatively inexperienced recruiting-wise to begin with. The early signing period probably makes it more difficult to evaluate roster numbers, prioritize recruits, and extend committable offers.

 

[CIIF]

I live in the metro east (Illinois side) of the St. Louis area and drive across the river to work every day. Today on my way home, I noticed for the first time a new bright orange Fighting Illini billboard with Lovie on it. What is significant about this? It seems they “coincidentally” placed the billboard right at the I-270 westbound exit that is no more than 1 mile away from Trinity Catholic HS.

I live in that area too and drive to STL for work, I will have to take that route and see the sign!

 

[BMo79]

I appreciate the education here, but these star rankings are pretty useless then. If the 400th player and the 1500th player are both 3 stars, the star system is rather useless. As someone who does not study it this deeply, I had always assumed all 3 stars were relatively of similar talent. Apparently not.

the easyest thing to do is look at there pos rank really, think about how many you need per team.

 

[EJ33]

But whether there is a real big talent difference is the question. And at those rankings, it gets pretty difficult to tell.

I appreciate the education here, but these star rankings are pretty useless then. If the 400th player and the 1500th player are both 3 stars, the star system is rather useless. As someone who does not study it this deeply, I had always assumed all 3 stars were relatively of similar talent. Apparently not.

Agreed with respect to a 3 star ranking. You need to look at the overall rank and the position rank to understand the player ranking. One rule of thumb pointed out by @alioneye is that a Top 1000 football player is roughly equivalent to a Top 100 basketball recruit. I always scan our list of commits to see how many rank in the top 1000 as a rough measure of quality.

 

[Deleted member 631370]

Agreed with respect to a 3 star ranking. You need to look at the overall rank and the position rank to understand the player ranking. One rule of thumb pointed out by @alioneye is that a Top 1000 football player is roughly equivalent to a Top 100 basketball recruit. I always scan our list of commits to see how many rank in the top 1000 as a rough measure of quality.

The way I see it is, there are ~12 scholarship players on a basketball roster, and ~80 on a football roster. So, there are about 6 to 7 times more players on a football team.

Thus, top 100 in hoops = top 600-700 in football. That has always been my rule of thumb. Top 150 = top 1000.

And yes, totally agree that position rank and the scholarship offers a play has says more than the star rating.

 

[MoCoMdIllini]

Looks like Hardge is in first

https://twitter.com/IlliniFootball/status/943454276264841216?s=17


Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[Chieftain13]

I live in that area too and drive to STL for work, I will have to take that route and see the sign!

If you’re making a special trip, I’d better correct myself and say that it can be seen going EASTBOUND on 270. Probably the better decision since I’d think more of the students may be coming from that direction.

 

[CIIF]

If you’re making a special trip, I’d better correct myself and say that it can be seen going EASTBOUND on 270. Probably the better decision since I’d think more of the students may be coming from that direction.

I am up North of Eville, usually coming from downtown, but coming from St Charles area today. Is it before or after I get to 255?

 

[Illiini]

If you’re making a special trip, I’d better correct myself and say that it can be seen going EASTBOUND on 270. Probably the better decision since I’d think more of the students may be coming from that direction.

Would love to see a photo of that.