Of course he did. That’s about on par for our recruiting right now. He’ll show up, give us hope, then go to tOSU anyway. =P
Edit: Unless he means he’s just stopping by for Chipotle or something.
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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Of course he did. That’s about on par for our recruiting right now. He’ll show up, give us hope, then go to tOSU anyway. =P
Edit: Unless he means he’s just stopping by for Chipotle or something.
FT35
- Naperville
Maurice committed to the staff at the BBQ last week. Our staff is very transparent about things like this which is why the "insiders" made CB picks for Illinois. They were even telling us, as fans, that they received two commitments that night and there were only four recruits on campus, that we know of, who had committable offers.
Coleman did not commit that night because he had to go home and discuss it with his mother before he gave his verbal commitment to the staff.
Maurice also committed to the Missouri staff, however, and we saw how it played out.
FT35
- Naperville
He said he's coming by himself to see Cory Patterson and the "Big Phella" (Boyd?).
Isaiah wanted to commit last year. The reason that he didn't was his coach at the time.
Coach Ward was doing a great job in StL. We shouldn't be satisfied with what has transpired so far
Cooper & Randolph should be added to this class, unless something drastic changes
Okpala, Rajae, & Henry are the real tests in our StL area recruiting
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Minor quibble: agree with most of your post, except "satisfied." Recruiting in St. Loo has been pretty good, but certainly not a slam dunk. If "shouldn't be satisfied" means could be better, I agree wholeheartedly. Yes, the 3 kids you mentioned are the litmus tests.
I wonder if it will amount to anything.
Deleted member 3875
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We should be doing better
If I were to guess, I would guess the best we would do with him is 2nd place, barring a special season
Deleted member 654622
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He did have some interesting tweets the last few days.
1. He did tweet some negative stuff about ILL within a Shammond twitter conversation. It was along the lines of only winning 2 games and everyone was getting fired type of thing
2. Those tweets have been deleted
3. Then he tweets apologizes to "coach" about how "childish his behavior was"
4. Now he is going to Champaign
I am not saying everything is related, I am just throwing the info out there for you to make your own assumptions
1. He did tweet some negative stuff about ILL within a Shammond twitter conversation. It was along the lines of only winning 2 games and everyone was getting fired type of thing
2. Those tweets have been deleted
3. Then he tweets apologizes to "coach" about how "childish his behavior was"
4. Now he is going to Champaign
I am not saying everything is related, I am just throwing the info out there for you to make your own assumptions
Dren1
- Glenview, IL
It appears that Steven Hawthorne, one of our DE targets, recently committed to Cincy:
https://247sports.com/Player/Steven-Hawthorne-46049044
https://247sports.com/Player/Steven-Hawthorne-46049044
I wouldn't use the visit as any reason for hope for a recruiting surprise. Whatever though...it is maintaining relationships and good PR in the STL. It'll pay off somewhere along the line.
I really hope we can land Okpala. He is HUGE
IlliniNation1010 it seems like you definitely have an inside track on some of our recruiting. I've been following closely this year & you've called several the week leading to their commit.. Childress, Eifler, Thompson, Williams, Stampley, Washington. Who do you think will be next and/or when do you think we'll get another? I appreciate any extra recruiting intel:thumb:
I agree, but I'd add one more recruit that I think would be a huge get: Jacob Bandes. Do you, or anyone for that matter, believe that we have a shot of getting him over more local schools like Cal and Oregon?
Thanks for the feedback! I try to share any positive news I hear about recruits, but without ruining their moment or whatever.
Now that everyone is back to playing football, the recruiting buzz will die down a little. I still think we'll see Randolph and Cooper commit early, maybe Sept unless we stumble badly coming out of the gate this season. That may give them pause. For the players who aren't local, it will be determined around their visit to campus. We'll need to wait and see who comes in for a game, Bandes being the first big name. I think he's taking all of his visits though, and waiting until after the season to commit.
The staff seemed interested in him this Spring, but backed off after seeing and then offering Coleman a couple of months ago. Hawthorne is a freak athlete though. Lovie seems to want to add a lightweight, quick, athletic, rush DE each class with Gay, then Holmes, and now Coleman
Washington and Oregon both like their chances with Bandes. He visits WA in Dec, not sure about OR visit.
But anytime you got an official visit like we do for him,you have a shot. I know Austin Clark has been recruiting hi since he was at USC
ILL in IA
- Iowa City
I have un-officially offered my next door neighbors kid a spot for Lovie. Would love for ILL to get on this kid.
https://247sports.com/Player/TJ-Bollers-46051469
https://247sports.com/Player/TJ-Bollers-46051469
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Well he's got some good offers already. Seems like a kid who's Iowa's to lose, however, as long as Ferentz is still around.
Not sure if this has been discussed yet but Marcus Washington's dad says that "Illinois isn't in consideration" for him and "sorry guys it won't happen" why is his dad so publicly involved?
Because twitter
Deleted member 631370
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Lots of dads are actively involved in their kids' recruitment -- for better or worse.
Read the back and forth on his tweet. He asked somebody to explain why his kid should go to Illinois, and when somebody responded by praising what a great guy Lovie is, what a good mentor he'll be, he'll get a great education, the alum network is fantastic, etc., Washington's response was "that has nothing to do with football, which is why Illinois isn't being considered".
The guy has a point. If a kid has offers from the likes of Ohio State, it's really hard to sell a program like Illinois. These kids and their families usually care about football first and foremost. When we resort to how good our school is academically, we're already playing catch-up.
Man, what a guy. There is a whole lot of life outside of football. and to have someone like Lovie coaching not just a player, but a person, would be a big draw to me as a parent.
I was the one who made those points to his father . I was shocked at NuNu’s responses. If his son is lucky he will play football 10-13 more years, however he has a better chance doing more with the next 40 years after that at Illinois
Deleted member 631370
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Your points are valid, and if I were a parent of a recruit, I would take those points into serious consideration.
Without knowing Washington's family dynamics and what's most important to them, it's hard to say why his father prioritizes what he does. But for many recruits -- especially those who are poor -- they're looking first and foremost for a program that gives them the best shot to play pro ball and get out of poverty. That's Calipari's whole philosophy, and it's why he's so attractive to recruits.
No doubt that Lovie is a tremendous mentor, but many other schools on his list probably have strong mentors as well (hopefully Urban Meyer's problems will undercut his reputation of being a family-first guy). And on top of that, some of the other schools can make a much more credible claim when it comes to helping get Washington to the next level professionally.
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