Some comparisons between the 2018 and 2019 recruiting classes. Understand that these numbers are going to be skewed by the top-rated players (i.e., Avery + Beason), but still an interesting comparison.
2018 Recruiting Class
Total Offers Reported/Power 5 Offers Reported
208 Total Offers/90 Power 5 Offers
43% of all offers from P5 schools
Percentage of Recruits with no P5 Offers (besides Illinois)
44% (n=12)
Percentage of Recruits with 5 or >5 Total Offers (besides Illinois)
48% (n=13)
2019 Recruiting Class
Total Offers Reported/Power 5 Offers Reported
231 Total Offers/146 Power 5 Offers (from only 12 recruits)
63% of all offers from P5 schools
Percentage of Recruits with no P5 Offers (besides Illinois)
17% (n=2)
Percentage of Recruits with 5 or >5 Total Offers (besides Illinois)
8% (n=1)
That's interesting stuff, thanks!
My case for Lovie's recruiting would be the coaching aphorism that the hardest thing to find in recruiting is big guys that can move. If you watched the championship game last night, you should certainly understand where that's coming from, big guys that can move just change the physics of a football field.
The roster Lovie inherited had Dawaune Smoot and that was pretty much it in that category.
We've added a ton of big mobile athletes since. Kendrick Green, Oladipo, Palcho, Avery, Verdis Brown is a guy like that, Luke Ford certainly qualifies, Moses Okpala. Guys that will line up against Ohio State and look like they could be wearing either uniform.
Tim Beckman recruited some good football players, but he was looking for that, rather than monsters he could mold. A high floor, low ceiling approach. Lovie has brought in some beasts.
Zook's last couple classes were disasters - I want to say there were no players drafted out of his last 2 or 3 classes, which in a negative way is very difficult to accomplish. I think Zook's last good class was after the '08 season, so the 10 year reference is valid
It's true that Zook's last couple classes were bad, but those teams were loaded from the previous classes.
Still, per Rivals national rankings, our best two classes 2010-2019 were 2011 and 2015 under Zook and Beckman. 2013 under Beckman was also higher than any Lovie class thusfar.
Illinois has not lacked for good players in either sport in a long time. We've been utterly bereft of a culture that can develop and deploy and exploit that talent.