Good speed with power and some wiggle. He can catch the ball. Illinois had better get on this kid. Very impressed with this kid. Six two, two eighteen and he is only going to get bigger and stronger.
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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illini80
- Forgottonia
I don’t know if he’s a kid the coaches want or not, but seeing offers from 3 other B10 schools, esp Minnesota, makes me question why we haven’t at least offered an instate kid.
I haven't been able to respond on here in awhile. But i think we have some big overreactions going on. Yes the 2020 class is disappointing but i like about 8 players we got more than other players we have currently at positions. We said we needed D-Line help and we landed 3 really nice prospects. We needed a slot and a hybrid ad we got two players with legit speed.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
This. Need to stick the landing (transfer portal) and make big strides with our 2021 class. As many others have said, that class is critical. Also, at minimum, we need to establish a beachhead with in-state recruiting. Hopefully, far better than minimum.
Use this information as you want, but i'm tired of the narrative that we don't have any talent after the 2020 season. As you can we we may not have a ton of top tear talent but i think we have formed solid depth. 2021 WR will be an issue but 3 of our top receivers last year were transfers and that position tends to be easier to find than most on the transfer market.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | ||
| QB | Peters- 96.84 | Peters- 96.84 | Williams- 94.79 | DE | Betiku- 98.84 | Gay- 81.83 | Davis- 85.67 |
| QB2 | Robinson- 80.08 | Williams- 94.79 | Spann- 85.66 | DE | Shobongo- 77.50 | Coleman- 85.99 | Coleman- 85.99 |
| RB | Epstien- 84.21 | Brown- 84.03 | Brown- 84.03 | DE | Carney- 86.95 | Carney- 86.96 | Randolf- 87.01 |
| RB2 | Corbin- 82.44 | Epstein- 84.21 | Love- 88.44 | DT | Woods- 80.05 | Woods- 80.05 | Woods- 80.05 |
| WR | Behbe- 93.14 | Behbe- 93.14 | Washington- 83.23 | DT | Milan- 84.93 | Avery- 91.74 | Avery- 91.75 |
| WR | Smalling- 88.68 | Smalling- 88.68 | Frenchie- 88.68 | DL | Oliver- 80.99 | Randolf- 87.01 | Newton- 85.19 |
| WR | Sindey- 93.60 | Sindey- 93.60 | Campbell- 85 | LB | Hansen- 80.35 | Hansen- 80.35 | Smith- 84.72 |
| WR | Navarro- 70.00 | Navarro- 70.00 | Navarro- 70.00 | LB | Harding- 85.49 | Cooper- 90.27 | Cooper- 90.27 |
| TE | Barker- 83.14 | Ford- 97.53 | Ford- 97.53 | LB | Eifler- 93.68 | Eifler- 93.68 | Gardner- 84.20 |
| TE2 | Williams- 83.37 | Barker- 83.14 | Barker- 83.14 | LB | Tolson- 85.81 | Tolson- 85.81 | Tolson- 85.83 |
| LT | Lowe- 83.65 | Lowe- 83.65 | Pearl- 84.70 | LB | Degroot- 80.25 | Barnes- 83.90 | Barnes- 83.91 |
| LG | Green- 88.01 | Green- 88.01 | Green- 88.01 | CB | Hobbs- 81.43 | Hobbs- 81.43 | Beason- 95.64 |
| C | Kramer- 80.31 | Kramer- 80.31 | Tyler- 84.11 | CB | Witherspoon- 70.00 | Beason- 95.64 | Witherspoon- 70.00 |
| RG | Pettibone- 96.96 | Brown- 89.44 | Brown- 89.45 | S | Adams- 84.72 | Adams- 84.72 | Martin- 83.36 |
| RT | Palcho- 83.19 | Palcho- 83.19 | Slaughter- 85.39 | S | Brown- 82.94 | Brown- 82.94 | Brown- 82.94 |
| OL | Cerney- 82.92 | Cerney- 82.92 | Griffin- 84.24 | DB | Green- 81.84 | Witherspoon- 70.00 | Ware- 82.48 |
| AVG | 86.03 | 87.09 | 86.02 | 83.48 | 85.16 | 84.93 |
Finally someone else with some sense instead of thinking the sky is falling in 2020 because we didn't get top freshmen. Freshmen rarely impact a team anyways.
That's what I love about these freshman, I get older and they stay the same age.
Seriously, you realize they are on the team more than one year and likely turn into high impact upperclassmen? Missing out one year isn't the end of the world, but so far we only hit on those guys one year out of Lovie's tenure.
I've read posts concerned about 2020 due to perceived "lucky" wins, and I've read posts disappointed with the last recruiting class, but I don't recall seeing any posts like you are describing, so I guess everyone on here has some sense. Maybe the otter mating talk has you, or me, confused.
Of course not landing a top guy was disappointing but ill wager a steak dinner that we will have another shot at a guy we missed in the next two years. Some of these guys will transfer and we have relationships built. And I'm told we are close to landing a couple 2021 kids. Watch out for dedrick smith, keith cooper and kretuz. I think will land a few kids out of GA this class as well. Were going to land one of the three RB's in Irving, Shaw and Johnson. I think we will land one of the trinity/ESL WR's. I think were also going to land Mclaurin and Barlev. I also think we will make a push for the Chicago safety's. Twangers heard some rumblings of some Dallas kids looking at us as well. Let's just see how some things play out.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Surely, you jest! That isn't how a fan forum works.
Oh trust me i get it. I mean just look at Illinois twitter during a basketball loss. I just think the football program is in a much better place than it was when Lovie took over. I know there are things we would like to change or do differently (Mcgee, Nickerson, Byrd, recruiting misses). But our floor is so much higher than it was a couple years ago. We have backups now that were actual recruits and most of our recruiting classes are filled with prospects with other P5 offers. The 2020 team will prolly win 7 games and the 2021 will win 5-6. From where we were a couple years ago we actually have a solid floor. Also we have some semblance of class balance and natural progression of recruits. We can actually red-shirt players again and play them when they are ready instead of throwing them into the fire at 19.
Yeah, but the problem is Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska and Purdue are in a much better place than when Lovie took over, too.
Lovie is among the highest compensated coaches in the country, and was given one of the highest assistant coach salary pools when he was hired. Disappointment is an appropriate reaction to the Lovie Smith era so far. Seven wins next year would be a big improvement, but I don't see the four probable Big Ten wins you're seeing.
Let’s look at this:
Purdue is roughly in the same place. The last 3 seasons 6,7,4 wins. This is pretty common for where they have been this decade. Maybe a little better.
Nebraska was winning roughly 9 games a year with Pelini, when Lovie arrived, haven’t qualified for a bowl game in the last 3 years. Way worse.
Indiana isn’t in our division. This argument gies hand in hand with Michigan state getting worse.
Minnesota is roughly a little better. Fleck 11, 7, 5 wins. Before fleck: 9,6,8,8,6. Maybe a little better.
add to this: Northwestern has, gotten worse, Wisconsin has gotten worse, and Iowa has stayed the same.
my argument is that not much has changed
except, we have gotten competitive in big ten games. Regardless of outcomes, every game was close and winnable. And we did this with lower ranked and younger talent than all of our competition.
Sneaky John Ekey was wisely not comparing records, because if he did that, as you have done, he could not say that Illinois has improved since Lovie came here.
You are deluding yourself if you don't think Minnesota, Nebraska and Purdue are recruiting much better than when Lovie got here. By the way, Mike Riley was coaching at Nebraska when Lovie took over, and Nebraska is a 2020 top 25 pre-season SP+ team. Wisconsin is top 10, just coming off a Rose Bowl. I don't see how you can say they have gotten worse.
I believe Minnesota just had their most wins ever in a single season. And you say they are "maybe a little better?"
Northwestern just had a class with an average rating of .8650, which was preceded by a class with an average rating of .8599. These might be their two highest rated classes ever, I don't know.
Indiana is on the schedule this year, not Michigan State. Do you see four probable Big Ten wins on the schedule?
Look, I'm not arguing that recruiting hasn't improved under Lovie. I'm just saying it hasn't happened in a vacuum.
I hear you, but that isn't true anymore. Lovie isn't even a top 30 paid college coach right now. He assistant pool is between 35-40. Also, Lovie didn't come into similar situations as Brohm, Frost, Fleck or Allen. Our facilities were the worst in the country for 3 of Lovie's years, our roster was full of MAC level players and are fan/donor interest was at an all-time low. Lovie has his faults but has turned the program into something at least respectable. Of course we had a few bad loses in their as well. But this is going to be the most talented roster we are going to have in the last 8 years. To show bad our roster really was look up the starters the year Lovie arrived. Most of them didn't even have other P5 offers. And I think next year we have 3 wins for sure (UCONN, Bowling Green, ILL ST), win 2 of the next 4 (@Rutgers, @NEB, VS MINN, VS Purdue), then try to pick up 1-2 in the last 5 games (@ Wisc, VS Iowa, @Indiana, VS Ohio State, @NW. I think well end up 7-5 or 6-6. Either way back to back bowl games should be a dream compared to the years of 2 or 3 wins while watching a QB who couldn't throw it for 150 yards or a defense giving up 600 yards a game.
This isn't news. Nor was it Lovie's mandate to ensure that the rest of the B1G West not makes changes while he improved the program at Illinois.
Focus on what you can control. That's what Lovie is doing. He got us to a bowl last year and I'm liking the chances for 7-8 wins next year. Why you would be mad at our coach because other coaches in our conference are also doing what they were hired to, is confounding.
We're in the mid-pack now, and it looks like we'll be there for the next few years. As embarrassing as it may seem, that's a big step forward from where we were.
Deleted member 746648
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I've posted this before but I want to remind everyone how much the entire west has improved at recruiting in a short amount of time. All numbers are according to Team talent composite which compares the entire roster instead of individual recruiting classes
2017 2019
(29) Nebraska (24)
(37) Wisconsin (33)
(64) Illini (37)
(47) Iowa (40)
(63) Minnesota (46)
(41) Northwestern (49)
(71) Purdue (51)
(50.57) Average (40)
I can't overstate how huge of a leap this is in just three years. Plus the rest of the divisions 2020 recruiting classes should only bump them up.
2017 2019
(29) Nebraska (24)
(37) Wisconsin (33)
(64) Illini (37)
(47) Iowa (40)
(63) Minnesota (46)
(41) Northwestern (49)
(71) Purdue (51)
(50.57) Average (40)
I can't overstate how huge of a leap this is in just three years. Plus the rest of the divisions 2020 recruiting classes should only bump them up.
I'm not disagreeing with you that we have a ways to go with recruiting. But I don't agree that we are in awful shape coming into the conference season.
I also don't agree that all of the teams you mentioned are getting better. Minnesota has been a solid team this decade. They had 11 wins this past year, which I believe is an anomaly (they had a weak schedule and many were predicting them to be big west winners). If Fleck does something similar this year, then I will gladly admit that I am wrong. I would wager that Minnesota regresses to the mean this season.
Nebraska has always recruited way better than us, once I see Nebraska start to win games, I will start to buy an argument that Nebraska's better recruiting actually matters.
Wisconsin has benefited from a weak Big West. Last year, they seemed to be really good, until they almost lost to an injured northwestern team, then lost to a mediocre Illinois team. They are solid, but I don't think they are improving.
I will not argue the point that Indiana is improving. What that means for us is yet to be determined.
We are not great at recruiting, I can cede that argument. But how that translates to wins is unknown. Overall, we are a better team today than we were when Lovie got here and there is reason to be optimistic. The two deep is better this year than it was last year. The following year, the top spot at most positions will be better than it has been. We will be light on depth, but we will have a team that can be competitive with any Big Ten Team. If we have a decent recruiting year this upcoming year, then our future will be as bright as it has been through most of Illinois recent history.
The difference between what I see and what it seems to me that you see is that I think we have things to improve (mostly HS recruiting), but I don't think that means we will lose. Our team talent composite is comparable to most of the teams in the west, if not better. If Lovie can't coach wins, then we will know in the next few years. But we will qualify for a bowl this year and then I will say we will qualify in 2021. Lets see how recruiting does through that period.
No need to be confounded, because I never expressed that sentiment. Ever. I don't understand why some people on this board, and not just you, have this need to create a narrative in other people's posts which simply does not exist.
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Here we go again... Don't worry, I never expressed that sentiment.
I am not saying Lovie has been perfect and hasn't made some big mistakes. But just look at where he started. This is the 2016 roster he was given when he started and this is where we are now. It's not even funny how bad the roster was that he was given. Most of the players that did have other P5 offers only had the one listed. That is why I don't even benchmark us to Indiana, Northwestern, Nebraska and Purdue. We weren't even close to them in talent/facilities when Lovie took over. And now we are in the same ballpark. Lets start looking for progress now, starting with the 2021 class. The 2020 class had some misses for sure, but Lovie went into the season on the hot seat and most of those recruits saw only a half-finished football center and a coach on the hot seat. Lets see what they can do with a full cycle with their facility and bowl season under their belts.
fair. So you are arguing that we are under recruiting, but we are still in ok shape?
Excellent post, but you should've included Ke'Shawn Vaughn, who was a 4* with a terrific offer list. He had a decent freshman year, was benched by Lovie his sophomore year because of fumbles, then went on to have a stellar career at Vanderbilt.
Yes, OK and definitely not awful. And I wouldn't say they will probably win half their conference games. They might, but I wouldn't say probably. The 2020 Illini aren't playing the 2016 Illini might be another way to express my argument.
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