Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

[IlliniNation1010]

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.

Yep, I'm hearing that we're in a good position with a handful of good players. Hopefully, we push harder for the close & I think we can land some early commits this year. I wouldn't be surprised if we secure 7 or 8 by summer, with a few being IL kids. If the whispers are true, we'll hear something soon

 

[Illinois_2_AZ]

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.

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It's amazing. Allegretti now has a Super Bowl ring, but had no other P5 offers besides us. It just shows that you can't measure heart.

 

[frycicle]

It's amazing. Allegretti now has a Super Bowl ring, but had no other P5 offers besides us. It just shows that you can't measure heart.

He is a second string center on the team, his talent has no correlation to KC's success this year...

 

[Sneaky john ekey]

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.

I went with the guys who had the most game action. Yeah Vaughn had a higher rating but was 3rd in attempts. I tried to do that with the 2020 guys as well. Some guy might have higher ratings (Cumby, Newton, Love, Okapala) but i don't see them plating much in 2020. Josh Plohr/Evan Kirts/Blaise Sparks would have all been more decorated than everyone on the 2016 line not named Gabe Megginson. 20/32 players listed didn't have another P5 offer and 5 guys only had one other P5 offer. It really goes to show that we were basically a MAC level team when Lovie took over. Almost our entire 2 deep in 2020 on both sides of ball have multiple P5 offers. Guys like tolson, gardner, quinton mccoy and kevin tyler all have other P5 offers and project to be in the two deep. It truly shows how bad we really were in 2016 and 2017. Also of our 8 non-other P5 offer guys in 2020 I would say 4 of them are top 10 on our team when it comes to value. Staff has done well with guys like Hobbs, Brown, Witherspoon, Kramer and Lowe.

 

[AZis]

He is a second string center on the team, his talent has no correlation to KC's success this year...

So what? He has a Super Bowl ring! The point was that P5 offers aren't the end all be all measuring stick of who is going to be good, or not, or make it to the NFL, or not. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get the percentage thing.

And he's an Illini!!!!

 

[mhuml32]

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.

Yes, Illinois has improved in 2019. But let's not argue that the competition has rapidly improved since he took over.

• Wisconsin has finished in the AP Top 11 three of the last four years in a row. Their recruiting has vastly improved recently based on Chryst's first few years (2015-18: 40th / 2019 + 2020: 27th (& early results for 2021 look very promising)
• Iowa just had their best season since 2015. They are also bringing in their highest ranked recruiting class (by national ranking, to avoid player ranking inflation) since 2011.
• Nebraska has had issues since Riley took over. You can make easily argue they are a shell of their former self. The bad thing is they are still bringing in great talent.
• Purdue won 8 games in the four years preceding Brohm. He's won 17 games in the three years since. It was widely known that he was going to hit a cliff after the first two years. He also is bringing in the best recruiting classes in Purdue (recruiting ranking) history. They are vastly better.
• Northwestern had their worst year since 2002. Tough to know if this is them turning towards mediocrity or an aberration. They brought in a 5* QB that failed spectacularly.
• Love him or hate him, PJ has Minnesota pointing in the right direction. First 11+ win season since 1904. Will likely be a pick to win the B1G West next year and possibly a NY6 bowl. Recruiting has been impressive.
• Illinois has vastly improved since Lovie took over. Lovie took a step forward in 2019 and has also seen recruiting improvement, even though it hasn't been as consistent or at the same level as the rest of the B1G West competition.

 

[mhuml32]

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​

A number of these more talented players are already on the roster and they are not starting over their less-heralded teammates. You can interpret that to mean they don't have the same experience as the established starters or they haven't played up to their pre-college recruiting rankings, but either choice concludes with the concerns held by others that the 2021 team isn't going to be as good as the 2020 team (in addition to the 2021 schedule included a home game in Ireland and a non-conference road game against Virginia).

 

[Sneaky john ekey]

A number of these more talented players are already on the roster and they are not starting over their less-heralded teammates. You can interpret that to mean they don't have the same experience as the established starters or they haven't played up to their pre-college recruiting rankings, but either choice concludes with the concerns held by others that the 2021 team isn't going to be as good as the 2020 team (in addition to the 2021 schedule included a home game in Ireland and a non-conference road game against Virginia).

Yeah i agree that the 2021 team wont be as talented and they have a tougher schedule. That is why i think they win 5-6. What i'm saying is that people are acting like we are heading for a cliff that i personally don't see. I mean just read the bob zuppke tweet when Jadon Thompson said he was going to cinci. Obviously it's twitter and their is some overreaction but most people talked about a cliff and a farewell tour. Plus there are some guys i really like in the 2019-2020 classes more than people on here that i see being big parts of 2021.

 

[Deleted member 746648]

Despite the small drop off in talent we will have in 2021, I think the days of <4 wins a season are over as long as lovie is coaching here. I'm not sure that we will every see that peak of 9+ wins a season we would all love to see though. If things keep trending the way they are in the west this division is going to have some serious parity.

 

[Sneaky john ekey]

Now back to actual recruiting. I think we need to really target OL and WR. I think guys like coogan, sales and kruetz are guys we really should push to land. I think we are going to be in the mix for the ESL/Trinity Wr's and jadeon wilson. A guy like tyler mclaurin is a guy that we have to land, he's been on campus a couple times and i think hes going to end up a 4* level type of prospect. Keith cooper is a really nice prospect with a growing offer list that includes Texas tech, Kansas state and Virginia tech. I think we will land Dedrick Smith, Willie Shaw and Barlev. Our "big fish" will be travion ford, shemar turner, dominic bass, justin johnson, tavarish dawson and kendrick blackshire. And it's obviously early so we might get in one some big targets but landing a couple of these guys soon really makes it easier to fill up a 25 man class.

 

[Joel Goodson]

More support for transfer rule changes ($): https://theathletic.com/1615398/2020/02/17/ncaa-transfer-rules-acc-waiver-support/

 

[Joel Goodson]

NCAA studies idea of 1 transfer with no penalty: https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/28730763/ncaa-studies-idea-1-transfer-no-penalty

 

[ILLINISON1]

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.

This post represents a field of vision that I was not seeing. Thank you. I'm an enthusiastic fan but not the most knowledgeable. I see the increased team talent yet still wonder how our recruitment efforts keep up the pace. Hoping for the best, especially with fresh coaches hitting the circuit and the field.

 

[mhuml32]

It's amazing. Allegretti now has a Super Bowl ring, but had no other P5 offers besides us. It just shows that you can't measure heart.

He was a U.S. Army All-American out of high school. He committed to Illinois almost a year before signing day. It's highly highly likely he had multiple P5 offers from other schools before signing day, or would have if he showed any interest in breaking his commitment.

Without a doubt I agree with Sneaky Jon Ekey that Lovie and his staff have substantially improved the roster. If things would have maintained at the 2014-15 trajectory, the program would be staring at a record-long B1G losing streak. That said, there was talented players on that roster, and part of reason some of them don't have other offers is because Beckman was notorious for securing really early commitments. For some of these recruits, they just opt to shut down their recruitment after committing to Illinois. This was especially pertinent to players like Allegretti, Turner (rumored to have received a late offer from Ohio State), Cazley, Mosely, Schmidt, and DiLauro. You can make a strong case that each of these players would have received more P5 offers and likely would have seen a bump in their recruiting rankings if they would have committed to more prominent schools or stayed uncommitted for a longer period of time.

Lovie takes the opposite approach as Beckman, for good and bad. The risk for Beckman is securing so many commitments early means he's accidentally going to have commitments that are no longer looking as promising after their HS senior year. Beckman might have backed away a couple of times on these misses, but I don't recall that being a common strategy he employed. Lovie is patient and wants to identify players he's certain can make an impact on the team. On the other hand, that means Lovie has to fight off more competition to sign these recruits, which has been a noticeable (bad) theme for certain recruits who have gone down to the wire to sign (but also worked for keeping Coleman and getting Roundtree). Beckman wouldn't have to fight as hard because some of these kids who ended up having a great senior season had been committed to Beckman/Illinios for up to a year before signing day and felt much more committed to the program.

Again, I am not disagreeing that the talent hasn't been significantly upgraded, just providing a caveat on comparing recruiting rankings/offers when the coaching staffs took a very different approach to signing recruits and there is data backing up how early commitments have swayed individual recruiting rankings in the past.

 

[mhuml32]

NCAA studies idea of 1 transfer with no penalty: https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/28730763/ncaa-studies-idea-1-transfer-no-penalty

I think this is something that is more likely to help Illinois football than harm.

 

[Sneaky john ekey]

So i talked to my guy on the staff and he had a couple interesting tidbits. #1 is that dominic bass is almost off any board. He is no longer ranked on 247 and seems to have denver warren written all over him. The staff seems to think they are in a good spot with irving and shaw. Irving btw is now a top 250 player and a 4*. Also the staff plans to try to get a lot of these st. louis and chicago kids on campus at the same time. Also i wouldn't expect samari collier to play here, just more of a guess at this point. Also expect a couple guys to commit here sorta soon. I really think we are in a good spot with keith cooper and dedrick smith.

 

[frycicle]

So i talked to my guy on the staff and he had a couple interesting tidbits. #1 is that dominic bass is almost off any board. He is no longer ranked on 247 and seems to have denver warren written all over him. The staff seems to think they are in a good spot with irving and shaw. Irving btw is now a top 250 player and a 4*. Also the staff plans to try to get a lot of these st. louis and chicago kids on campus at the same time. Also i wouldn't expect samari collier to play here, just more of a guess at this point. Also expect a couple guys to commit here sorta soon. I really think we are in a good spot with keith cooper and dedrick smith.

no samari collier means there is an opening for macon or sam jackson then.

 

[Deleted member 654622]

So i talked to my guy on the staff and he had a couple interesting tidbits. #1 is that dominic bass is almost off any board. He is no longer ranked on 247 and seems to have denver warren written all over him. The staff seems to think they are in a good spot with irving and shaw. Irving btw is now a top 250 player and a 4*. Also the staff plans to try to get a lot of these st. louis and chicago kids on campus at the same time. Also i wouldn't expect samari collier to play here, just more of a guess at this point. Also expect a couple guys to commit here sorta soon. I really think we are in a good spot with keith cooper and dedrick smith.

WOW! Dominic Bass looked like a 30 yr old when he was a Freshman.

 

[Deleted member 654622]

So i talked to my guy on the staff and he had a couple interesting tidbits. #1 is that dominic bass is almost off any board. He is no longer ranked on 247 and seems to have denver warren written all over him. The staff seems to think they are in a good spot with irving and shaw. Irving btw is now a top 250 player and a 4*. Also the staff plans to try to get a lot of these st. louis and chicago kids on campus at the same time. Also i wouldn't expect samari collier to play here, just more of a guess at this point. Also expect a couple guys to commit here sorta soon. I really think we are in a good spot with keith cooper and dedrick smith.

Any word on Ford?

 

[Sneaky john ekey]

no samari collier means there is an opening for macon or sam jackson then.

Interesting point. I just think collier jumped on the first offer he got and as more roll in he will look at them. I believe there was a tweet that already expressed that sentiment. I doubt we make a run at Macon- i think hes going to be a mizzou lock. But jackson did de-commit and hes someone i think the staff likes.

 

[Sneaky john ekey]

Any word on Ford?

Ford will be a tough get. But the groundwork that we did at Lutheran North for Doyle will definitely help. Also we have a coach over there that supports us. Its too early to tell but i think we have a chance at getting an official during the season and that would be a good sign if we do.

 

[mhuml32]

So i talked to my guy on the staff and he had a couple interesting tidbits. #1 is that dominic bass is almost off any board. He is no longer ranked on 247 and seems to have denver warren written all over him. The staff seems to think they are in a good spot with irving and shaw. Irving btw is now a top 250 player and a 4*. Also the staff plans to try to get a lot of these st. louis and chicago kids on campus at the same time. Also i wouldn't expect samari collier to play here, just more of a guess at this point. Also expect a couple guys to commit here sorta soon. I really think we are in a good spot with keith cooper and dedrick smith.

Wow, that's interesting. Not sure if the staff was in great position to get him with the buzz he had going into last year but he's in a location that was a strength for the staff. Not a great outcome if things do not turn around for him.


Has Warren landed anywhere yet? He's probably someone that could really use a year at a prep school.

 

[Sneaky john ekey]

Wow, that's interesting. Not sure if the staff was in great position to get him with the buzz he had going into last year but he's in a location that was a strength for the staff. Not a great outcome if things do not turn around for him.


Has Warren landed anywhere yet? He's probably someone that could really use a year at a prep school.

Bass hasn't received an offer since may of 2018. Bass was barley on the board because people close to the situation knew that he had concerns. Warren and Bass are the same guy tho. Both Chicago public league kids who transferred and have some major concerns. Both were at one time the #1 DT in the state and top 300 prospects. Then by the time they got to there senior year they had no commit-able offers. Warren will end up at a Juco. Wouldn't be shocked to see it be the one our new DL coach was at. But that place does have some problems with the academic side of things sometimes.

 

[IlliniFan85]

no samari collier means there is an opening for macon or sam jackson then.

I don't think Nick Fury is going to college. I hear he has to help save the world or something.

 

[Title]

Interesting point. I just think collier jumped on the first offer he got and as more roll in he will look at them. I believe there was a tweet that already expressed that sentiment. I doubt we make a run at Macon- i think hes going to be a mizzou lock. But jackson did de-commit and hes someone i think the staff likes.

Macon was told the kid from Texas was number 1 and committed. He is not interested in being the number 2 option.