Illinois Football Staff Thread

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Bomb Squad 217

B
Bomb Squad 217
JohnDeereIllini said:
Everyone talks about in state recruiting and while I agree mostly that we need to keep the kids home, Illinois isn't exactly a top tier talent rich state. The really good ones leave and it would be nice if we can start landing them but in football I don't think Illinois necessarily needs to land all the instate players. I'm excited with this staff and them seemingly having an ability to recruit nationally.
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What exactly is "top tier" for talent? Historically we are a top 5 state for talent. Behind Florida, Texas, cal. And Ohio. That may have changed slightly with more and more people moving south but at worst that maybe puts us on par with Georgia? Other southern states are living off floridas reputation as a football factory but they aren't on that level.
 
#1,053      

RyanK

RyanK
RyanK
Bomb Squad 217 said:
What exactly is "top tier" for talent? Historically we are a top 5 state for talent. Behind Florida, Texas, cal. And Ohio. That may have changed slightly with more and more people moving south but at worst that maybe puts us on par with Georgia? Other southern states are living off floridas reputation as a football factory but they aren't on that level.
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Illinois isn't even top 10 on that list.
 
#1,054      

IAmChrisFarley

I
IAmChrisFarley
Bomb Squad 217 said:
What exactly is "top tier" for talent? Historically we are a top 5 state for talent. Behind Florida, Texas, cal. And Ohio. That may have changed slightly with more and more people moving south but at worst that maybe puts us on par with Georgia? Other southern states are living off floridas reputation as a football factory but they aren't on that level.
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Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, carolinas, Tennessee, and probably Arizona, and Colorado.
 
#1,055      

Soxfreak64

Soxfreak64
Bloomington
Soxfreak64
I imagine the top 3 states for talent are:
Texas, Florida, Cali

Next 7 probably go:
Ohio
Georgia
Maryland/DC
Carolinas
Illinois
Pennsylvania
Michigan
 
#1,056      

Jacob

J
Jacob
Soxfreak64 said:
I imagine the top 3 states for talent are:
Texas, Florida, Cali

Next 7 probably go:
Ohio
Georgia
Maryland/DC
Carolinas
Illinois
Pennsylvania
Michigan
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I would put Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arizona above Illinois on the talent scale as well. It is still a top 15 state, but with a healthy gap to the top 5
 
#1,059      

Umgawa1

Umgawa1
Umgawa1
So basically we have more in-state prospects than anybody else in the B1G West. It should be so easy.
 
#1,060      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
unimaroon said:
2008-2013 football prospects chart. Ill is 9th. http://www.footballstudyhall.com/2013/9/11/4718442/college-football-state-texas-california-florida
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Great infographic there

recruiting-distribution.0.jpg
 
#1,063      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
chief2007 said:
I've read Illinois ranks 10th in producing talent
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But rankings are deceptive because the rate of talent production is nonlinear. Illinois pales in comparison to the real hotbeds of Texas, Florida, and California and is therefore not the kind of state a P5 football program can use as the source for the overwhelming majority of its players. But it compares favorably to the states around it.
 
#1,064      

BZuppke

BZuppke
Plainfield
BZuppke
But to play devils advocate, everyone in the nation recruits California (entire PAC 12 and most top programs nationally), Florida (entire SEC and most programs nationally) and Texas (8 or 10FBS schools in Texas). So the real moral of the story is that if you can win consistently and recruit nationally, more of your top in state kids will stay home. Yes?
 
#1,065      

Illinijose

I
Illinijose
We have gone from a milk and cookies mid-major coaching staff to a hard knocks NFL tier team. We are going to see an attitude change, being close isn't going to be good enough. These coaches are going want perfection and maximum effort out of the existing talent. Expect the talent to get much better in year 3.
 
#1,066      

breadman

B
Herndon, VA
breadman
For this coaching staff's first season, I know I am going to be looking really closely at the "coaching up" of the existing team. From individual improvement to offense schemes, defensive schemes, and special team play. Kind of wish Monheim could have had one season under this staff.
Second season will focus on the first recruiting class talent level.
 
#1,067      

icengineer

I
Southern Illinois
icengineer
Haven't heard anything on Joey Boese for a few days since it was speculated he was coming here. Nothing new turned up in my search but prior to Fresno State he was at SDSU and Texas A&M. Didn't dig much deeper but I'm sure the connection to this staff happened at one of those two stops.
 
#1,068      

Illinijose

I
Illinijose
Kramer116 said:
Considering this entire staff was hired in March, definitely feel B+ is fair.
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Regardless when this coaching staff was hired it is a solid A. Can't remember when Illinois fielded NFL and college coaches, especially coaches that weren't cast offs. Yes Lovie was fired, but he has a winning record and over 100 NFL wins. Something even the great Saban can't say.
 
#1,069      

BIzzy

B
BIzzy
GreenwoodAve said:
How would you guys rate the staff he put together? I would give it a B +. Pretty darn good all things considered. My biggest question mark is the Butkus hire. Definitely need to see how that turns out. If we would have got Spencer as RB coach that would have been awesome. Also, I like that they hired a true ST guy. But the guys special teams were near the bottom in the NFL ha.
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Butkus is the least of my worries.....had the brains and stones to leave a dream job at his alma mater because he knew Beckman was a program killer....and as for coaching acumen?....you dont keep a job in the NFL for as long as Luke if you dont know what you are doing....this is a great staff from top to bottom
 
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HDawgg2005

H
HDawgg2005
BIzzy said:
Butkus is the least of my worries.....had the brains and stones to leave a dream job at his alma mater because he knew Beckman was a program killer....and as for coaching acumen?....you dont keep a job in the NFL for as long as Luke if you dont know what you are doing....this is a great staff from top to bottom
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Agreed :):shield:
 
#1,071      

Lake Camelot

L
Lake Camelot
BIzzy said:
Butkus is the least of my worries.....had the brains and stones to leave a dream job at his alma mater because he knew Beckman was a program killer....and as for coaching acumen?....you dont keep a job in the NFL for as long as Luke if you dont know what you are doing....this is a great staff from top to bottom
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Good Points. Thanks
 
#1,072      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
BIzzy said:
Butkus is the least of my worries.....had the brains and stones to leave a dream job at his alma mater because he knew Beckman was a program killer....and as for coaching acumen?....you dont keep a job in the NFL for as long as Luke if you dont know what you are doing....this is a great staff from top to bottom
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Exactly.
 
#1,074      

CUWPC

C
Geneva, IL
CUWPC
One of the biggest things I see from this staff is that negative recruiting goes away. Only thing I see is they will say Lovie will go back to the NFL soon. Lately negative recruiting is the easiest thing against Illinois and that is gone. Regardless the of how you feel about the staff, you can be sure that negative recruiting will lose steam.