They will not dominate big ten offenses because they are going up against 4 and 5 star recruits that have gone through a superior strength and training program. Illinois is not going to improve recruiting toward the bottom of the big ten year after year.
I know it’s tempting to think we should be pulling 4 and 5* athletes regularly. But if you look at our history, our top recruits of all time (since rankings started), you would notice that we have less than 35 4* or better recruits since sites started tracking this.
https://247sports.com/college/illinois/Sport/Football/AllTimeRecruits/
You are correct, we won’t compete with Ohio State, or Michigan for the foreseeable future. But not many teams do. Honestly, we are not on the precipice of the top 25, so let’s stop comparing ourselves there, for the moment. We are on the cusp of qualifying for a bowl game. Next year, whether or not we do qualify, that is about where our program is. It would be a good first step before we can make a case to a bunch of 4 and 5 star athletes. We have a solid foundation and lacked playmakers this year. We were thin and depleted. We couldn’t make up for the injuries and dismissals. Our 4th and 5th string had trouble catching the ball.
But the base is there. We have a solid class of athletes that can compete. Add some playmakers and we can be explosive. This class added considerable speed and will put us in position to win some games, make some 3rd down stops, get some turnovers, return some punts next year. This is what we lacked this year.
However, we are still thin, we need players at positions of need, particularly at linebacker and we need some luck with healthy players.
Then 2020 and on, can be targeted recruiting. We need solid people at a handful of positions to improve and take over for seniors leaving and we can upgrade our classes. We can find some gems, such as, Sydney Brown, Bennet Williams and develop them. This is how we will build our program.
We can’t take a significant number of 5* and 4* athletes because they wouldn’t qualify academically. Jeff Thomas May be a turning point in this endeavor, but his first go around didn’t work. I think 2019 we can get to a bowl game and I think 2020, we could have a northwestern-like run at the big west. After these types of things happen, we can legitimately make claims for the 4 and 5* athletes that can take us to the next level. But before we will get a bunch of 4 and 5 star kids, we need to qualify for a bowl game. And then another. We need to compete
For the Big West. We need to start sending kids to the NFL again. This will happen, but we won’t recruit these kids in large quantity until we do. I think this current signing class will signify a turning point.
Remember, we were projected to win 3 games this season, we won 4 and almost 5 against USF. This next year we will he projected to win 4 or 5. And we are all rooting for 6. So let’s keep things in perspective and see that we are improving and developing a culture