Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#2,651      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
LurkLongandProsper said:
I think adding Fedd Jackson and/or Palczewski still needs to happen, for one. Additionally, there's really no reason we shouldn't land Roberson at this point. Lastly, flipping Hobbs is a necessity because we need DBs. Getting Roundtree would also be HUGE.

And, personally, I'd like to get a punter.
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wish list:
OL - Fedd Jackson, Palczewski
DT - Green
DE - Carney, Roundtree, Bagner/Boykin
WR - Roberson, Thomas*
TE - Dorsey
DB - Hobbs, Estes?, Knight?
I'm sure I'm forgetting some

* - don't think he can get in
 
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#2,652      

mhuml32

mhuml32
Cincinnati, OH
mhuml32
bigruss22 said:
Scout has him ranked as the #1 OT in Illinois for 2017, when he got noticed scouts and coaches drooled over his size and athleticism. He's high priority for us now and is visiting on Jan 20th.
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Would be an underrated get for Lovie. By underrated, I mean at similar levels as our other top targets (e.g. Green).
 
#2,654      

mhuml32

mhuml32
Cincinnati, OH
mhuml32
MadSeason said:
It was ever so slight. 2008 was just insane.

Liuget 1st
Mercilus 1st
Jenkins 1st
LeShoure 2nd
Wilson 2nd
Allen 2nd
Palmer 6th

Staples Free Agent Still in NFL
Foster- Undrafted played 2 years Saints
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.......you just made me sad.


Also, not to be a pessimist, but I would take those 07/08 Zook classes for better talent than the current one. I know the star ratings are very similar, but that was before some serious star inflation in the recruiting websites.
 
#2,655      

mhuml32

mhuml32
Cincinnati, OH
mhuml32
IlliniOX08 said:
to be fair, here's how those guys were ranked (according to Scout):

Liuget - 4*
Mercilus - 2*
Jenkins - 4*
LeShoure - 3*
Wilson - 3*
Allen - 2*
Palmer - 3*

Liuget and Jenkins were premium recruits. All the other ones we have the benefit of hindsight on. We wouldn't be particularly blown away if any of Mercilus, LeShoure, Wilson, Allen or Palmer committed to us out of high school in this class. The 2017 class will be judged in 2020 and 2021 just like the 2008 class was judged in 2011 and 2012.

This class is still only 14 deep and has been put together in 9 months. Zook had a few years to work on the '08 class. Patience.
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I'm not getting desperate, just wanted to point out those 07/08 classes might have been the best in Illinois football history. This class is very promising, but not at that level. The next two years have a chance to be contenders to those classes, and it's what's needed to be competitive in B1G.
 
#2,656      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
mhuml32 said:
I'm not getting desperate, just wanted to point out those 07/08 classes might have been the best in Illinois football history. This class is very promising, but not at that level. The next two years have a chance to be contenders to those classes, and it's what's needed to be competitive in B1G.
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Difference is, Lovie (and his group) can coach. Zooker couldn't.
 
#2,657      

icengineer

I
Southern Illinois
icengineer
mhuml32 said:
I'm not getting desperate, just wanted to point out those 07/08 classes might have been the best in Illinois football history. This class is very promising, but not at that level. The next two years have a chance to be contenders to those classes, and it's what's needed to be competitive in B1G.
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At the time of them signing no one would have said that. Just like no one can say that about our current recruits. They ended up being one of our better classes, but no one thought that at the time they arrived on campus.
 
#2,658      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
IlliniOX08 said:
My point is, we didn't know the 07/08 classes were at that level until well after they were all graduated. This class could have several guys rated as 3* who turn out to be 1st or 2nd rounders in 3/4 years and you may be revisiting that. Or this class may wash out.

Point is, you cannot compare a class that is half finished, unsigned, and hasn't played a down of college football yet, to a class that was signed 8/9 years ago and we have the benefit of knowing exactly how those kids turned out.
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Precisely.
 
#2,659      

IlliniInTexas

I
IlliniInTexas
icengineer said:
At the time of them signing no one would have said that. Just like no one can say that about our current recruits. They ended up being one of our better classes, but no one thought that at the time they arrived on campus.
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The 07 class was most definitely hailed as the best recruiting class in recent Illini memory (and probably ever) in February. With 2 concensus 5 star recruits in Benn and Wilson, there was no doubt in my mind that we would soon be reaching upper Big Ten echelons. Oh, how hopes die hard :D

Turned out the 08 class was actually better than the 07 class. That part no one would have expected.
 
#2,660      

uinuke81

U
Chief Forever
Birmingham, AL
uinuke81
FeelYourPaign said:
That is odd, since quantity will only rarely win football games. You would sort of think that class ranking, lagged a bit for the players to get ready to play college ball, would be indicative of record. But when the rank is based on quantity, that is less likely to be the case.

Glad Lovie and crew are holding to the quality standard. It will pay off.
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College football today is all about depth. With the injuries and the other factors that impact number of players on the field like suspensions, academics, pre-draft jitters, etc. it all comes down to depth. Programs like Alabama and Ohio State end up with 12 to 15 4* and 5* athletes in every recruiting class. If you follow this closely, only about 1/2 of those "superstars" actually pan out but 6 to 8 studs in each class makes for 20 to 30 studs at any one time for those schools. For schools like Illinois, we can only dream of having that much depth. Quality and quantity are both equally important in each class along with making sure the offensive and defensive lines are stacked. While I'm a diehard Illini graduate and fan, I live in the south and follow Tennessee these days. For all the great recruiting that the Vols have had in the Butch Jones era, by the end of this season, they had 0 scholarship defensive tackles on the roster due to injuries and suspensions. They are going into the bowl game with Nebraska with a patchwork DL. Bottom line, it still all about the numbers.
 
#2,661      

calibear

C
calibear
Deon1987 said:
carmoni green
Owen Carney
Hojo Watkins

True freshman that I know of
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Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself , or do you know something for a fact the Carney is a silent commit? I have not read that anywhere.
 
#2,665      

calibear

C
calibear
Does your secret Santa where a headdress and dance in the pale moonlight at the at Memorial stadium every Saturday night from September to December. Now that would be a present!
 
#2,666      

FatGreg

F
FatGreg
Joel Goodson said:
wish list:
OL - Fedd Jackson, Palczewski
DT - Green
DE - Carney, Roundtree, Bagner/Boykin
WR - Roberson, Thomas*
TE - Dorsey
DB - Hobbs, Estes?, Knight?
I'm sure I'm forgetting some

* - don't think he can get in
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There we go! That looks pretty much perfect to me. Hopefully we can get it done. I agree that Thomas is probably going the juco route. Hopefully we help place him and he stays loyal. Adding JT as a JR or RS SO in a couple of years would be awesome.
 
#2,668      

mhuml32

mhuml32
Cincinnati, OH
mhuml32
IlliniOX08 said:
My point is, we didn't know the 07/08 classes were at that level until well after they were all graduated. This class could have several guys rated as 3* who turn out to be 1st or 2nd rounders in 3/4 years and you may be revisiting that. Or this class may wash out.

Point is, you cannot compare a class that is half finished, unsigned, and hasn't played a down of college football yet, to a class that was signed 8/9 years ago and we have the benefit of knowing exactly how those kids turned out.
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I'm not speaking to how the class turned out, I am speaking towards class rankings at the time.

I also am not comparing this class to the current one. At least one poster made comparisons to those classes, I disagreed.
 
#2,669      

MadSeason

MadSeason
MadSeason
So far to me this class looks a whole lot like the 2006 which was a foundation builder with some star power, several nflers and some really good college players.

2006 had 6 guys who played in NFL

2 Jucos who were immediate contributors and solid for 2 years.

Franchise QB

Hicks, Bellamy, Nurse, Hunt, Palmer, Edwards who were all solid program contributors.

I think the above will be very possible with our final 2017 class
 
#2,670      

GameOfThrows

G
GameOfThrows
Does anyone know anything about Miquel Pillow-Smiley from Gateway STEM in the STL area? While checking out hoops stats on Javon Pickett, Mark Smith and Jordan Goodwin, I came across this Miquel's name. He's averaging 27 pts. and 13 boards a game at a list size of 6'2" and 200 lbs. However, he has a Hudi page set up for football. Played DE and WR.

Seems like a natural athlete with good size. Anyone heard of him?
 
#2,671      

BZuppke

BZuppke
Plainfield
BZuppke
HoJo - First thing that comes to my mind is Howard Johnsons. Anyone know where his nickname comes from?
 
#2,672      

MadSeason

MadSeason
MadSeason
LannyBudd said:
"Edwards" a solid program contributor? You must have been watching those games blackout drunk. That guy got abused by any decent passing team.
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I was absolutely blackout drunk during those games!

I was more referring to guys who didn't fail to qualify or wash out and added 4 years of roster stability and saw the field during their time.

In those days you never could tell if a guy couldn't play or it was lack of coaching. At least till Koenning came along
 
#2,673      

Illinir1

Illinir1
Camdenton, MO
Illinir1
ivwilsoniv said:
From illinois.247sports.com: "Cincinnati (Ohio) Colerain offensive lineman Howard Watkins announced his verbal to Illinois on Monday evening. The Illini beat out the likes of Cincinnati, Illinois and Louisville for one of their top targets in the trenches."

We're so good at recruiting, we're beating ourselves! That's hard to do!

http://illinois.247sports.com/Article/Howard-Watkins-commits-to-Illinois-Illini-49920563
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Unfortunately, beating ourselves is what our football team has done consistently for several years in a row now. Hopefully this class changes that.
 
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