Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

[BananaShampoo]

It doesn't seem to matter to you what the staff has proven or developed, you just continue to put all your eggs in the rankings basket. It seems most others have decided to trust the process. I don't care that you don't, I just wish you would stop telling us all the same thing every 10 or so posts.

Agree. I'm sold on Lovie and staff's talent evaluation abilities. They proved it last season and hit on far more guys than they missed on. Despite playing almost all freshmen this past season, I felt that by the end of the year we were ALREADY a mid-level B1G defense (if only our offense was even close to that...). I can't imagine how scary good these guys are going to be as upperclassmen PLUS adding the next couple of classes into the fold.

 

[UIGrad03]

@TomLuginbill

I think this is a weird analysis. I mean, I get it from a historical aspect that a lot of players are now off the board, but the schools determine which 2800 players get to sign LOIs based on need and ncaa limits. It’s not like there are exactly 2800 kids capable of playing FBS football.

The other way to look at it is that there are only 400 spots left, so there will actually be less competition throughout the next 2 months of reevaluating and recruiting players that will fit the program.

 

[FT35]

:thumb: - I hear ya! I'm still gushing over Sydney Brown's highlights. Tough nosed, absolute smash hitter, fearleass and very fast.

Brown's highlights are very impressive. I wish they were longer than a couple of minutes, however.

I find it interesting that the staff asked him to keep his verbal silent for a couple of days. They probably felt pretty burned with what happened with Petersen and Anderson, although Anderson wasn't completely under the radar.

 

[SescIllini]

I know I keep harping on this but the film on these 'nobody' recruits looks really good. Walker, Brown, Ware, Joseph all look great. They are all fast, agile hips, and hit like trucks.

With Cubit/Beckman, we used to bring in guys and you'd watch the film and say ... ehhhh? This is 180 degrees different.

If you look at recruiting from 2010-2016 on 247REC site you can see Lovie is recruiting much bigger lineman, both on D and O.


Lovie and his NFL staff know how to identify the next echelon type players. They know what they can develop, I think they will be better than Zook at identifying these players.

 

[FT35]

So who are we even still recruiting?

Merlin Robertson
Verdis Brown
Dayven Coleman?

We are also recruiting John Jackson, who is Robertson's teammate. They are both visiting in January. Jackson is also visiting Wisconsin as well which is why the staff is less confident in landing him. This why we offered Carter.

Does anyone know if we are still going after Gaskin? It would nice to get him and Jason Mercier on campus.

 

[UofI08]

The good
Calvin Avery is a stud.
Got great athletes out of Texas and Florida.
Uncovered some relatively unknown kids that look to have talent and athleticism.
Quality o-linemen added.
Decent quantity added to the secondary.

The bad
Looked to mess with some DB recruiting.
Missed on the 2 best players that they probably spend the most time and resources recruiting, Craddeith and Dele, in a city they need to recruit better.
Struck out on recent targets: Peterson, Adams, Anderson.
Last in B1G if you pay attention to rankings.
Barely pulled in any local/Illinois kids.
Not sold they have addressed QB or LB enough.
Probably need some new recruiters added to the staff.

 

[Dan]

Happy to officially welcome graduate transfer @ShaedonMeadors to the FAM!

https://twitter.com/IlliniFootball/status/943919727092621312

 

[ivwilsoniv]

Happy to officially welcome graduate transfer @ShaedonMeadors to the FAM!

https://twitter.com/IlliniFootball/status/943919727092621312

Pretty decent stats at App State. Maybe fills in for Malik Turner this year while the other WRs continue to grow.

 

[JDHalfrack]

They didn't offer a lot of Illinois kids because they don't think they are as good as the lower rated kids from Florida, Texas and California.

Neither do the national scouts. Which leads me to this question:

Assuming you were nearly guaranteed no matter which route you took, which is more important: getting better players, even if they're not from Illinois or holding onto the top recruits in Illinois at the cost of talent?

 

[UofI08]

Neither do the national scouts. Which leads me to this question:

Assuming you were nearly guaranteed no matter which route you took, which is more important: getting better players, even if they're not from Illinois or holding onto the top recruits in Illinois at the cost of talent?

I think its obvious you take the better player. I don't think anyone's advocating to offer as many in state kids as out of state kids. I think the point is that we have to do better with the good Illinois kids.

 

[EJ33]

They didn't offer a lot of Illinois kids because they don't think they are as good as the lower rated kids from Florida, Texas and California.

Yep. Look at the records of USF, UCF and FAU - all built with lower rated Florida kids.

 

[ivwilsoniv]

Yep. Look at the records of USF, UCF and FAU - all built with lower rated Florida kids.

Playing against lower rated Florida kids...

 

[ChiefIllini]

Playing against lower rated Florida kids...

USF beat us. UCF beat them. Ignoring FAU (which id bet a lot of money they beat us straight up), thats 1-2 against these teams with lesser florida talent playing lesser florida schools. Dont act like just because these teams aren't playing B1G opponents that they aren't just as good or better than some of the B1G teams. The argument that a team plays crappy teams makes zero sense in this discussion.

Fact is if the staff believes these Florida kids are better than what we have in our backyard I'm all for it. And you probably should be too.End of the day is getting the best ~25 kids you possibly can on your roster who fit what you're looking for.

 

[PJD86]

Is that sustainable though? I mean, can you consistently field a winner with lower rated kids from those states, I think is the question. I don't know the answer

 

[UofI08]

I'm still not seeing this Florida vs Illinois argument. Nobody in their right mind is saying offer a kid just because he's in Illinois. The people that want to see us do better instate, myself included, want us to start winning recruiting battles against the Iowas, NDs, MSUs, NUs for the better Illinois kids. Nobody is saying sign the borderline 3 star thats going to NIU instead of going after a Florida kid.

 

[UofI08]

Is that sustainable though? I mean, can you consistently field a winner with lower rated kids from those states, I think is the question. I don't know the answer

The problem is the rating systems now. From my untrained eye, it seems like every recruit outside the top couple hundred is a "3 star." Seems like the services have almost gotten rid of 2 star ratings. If "lower rated kids" are high-rated 3 stars with great athleticism and good offers, the answer is yes. If "lower rated kids" are an entire team of unknowns with little to no P5 interest, the answer is no.

 

[SescIllini]

I saw a stat on the BIG network that was interesting. Ohio led the states with number of BIG conference recruits with 25, Illinois was second with 24. If we are rated with the worst ranked class in the BIG, that makes me think the other 13 BIG schools think there is talent in Illinois. But at the same time I think Lovie is getting good talent in Florida and Texas, where there high 3 Stars are likely 4 stars at Illinois.

 

[PJD86]

Ford Picks Georgia. At least we had a hat on the table!

 

[BananaShampoo]

Ford Picks Georgia. At least we had a hat on the table!

No surprise there.

 

[PJD86]

No surprise there.

Rumor is there was a really strong push by Texas A&M, he really liked Jimbo Fisher for some reason, probably made the right choice Georgia is going to be loaded.

Not sure if this was mentioned, I saw it tweeted, Georgia has 7 of the top 30 players in the country for 2018. Crazy

 

[Centennialillini]

This is in the misery loves company category but the St Louis Post listed the 30 best prospects in the metro St Louis area in todays paper.

With a couple of undecideds left, Missouri has been shut out.

 

[Dren1]

The upper level prospects are every bit as good as the prospects from FL, TX and CA. The state school needs to dominate the state in recruiting.

I am not sure if you are trolling here, but the 3rd ranked recruit in Illinois this year is Quincy Patterson and he is ranked 286th nationally in the 247 composite.

 

[ebakola]

I am not sure if you are trolling here, but the 3rd ranked recruit in Illinois this year is Quincy Patterson and he is ranked 286th nationally in the 247 composite.

Is this really a discussion or point of contention? Florida, Texas, and California are far superior to Illinois in talent, so the staff are smart in leveraging those states to fast-track the rebuild. In an ideal world, we’d be first consideration for in-state players (and in St. Louis), but we’re not there yet. Consistency in winning is the key.

Don’t know about some of you, but I’m looking forward to next season, with or without a new OC.

 

[UofI08]

I am not sure if you are trolling here, but the 3rd ranked recruit in Illinois this year is Quincy Patterson and he is ranked 286th nationally in the 247 composite.

Not sure of your point? The poster you quoted is correct. The top recruits in Illinois are just as good as their ranking (AND OFFERS) suggests. Is there a much higher quantity of quality recruits in Florida and Texas? Definitely, but the very top Illinois kids can play with anyone.

For comparison's sake, our 2 qb commits are not even in the top 800.

 

[South Farms]

I am not sure if you are trolling here, but the 3rd ranked recruit in Illinois this year is Quincy Patterson and he is ranked 286th nationally in the 247 composite.

This

Used to be that while it was well known the talented players in those southern states were generally better than those up north , the linemen up north were “equal” with the southerners . That’s not true any more either .

High schools in Florida and most southern states play a spring season version of football that is way more intense and real than our college spring season . They literally play and practice the game , in some school sanctioned way, shape or form 11 out of 12 months . Just as intense as our basketball players play the game year round .