Deleted member 654622
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Why would we take a 3 star over a 4, especially if the 4 is from Chicago? I thought my post was quite clear, TALENT. Don't care if they come from Australia or Champaign
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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Man only 1 4/5* in Indiana this year, but 9 last year...maybe we should recruit Indiana?
Deleted member 654622
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I completely get all that and didn't argue that point at all. What I am saying is we need talent period. Short term issue, we need talent. Once we start winning on a consistent basis, then the kids from the area are going to be more willing to play for IL. Until that time happens, which is not right now, give me talent over location
4 and 5* local kids don’t go to Illinois because we have sucked for the last 20 years. For the entire lives of these 18 year olds (save maybe 2 years) they’ve heard about Illinois sucking from peers, family, coaches, and media. They can turn on their TVs every Saturday and see half empty stadium and Illinois getting whooped by other local teams. By the time they are of age to be recruited the “Illinois brand” has been so degraded in their minds we are facing a huge uphill battle that being “local” doesn’t catch us up as ND, Wisconsin, Mizzou, NW, Iowa, Purdue, Indiana, Mich, etc are all within the same driving distance, if not closer than Champaign
The kids in Texas or Florida haven’t been subjected to 16 years of Illinois sucks messaging as they are too far away.
We start winning, we turn the branding, we start to build in state momentum - it works in both directions if we can indocturine kids with 16 years of exciting Illinois football perceptions
The kids in Texas or Florida haven’t been subjected to 16 years of Illinois sucks messaging as they are too far away.
We start winning, we turn the branding, we start to build in state momentum - it works in both directions if we can indocturine kids with 16 years of exciting Illinois football perceptions
Also... the discussion around Central Illinois is a very valid consideration.
Ive noticed that Iowa in particular is just killing us on “rural” Illinois kids - basically non Chicagoland and non STL metro. We’ll face tons of competition in these bigger markets due to population centers and alumni bases. I just don’t get why Iowa seems to be able to locate and offer these kids across Illinois “farm country”.
Prior discussion was around central Illinois but I am also seeing it in NW Illinois where I grew up and have family coaching football. More of Iowa’s Illinois kids come from these areas - I see in the last 2 classes kids from Byron, Lena (2 + another offered from a town of 500!), Decatur, Orion, Dunlap, Highland, etc.
Seems strange that we aren’t even in on these kids - if nothing more than as solid class fillers. It’s not like Iowa is a more relatable location than Champaign for small town populations. Whatever strategy Iowa is using to get in on talent outside of major metros we need to figure out
Ive noticed that Iowa in particular is just killing us on “rural” Illinois kids - basically non Chicagoland and non STL metro. We’ll face tons of competition in these bigger markets due to population centers and alumni bases. I just don’t get why Iowa seems to be able to locate and offer these kids across Illinois “farm country”.
Prior discussion was around central Illinois but I am also seeing it in NW Illinois where I grew up and have family coaching football. More of Iowa’s Illinois kids come from these areas - I see in the last 2 classes kids from Byron, Lena (2 + another offered from a town of 500!), Decatur, Orion, Dunlap, Highland, etc.
Seems strange that we aren’t even in on these kids - if nothing more than as solid class fillers. It’s not like Iowa is a more relatable location than Champaign for small town populations. Whatever strategy Iowa is using to get in on talent outside of major metros we need to figure out
this is the most talented roster we will put on a field in 7 years cause of Lovie. Love or hate it Lovie has got the talent so much better. And yes we need to recruit the state better but the state needs to be behind us better as well.
While it would be nice to have instate talent, i would just rather have talent period
Re Florida, we signed 4 blue chips from the Tampa Bay Area alone. None of the other schools you allude to had more than 3. Not disagreeing with Twangers, as I do care. But there is a ceiling in Illinois that correlates with basketball being the sport of choice for elite level athletes.
Deleted member 654622
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100% agree. Lovie and the staff have dramatically upgraded us, which prob shows how bad we were at. Even this class that was just brought in are a lot of players in the .85 area, which we need more of. Next step, consistently landing 2 or 3 high talented players each class.
Could be a great year on the field and in recruiting!
Not sure I can agree with many of you that are complaining about in-state recruiting. We had a bad records and horrific locker room and workout facilities. The Smith Center just opened in late summer and our record wasn't finalized until late fall. Lovie was not going to change the minds of Illinois' kids that had made up their minds last spring. Many on here also kind of overrate the talent of Illinois football players. Yes, there are some good ones but, not as many as everyone seems to think. I agree with Dude, just get talent. Be patient. A winning record and the sports facility will start making an impact.
I understand what you’re saying but in order to acquire that talent, you have to be cognizant of what that process entails. The key to this is recognizing statistics and demographics.
You set a benchmark for kids for your definition of talent, I believe it was a composite score of .87+. During Lovie Smith’s tenure, we will have signed 10 such players from the border states (Which includes Jadon Thompson). From Texas and Florida COMBINED that number is 4 and one of those players, Verdis Brown, is a clear anomaly (He’s listed under FL state but we all know where he’s from).
We have to care about where the talent resides in order to better allocate our recruiting time and resources. Otherwise, we waste them and miss out on kids a program likes ours simply cannot let slip away. That’s the real issue at hand here. If we get a crack at a high end talent kid, we don’t have a ton of leeway to miss. Ohio State can, they’ll have another kid of equal ability lined up in a finger snap. We won’t.
When you are limited in the number of scholies in a class, you better be and we were.
This is a good start to a class coming off this season, not a great one. lets see how the transfer portal and the spring singing
period treats us. A bowl win sure would help that perception after a tough last two games of the season. We need to get back
on the roll we were on. I sure hope we get some of the injured back.
period treats us. A bowl win sure would help that perception after a tough last two games of the season. We need to get back
on the roll we were on. I sure hope we get some of the injured back.
I think he’s referring to 2021 and beyond in which case, he’s generally correct.
How long has their coach been in place? He has a network and sorry, but there are areas of Illinois more loyal to Iowa. I saw it for two years that I lived in Iowa City. Saw Iowa billboards in Illinois. This is not a Lovie Smith problem, so stop with that. We watched last summer as Illinois HS player after player came and visited, talked highly of the staff, and then went elsewhere. The staff has its work cut out for them. We also know that when they take a two star guy, such as a Justin Harrison, there will incredible bitching about it. When we can take a full class, you can take a few flyers on kids that you think can play. We have had low numbers and they have been very selective on whom they have taken.
Oh boy....talent matters, location of said talent, much less so.
The reason I asked that question (which was immediately followed by a post with data to support my question) was that if "TALENT" is the criteria, for the past 6 years UoI has pulled a grand total of 11 kids from the state of IL. If we were to deal with just the top 20 kids from the state of IL that would be 11 out of 120 kids (including all *s). Less than 10%. If we were to categorize them by stars, from the state of IL we signed 1 / 36 4+5* and 10 / 84 3*.
In the same period, UoI signed (from all other states) 69 kids (3* and above).
Lovie, in yesterday's presser, mentioned UoI offered 19 2020 IL kids, none came (I think he meant UoI offered 20 and 1 committed, not signed as yet)
Coming back to 2020 (just data folks) our best recruiter would have been the 4th best recruiter at MN (for 2020).
Every B10 West team got a higher ranking kid than our highest raking kid (who has yet to sign with us). Our highest raking kid would be the 7th best at 2020 NB.
Here are the numbers for 2020 for average rankings (from 247) (can provide URL, do not have it handy right now). These DO NOT have JC or transfers (I do not know how to rank JS/transfers):
NB: 590 (18 kids: signed and hard commits)
NW: 828 (17)
WI: 863 (19)
IA: 877 (22)
MN: 940 (26)
IL: 1013 (13) (comment by Robert in his rant article has this at 888. I think he included JC, which I did not)
IF I were to equalize the numbers for 13 players, the numbers would be rather *?#@ for UoI. The data shows we are not in the ballpark.
I have yet to gather and make sense of some numbers, BUT, I think what helped UoI last season are the portal kids. And, had we had the kids on the injury list we would have performed even better.
However, I do NOT think the past season's record can be replicated with consistency. UoI is hitting a very common ceiling that we see in any business. Has UoI improved? Absolutely - no two ways about it. Can it continue on this trajectory: I do not think so, the returns always diminish. As a result, after a certain point, no matter what UoI does they will not improve. (They may improve relative to themselves, but not other teams.)
UNLESS?
IMHO, based on data I have collected, UoI needs to absolutely upgrade the recruiters and at some point in time the coaches. Given that the two positions are the same better to get hold of great coaches that can recruit at a very high level. In short pay more (there is data out there that provides ranking as recruiters and pay).
Meanwhile, depend very heavily on the portal. That is what saved us this past year.
Again, these are just data points (collected it at 2 AM, so apologies if there are any mis-computations). Nothing more, nothing less. We do this type of analysis every day on the commercial (and the defense) side. However, I will admit that we take a lot more care than I have taken here, before publishing (this is the internet
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Your point is taken, but dude or I dont allocate resources. We consume end results. And so i and he probably doesn’t care where talent comes from.
Krombopulos_Michael
- Aurora, Illinois (that’s a suburb of Chicago)
Agreed in the sense that changing the perception within the state of Illinois is going to take time. While I won’t get into a debate on the rating of talent within the state and whether it’s accurate or not, the realistic goal needs to be keeping some of the top tier talent home as every year there is major talent leaving to go elsewhere (often within the conference). Don’t discount the impact that keeping local talent in-state will have on the fan base as well.
I think that there is a concern of the Illinois high school coaches that they are not
treated as they were in the past. The association was invited to be part of the program,
spend time with the staff, listened to and valued in the past. Coaches and officials
who know them tell me that is no longer the case.
treated as they were in the past. The association was invited to be part of the program,
spend time with the staff, listened to and valued in the past. Coaches and officials
who know them tell me that is no longer the case.
Oh. Forgot, Just BTW, all 2021 4 and 5 *, in the state of IL are accounted for: 3 to MI, 1 each to WI and IA.
We don’t hire and fire coaches either but we’ve discussed that very topic to great, extreme length. The purpose of this board is to speak in theory. To say one doesn’t care about said theory essentially invalidates this board’s existence.
And the best players still did not go to Illinois. It's a whiny world. Everyone thinks they are getting dissed.
I skipped this a page ago but it needs to be noted how important this is. This area can’t be ignored and I hope we actually try to cultivate relationships in the metro area this time as opposed to our last wasted effort where we essentially walked in, asked for kids, were scoffed at and then gave up. Recruiting doesn’t work like that....anywhere.
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