Ummmm...recruiting AA Don Thorp and Jim Juriga, Mitch Brookins, NFL DE Scott Davis, OL Rick Schulte, Brian Ward, Scott Kehoe, Mark Dennis, Mike Scully and Mark McGowan, LBs Steve Glasson, Sam Ellsworth, Darrick Brownlow, Howard Griffith, doesn't make you a strong Illinois recruiter?
As I said, Coach White concentrated on lineman and LBs when recruiting Illinois, and was pretty successful at it. He primarily went West for skill players. ironically what really killed team progress was going "all in" into the QB basket of an Illinois prep QB Jim Bennet from Aurora who had the talent to be special but just walked away from FB when we needed him to take over.
I understand the guy was adamant about being our only QB recruit in the class. Coach White went along and didn't "recruit over" him, and he got screwed by Bennet. Coach White got Jeff George to come in, and he set the standard and gave momentum to Coach Mac's tenure. One wonders how Coach White would've done and where he would have taken the program had he had two years of coaching Jeff George and had the benefits of that experience in recruiting.
Oh well, "woulda, coulda, shoulda..." but I guess the "Elton Delton" NCAA issues pretty much sealed his fate, along with that receiver from Bay City Tx who went to Okie St...