Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#1,404      
Sounds like a commit is coming this weekend. Think it might be Joriell Washington, a safety out of Fort Meyers. Could also maybe be Justin Macias or Hutson lillebridge, we are doing well with those guys as well.

what’s your opinion on these players?
 
#1,405      
what’s your opinion on these players?
Joriell Washington- super long, think he's listed at like 6'3. Good ball skills and really likes to come up and make plays. Big hitter and plays like it, can even rush the passer off the edge. Lacks top end speed though and gets lost/is late to spots within coverage. I don't think he's a free safety at the next level, more of a strong safety. Still a solid prospect with other P5 offers.

Justin Macias- really, really like this evaluation. He's a LB/S tweener (6'0, 195) so he's likely to play the star role they want to start using. Physical kid, average speed at safety but great speed for a LB, decent tackler, but can leave a little to desired in terms of pass defense. Also doesn't read a ton of plays for his team, he sorta just flies around. Love this kid.

Hutson Lillibridge- big kid 6'4 300, and has surprising athleticism for his lack of speed. Just a very solid overall G/C prospect. Good feet and has nice lateral quickness. He lacks top end traits but has a really high floor.
 
#1,406      

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Macias looks like a nickle corner to me. Imo a upgraded version of Cameron Watkins
 
#1,407      
I’ll guess Jackson Hamilton as next commit. No logic, other than recent commits seem to be guys we are not too much in the know about. And maybe some of that GA pipeline too.

Lillibridge is a HS teammate of Wisecarver. Not sure that ever benefits us, but fun nonetheless.
 
#1,408      
Joriell Washington- super long, think he's listed at like 6'3. Good ball skills and really likes to come up and make plays. Big hitter and plays like it, can even rush the passer off the edge. Lacks top end speed though and gets lost/is late to spots within coverage. I don't think he's a free safety at the next level, more of a strong safety. Still a solid prospect with other P5 offers.

Justin Macias- really, really like this evaluation. He's a LB/S tweener (6'0, 195) so he's likely to play the star role they want to start using. Physical kid, average speed at safety but great speed for a LB, decent tackler, but can leave a little to desired in terms of pass defense. Also doesn't read a ton of plays for his team, he sorta just flies around. Love this kid.

Hutson Lillibridge- big kid 6'4 300, and has surprising athleticism for his lack of speed. Just a very solid overall G/C prospect. Good feet and has nice lateral quickness. He lacks top end traits but has a really high floor.

Awesome. I appreciate the analysis! Washington/Macias sound like potential LB types to me. Let’s keep the commits rolling.
 
#1,410      
I'm being serious. It's not simply "winning." Arkansas has a top 30 class and Bielema drove that program to low-tiered mediocrity. North Carolina is getting guys and even Purdue. We're not talking about top programs like Alabama, Ohio State and LSU. Even Tennessee is making a resurgence in recruiting and they haven't been much of a program since Fulmer was the coach. So again I'm asking, what are these players getting or what do they perceive they can get elsewhere?
Georgia Tech is also killing it.
 
#1,411      
Georgia Tech is also killing it.
There's always some reason why we can't recruit well or win - facilities can't compare with OSU's, HS school coaches don't like us, we don't have enough fan support, not enough administration support, etc. yet other schools face the same or worse conditions and still manage to succeed.
 
#1,412      
Sounds like a commit is coming this weekend. Think it might be Joriell Washington, a safety out of Fort Meyers. Could also maybe be Justin Macias or Hutson lillebridge, we are doing well with those guys as well.
Wonder if the extended dead period will lead to the staff pushing for more commits
 
#1,413      
There's always some reason why we can't recruit well or win - facilities can't compare with OSU's, HS school coaches don't like us, we don't have enough fan support, not enough administration support, etc. yet other schools face the same or worse conditions and still manage to succeed.
Our facilities, until the last year, didn't compete with anyone's in the Power Five. Not even with many that aren't Power Five.
 
#1,416      
In what way?
If you have to ask that question then, you have no idea how bad our football facilities were. Other than the weight room and the equipment issued, we had very little that was even average.
 
#1,417      
If you have to ask that question then, you have no idea how bad our football facilities were. Other than the weight room and the equipment issued, we had very little that was even average.
How was Zook able to attract talent with these terrible facilities?
 
#1,418      
I wondered the s sac me thing. The other post made it sound like we had the worst facilities. I am glad that we have upgraded the facilities.
 
#1,421      
How was Zook able to attract talent with these terrible facilities?
A decade with very little to know updates is how your facilities become third rate very quickly. Zook had a good recruiting touch was mediocre at a football powerhouse which carried a lot of weight and was one of the first coaches to embrace texting as a recruitment tool which actually sparked discussion about how texting should be ruled in contact time. So a decade ago our facilities weren't as bad as they were 3 years ago, had a decent college rep and inroads, and was on the cutting edge of recruiting at the time is how he did it. Lovie, nor Beans and Wiener, nor Cubit are anywhere close to what the Zooker was right when he go to UIUC.
 
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Because he was recruiting 10-15 years ago when the facility was only slightly below average. It's an arms race now and we needed to get involved.
J Leman talked about it on Werner somewhere back this year, said Zook stressed family & steered around facilities as much as possible. But standing pat since then we fell further behind.
 
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Sounds like a commit is coming this weekend. Think it might be Joriell Washington, a safety out of Fort Meyers. Could also maybe be Justin Macias or Hutson lillebridge, we are doing well with those guys as well.


maybe next week/month.
 
#1,424      

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How was Zook able to attract talent with these terrible facilities?

I'm fully convinced we used bagmen during the early Zook era. I understand zook has always been a great recruiter but he brought in the type of players we never had before and will never have again.
 
#1,425      
Because he was recruiting 10-15 years ago when the facility was only slightly below average. It's an arms race now and we needed to get involved.
Fair enough, our facilities were sub-par. Now they are very good. Can we start expecting recruiting classes at least in the top half of the big 10 again?
 
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