Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#126      
Yes, this is what other, winning programs do all the time. And Mookie Cooper was a Top 100 player who had a direct connection to Corey Patterson. That's a unique case. I'm not saying Illinois should be going for Top 100 players consistently (unless it's a situation like Mookie), but there are over 300 seniors ranked as 4* in the 2021 247 Composite Rankings. Three hundred. Illinois: 7, Missouri: 3, Indiana: 3, Wisconsin: 2, Michigan: 9, Ohio: 9, Minnesota: 2, Iowa: 3. These are 38 of them all in Illinois' back yard. The staff can't identify a few of these guys and land at least one of them?

But Lovie doesn't want to get mixed up in a ton of high profile recruiting battles... C'mon now. They got two 4* players in 2018, two of them in 2019 (both Top-60 classes). This should be the baseline moving forward if the program wants to get where the fanbase is expecting them to be.
Of course we would love to land 2 top 100 prospects every class. But those two are in the top 10 all time for us. Landing 2 top 10 kids as a baseline just isn’t realistic. And I’ve showed the data, the top kids in state historically have favored ND, Michigan and Iowa and Michigan state. If we want to land these kids we need a more competitive product on the field, which will require good evaluations when we aren’t recruiting at a good level.
 
#127      
Who is too high and who is too low?

No-Doubt Future Starters
OG Brody Wisecarver
DB Daniel Edwards
WR Patrick Bryant
C Josh Kreutz

Potential Future Starters
DE Sedarius McConnell
DB DD Snyder

Role Players/Depth Pieces
LB Trevor Moffitt
DB Joriell Washington
WR Theodore Lockley
LB Dylan Rosiek
DB Prince Green

Projects
QB Samari Collier
LB Kalen Villanueva

The tough thing is that if they are able to contribute, by their last year, they should be contending to be starters. The measurables are good enough to warrant starting. There are some projects, but I think it is different than projects in the past that didn’t have the measurables. Many of these kids, if they don’t make it, will choose to leave early because they realize the amount of work that is needed to succeed is not what they want. Harding type players, I believe, or on this roster. They will acquire the skill and push for huge years by the time they graduate. For non skill positions, That generally should be the expectation.
 
#128      
Who is too high and who is too low?

No-Doubt Future Starters
OG Brody Wisecarver
DB Daniel Edwards
WR Patrick Bryant
C Josh Kreutz

Potential Future Starters
DE Sedarius McConnell
DB DD Snyder

Role Players/Depth Pieces
LB Trevor Moffitt
DB Joriell Washington
WR Theodore Lockley
LB Dylan Rosiek
DB Prince Green

Projects
QB Samari Collier
LB Kalen Villanueva
Snyder, Washington, Bryant, Wisecarver and McConnell appear to be legit P5 prospects. The rest are mid-high level MAC/Sun Belt level recruits. We are going to need at least a few of these guys to outplay their rankings and recruiting lists
 
#130      
Snyder, Washington, Bryant, Wisecarver and McConnell appear to be legit P5 prospects. The rest are mid-high level MAC/Sun Belt level recruits. We are going to need at least a few of these guys to outplay their rankings and recruiting lists

Also, Moffitt has freakish athletic ability. I mean a 6 foot linebacker at near 200 lbs that has both a 40 inch vert and 4.40 speed is ridiculous. I don't like using many reaches, but he is the kind in a couple of years that could really stand out. I wish we had more, consistently higher rated recruits. The counter is Lovie does seem to be doing decent work with his underrated recruits. Barnes, Witherspoon last year. Roundtree a couple of years ago along with Sydney Brown, Hobbs, Bennett Williams (before off field issues) and many of our OL. It seems like our defensive underrated players fit in fine with Lovie. Offensively, I have not seen many great stories outside of OL, but we seem to be good finding defensive gems. At least the takes this year all are freak athletes in a time SOME may have gotten higher rankings once showing a senior year/camps.
 
#131      
I never said you give up on a high level recruit. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that other recruits felt Illinois paid a lot of attention to Mookie on visits. And it possibly hurt us on other recruitments. It’s just part of the game. Going for high level recruits is great in theory but in all honesty using the 3 highest commits in the last decade as a example of what we can do isn’t realistic.
Sure seems you’re implying we shouldn’t be recruiting 4/5 stars & recruiting Mookie took too much attention and we would be better off looking for coins in couch cushions. My point was just 2 classes ago we took 3 kids that were 4/5 stars, year before that both Brown & Avery we’re 4 stars, there are too many teams to count that can juggle multiple 4 star kids. I also think it is wrong to make the broad assumption that just because a kid is higher ranked, he is higher maintenance. This isn’t an either/or situation. The staff needs to figure out how to recruit higher level kids + find the under recruited kids that fit the system. Counting on being that much smarter than everyone else isn’t a good place to be.
 
#132      

B-ILL

Working From Home
Sure seems you’re implying we shouldn’t be recruiting 4/5 stars & recruiting Mookie took too much attention and we would be better off looking for coins in couch cushions. My point was just 2 classes ago we took 3 kids that were 4/5 stars, year before that both Brown & Avery we’re 4 stars, there are too many teams to count that can juggle multiple 4 star kids. I also think it is wrong to make the broad assumption that just because a kid is higher ranked, he is higher maintenance. This isn’t an either/or situation. The staff needs to figure out how to recruit higher level kids + find the under recruited kids that fit the system. Counting on being that much smarter than everyone else isn’t a good place to be.
I'll just leave this right here: https://247sports.com/college/minnesota/Season/2021-Football/Commits/
 
#133      
Sure seems you’re implying we shouldn’t be recruiting 4/5 stars & recruiting Mookie took too much attention and we would be better off looking for coins in couch cushions. My point was just 2 classes ago we took 3 kids that were 4/5 stars, year before that both Brown & Avery we’re 4 stars, there are too many teams to count that can juggle multiple 4 star kids. I also think it is wrong to make the broad assumption that just because a kid is higher ranked, he is higher maintenance. This isn’t an either/or situation. The staff needs to figure out how to recruit higher level kids + find the under recruited kids that fit the system. Counting on being that much smarter than everyone else isn’t a good place to be.
I am simply saying that if we want to start competing with the big boys of college football then we need to be ready for a higher miss rate. Williams and Beason are outliers, not the rule. Not every higher ranked kid comes with extra baggage, but a lot do. When you start entering the world of top 300 guys, a lot more people are invested into their success. Going after a guy like mookie was never a mistake, but it put us behind with other players. It's the give and take of college recruiting, if we didn't give him star attention then we miss on him anyway. We can still make plays for guys that are higher ranked, but we also have to be realistic with what kind of players will actually want to come here.
 
#135      
I am simply saying that if we want to start competing with the big boys of college football then we need to be ready for a higher miss rate. Williams and Beason are outliers, not the rule. Not every higher ranked kid comes with extra baggage, but a lot do. When you start entering the world of top 300 guys, a lot more people are invested into their success. Going after a guy like mookie was never a mistake, but it put us behind with other players. It's the give and take of college recruiting, if we didn't give him star attention then we miss on him anyway. We can still make plays for guys that are higher ranked, but we also have to be realistic with what kind of players will actually want to come here.
I don't think the staff has to put on much effort when we are the player's first P5 offer. If there is only a finite skinney of effort for the staff, there should have plenty to spare.
 
#136      
I don't think the staff has to put on much effort when we are the player's first P5 offer. If there is only a finite skinney of effort for the staff, there should have plenty to spare.
The total is the amount of composite 4 and 5 star commits. The data to me shows that there are multiple ways to win games in the BIG10. Some land higher ranked players and don't win anything (Nebraska, Maryland, Mich State) and others win with lower ranked players and great evaluations (Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern). I think Lovie wants to try and win the way of good evaluations.
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#137      
I don't think the staff has to put on much effort when we are the player's first P5 offer. If there is only a finite skinney of effort for the staff, there should have plenty to spare.

yes, and it’s always a resource question. we start conversations with a lot of players. Many aren’t interested. That’s one point in why we shifted toward Georgia and Florida, they appreciate Lovie.

We also made a mistake with ESL, in my opinion. I think Macon was worth waiting for, which would have helped with the area.

good qbs and receivers are common in the transfer market.
 
#144      

B-ILL

Working From Home
Also, per other recent posts from people "in the know" here, there have been two high confidence Crystal Ball picks registered on 247 today for Brenson and Gesky to the Illini.

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#146      
It shouldn't be. Minnesota has been on a different level than us for the entire century
I think you have the wrong reason here. Until this year, Minnesota recruiting in Illinois has been in the same neighborhood as ours. Fleck is clearly killing it this year, seems more likely to correlate to last season’s results + maybe give Fleck some credit for recruiting chops & connections instate.
 
#147      
on here. Until this year, Minnesota recruiting in Illinois has been in the same neighborhood as ours. Fleck is clearly killing it this year, seems more likely to correlate to las

I'm going to sound stupid on this, but I don't care if Fleck is doing well. I am glad he is not our coach. If he continues to do well, he will leave. However, he seems like a very shady dude. He either needs to strike quick or this will eventually catch up. I would rather go 2-10 than 10-2 and deal with his shenanigans.
 
#149      
It shouldn't be. Minnesota has been on a different level than us for the entire century
Man, this is just pathetic. We have basically said we can't beat Minnesota, a team that hasn't sniffed a Big 10 title in 50+ years, for 3 and 4 * in-state players. I guess at this point we should just be happy we can beat Arkansas State and Coastal Carolina for the 200th rated player in Florida. This is not what I envisioned when we hired Lovie.
 
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