Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

[mhuml32]

2023 Goals are going to be chasing the standard last achieved in 2009:

- Sign a top-5 ranked in-state recruit (last time it happened? 2009 w/ Terry Hawthorne)
- Sign three top-10 ranked in-state recruits (last time it happened? 2009 w/ Hawthorne + Buckner + Buchanan)
- Sign seven top-500 recruits (last time? 2009)
- Finish above at least four B1G schools in 247 team rankings and 247's AVG average ranking (last time? 2011)

 

[Epsilon]

I know someone corrected you that it is 3 towns and one school.

They all consolidated in 1993. Gibson City is 3500 on a Covid baby boom year at best and Melvin and Sibley are probably not pushing 750 people together.

I think you are talking about the article back in July when Aiden Laughery committed to Illinois. GCMS has had 3 players in the past 4 years commit to Illinois even if walk-on's. RB McNutt transferred out and went to University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Bryce Barnes actually received a scholarship a few months back and Laughery is officially joining the gang and the most talented.

Naw, I just missed the part where they were talking about the WCIA “viewing area,” (which is much larger lol) then led into Gibson City. That includes Gibson City (Laughery) Rochester (Beatty), and Iroquois West (Leonard). It’s the article still on the Loyalty home page. I just read it too fast. Sorry for the confusion folks.

Laughery, Beatty, Leonard ink with Illinois football on first day of signing period

CHAMPAIGN (WCIA) — From the day Bret Bielema was hired, his priority in recruiting was on the State of Illinois. Fast forward nearly one year and the Illini football coach is following throug…

www.wcia.com

 

[Homecoming 2019]

doesn't help that our development of St. Louis area kids over the past few years has been quite disappointing.

BB might have turned IW from 3rd string on a bad team into an NFL draft pick in 1 season. Hopefully he can strike similar gold with Shammond.

 

[ChiefGritty]

you could have just responded without the shade for BU.

Shade for BU? I’m as big of a BU booster as we’ve got here, and I’m definitely more confident in his side of the equation than BB’s for the time being.

My point is that after Year 1, the situation with BU required really fundamental change to the way we were playing. It required reinvention, which BU has proven himself to be a good enough basketball coach to accomplish.

With BB it’s the opposite. The blueprint is sound. Stay the course, keep grinding.

 

[Ander1345]

Watched tape of all the guys we picked up and the one who stands out the most to me is Jordan Anderson. Not sure if it's just rose colored glasses but my goodness. You can tell instantly where he's lined up on the field and plays with such intensity. Think he will be a great weapon for us.

 

[LFOD]

Any transfer rumors recently?

 

[ChiefGritty]

Watched tape of all the guys we picked up and the one who stands out the most to me is Jordan Anderson. Not sure if it's just rose colored glasses but my goodness. You can tell instantly where he's lined up on the field and plays with such intensity. Think he will be a great weapon for us.

The thought of rotating him and McCray is wonderful. Thunder and Earthquake

 

[Ander1345]

The thought of rotating him and McCray is wonderful. Thunder and Earthquake

Our offensive identity will be smashing our opponents and taking their lunch money

 

[CogDog]

2023 Goals are going to be chasing the standard last achieved in 2009:

- Sign a top-5 ranked in-state recruit (last time it happened? 2009 w/ Terry Hawthorne)
- Sign three top-10 ranked in-state recruits (last time it happened? 2009 w/ Hawthorne + Buckner + Buchanan)
- Sign seven top-500 recruits (last time? 2009)
- Finish above at least four B1G schools in 247 team rankings and 247's AVG average ranking (last time? 2011)

I will be very pleased if we can recruit to that level again. The Zooker could sure recruit.

 

[Illinivek23]

BB might have turned IW from 3rd string on a bad team into an NFL draft pick in 1 season. Hopefully he can strike similar gold with Shammond.

Anything new on Shammond seeing the field next year? Still seems like he needs to put on about 15 lbs of good weight to get into the rotation at OLB.

 

[sully]

I will be very pleased if we can recruit to that level again. The Zooker could sure recruit.

Yeah say what you want about Zook but recruited a bunch of 4 star studs (some of which ended up in the NFL)

Now we have a head coach that has proven he can win in the Big Ten AND recruit well too. I'm glad BB is our head coach

 

[Mike55]

I would pay a nice chunk of change to know the real story on why Lovie fired Sternquist after that first class.

I'll tell you and it won't cost you anything. It was actually very simple: He didn't like him and felt he couldn't relate to the players Lovie wanted to recruit. He consistently made fun of him in front of others and always knew he wanted to bring in someone different. Lovie just didn't like those who annoyed him.

 

[Joel Goodson]

Yeah say what you want about Zook but recruited a bunch of 4 star studs (some of which ended up in the NFL)

Now we have a head coach that has proven he can win in the Big Ten AND recruit well too. I'm glad BB is our head coach

The flip side is that a lot of Zook's recruits washed out very quickly. Peak Zook era had VG recruiting (for Illinois' standards), but he wasn't able to sustain it. Fell off the table at the end.

 

[GILL-INOIS]

Hope BB can bring in a few year starter(and backup) at QB after next year. I was doing a little research and was trying not to slam my head on the desk. Here are the last number of QBs we have used since 2010. There are more than this but cut it off with close to 50 pass attempts in Big Ten play. These are past/present Illini with only career Big Ten pass attempts and Big Ten completion percentage while with Illinois. Listing Peters and Sitkowski first than will go down from attempts.

Brandon Peters 374 50.8%

Artur Sitkowski 61 45.9%




Nathan Scheelhaase 888 62.5%

West Lunt 550 54.0%

Jeff George Jr 253 47.4%

Reilly O'Toole 234 58.5%

A J Bush 187 52.9%

Matt Robinson 85 55.3%

Isaiah Williams 74 39.2%

Chayce Crouch 69 47.8%

Cam Thomas 66 42.4%

M J Rivers II 56 48.2%

Coran Taylor 46 50.0%



Here are a few stats on Tommy Devito I came across as well. Here are his ACC pass attempts and completion% and also his numbers against Big Ten schools even though limited.

Tommy Devito

ACC numbers 331 58.6%

Big Ten numbers 65 66.2%


Always nice to ground and pound but even more efficient when we can get some efficient QB play

 

[Ander1345]

The flip side is that a lot of Zook's recruits washed out very quickly. Peak Zook era had VG recruiting (for Illinois' standards), but he wasn't able to sustain it. Fell off the table at the end.

Kinds seemed like he could get good recruits but couldn't recruit to needs with regards to depth. Always seemed like there would be a huge drop off of consistency year after year.

Also, even 4/5 star players need development and structure to fulfill their potential. Talent alone is never enough and eventually someone will expose that for you.

 

[Ander1345]

Hope BB can bring in a few year starter(and backup) at QB after next year. I was doing a little research and was trying not to slam my head on the desk. Here are the last number of QBs we have used since 2010. There are more than this but cut it off with close to 50 pass attempts in Big Ten play. These are past/present Illini with only career Big Ten pass attempts and Big Ten completion percentage while with Illinois. Listing Peters and Sitkowski first than will go down from attempts.

Brandon Peters 374 50.8%

Artur Sitkowski 61 45.9%




Nathan Scheelhaase 888 62.5%

West Lunt 550 54.0%

Jeff George Jr 253 47.4%

Reilly O'Toole 234 58.5%

A J Bush 187 52.9%

Matt Robinson 85 55.3%

Isaiah Williams 74 39.2%

Chayce Crouch 69 47.8%

Cam Thomas 66 42.4%

M J Rivers II 56 48.2%

Coran Taylor 46 50.0%



Here are a few stats on Tommy Devito I came across as well. Here are his ACC pass attempts and completion% and also his numbers against Big Ten schools even though limited.

Tommy Devito

ACC numbers 331 58.6%

Big Ten numbers 65 66.2%


Always nice to ground and pound but even more efficient when we can get some efficient QB play

I know smaller sample but why oh why did we not see some Matt Robinson at any point this season? I know he's not BB's guy but he has shown some ability to make plays vs B1G teams.

 

[Homecoming 2019]

Anything new on Shammond seeing the field next year? Still seems like he needs to put on about 15 lbs of good weight to get into the rotation at OLB.

He's had a couple years to get up to weight, I doubt that'll change anytime soon. I'm guessing either he just needs more time learning the position or he's in for a position change.

 

[ChiefGritty]

I know smaller sample but why oh why did we not see some Matt Robinson at any point this season? I know he's not BB's guy but he has shown some ability to make plays vs B1G teams.

No offense to the kid but he really really hasn’t.

Robinson is quick and elusive as a runner, but he’s got the weakest arm I think I’ve ever seen on a Big Ten scholarship QB, there are just a bunch of throws he can’t make. You can see how Rod Smith might make do with that skillset, but that is not a BB/TP friendly combination.

A walk on D2 transfer was immediately ahead of him on the depth chart for a reason.

If Ryan Johnson had real juice we would have seen him. Sitkowski is by all accounts a great leader and kid but he can’t hit the broad side of a barn. Collier is a mystery box. Leary will be a true freshman. A lot rides on DeVito’s shoulders. Thank goodness he’ll be here in spring.

 

[trtl]

And Illinois used to be a football school

And has 2 of the top 11 college football players of all time.

 

[illini0440]

I know smaller sample but why oh why did we not see some Matt Robinson at any point this season? I know he's not BB's guy but he has shown some ability to make plays vs B1G teams.

Kid doesn't quite have it in the noggin'

 

[ILL_INI]

I'll tell you and it won't cost you anything. It was actually very simple: He didn't like him and felt he couldn't relate to the players Lovie wanted to recruit. He consistently made fun of him in front of others and always knew he wanted to bring in someone different. Lovie just didn't like those who annoyed him.

Which begs the question, why did the dope hire him? Didn't Lovie interview him?

 

[Illinivek23]

He's had a couple years to get up to weight, I doubt that'll change anytime soon. I'm guessing either he just needs more time learning the position or he's in for a position change.

Agree - but what position would he change to? The other side of the ball?

 

[RonC]

I'll tell you and it won't cost you anything. It was actually very simple: He didn't like him and felt he couldn't relate to the players Lovie wanted to recruit. He consistently made fun of him in front of others and always knew he wanted to bring in someone different. Lovie just didn't like those who annoyed him.

Lovie was annoying .

 

[Noblesville Illini]

And Illinois used to be a football school

Remember when David Williams, WR, was a potential Heisman candidate? Now, when's the last time U oF I and Heisman were mentioned in the same sentence???? Yeah, it's depressing to have grown up in the 70's and 80's and saw when ILL was strong in football AND BASKETBALL, went to games all the time and was excited about Illinois athletics and then had to suffer through almost 30 years of football irrelevance and 15 years of basketball irrelevance. Praise God that the trajectories are pointing up!

 

[Homecoming 2019]

Remember when David Williams, WR, was a potential Heisman candidate? Now, when's the last time U oF I and Heisman were mentioned in the same sentence???? Yeah, it's depressing to have grown up in the 70's and 80's and saw when ILL was strong in football AND BASKETBALL, went to games all the time and was excited about Illinois athletics and then had to suffer through almost 30 years of football irrelevance and 15 years of basketball irrelevance. Praise God that the trajectories are pointing up!

Kittner is the only one since the 80s, would have thought one of our RBs, Juice, or maybe Mercilus would have received a few points.