I'm usually not that poster who doesn't just read through the damn pages, but I honestly am just kind of not very knowledgeable about football recruiting the way I am about basketball. So, would a poster mind giving his/her take on kind of "where we stand" as far as the Bielema Era goes for recruiting? I know we are nowhere close to getting back to the early Zook days, but I also get the impression that (1) the early outreach efforts (especially instate) from Bret and the staff have been a breath of fresh air compared to Lovey, (2) we are getting some encouraging "leads" on recruits that (if they commit) would really be a huge step forward for the program and (3) we all seem a bit more comfortable with the idea of finding under-the-radar guys and developing them with solid, proven coaching.
Living in Chicago, I have seen a very serious uptick in Illini gear around the city from 2020 to 2021 to 2022, exponetionally increasing each year. This is GREAT to see, as the atmosphere out at the bars on a college football Saturday in Chicago really can't be beat IMO, and Illinois' futility always held back the turnout of Illini fans ... and I am ecstatic to see that start to change! However, it would be a real shame if we cannot cash in some of this momentum and positive rebranding of the program with some substantial recruiting wins.
Again, apologies for the novice request ... lol, at the end of the day, it just stems from truly renewed excitement and optimism in the program and my desire to get excited further.
Well objectively compared to Beckman/Cubit era Bret is light-years beyond that... like not even the same universe.
Compared to Lovie I'm not sure you can compare them side by side because the approach is so different.
Lovie purged a lot of the roster we had where Bret actually worked to retain some of Lovie's guys. There is obviously some things that Bret saw in Lovie's guys. He got Owen Carney to come back(I'm sure there is others I can't remember at the moment).
I guess the simple answer is we are trending up, but our roster was also better under Lovie then it was before under Beckman/Cubit... so there's real reasons for optimism.
Bret definitely has a particular mindset he likes in his players so unless he goes Super Saban for us I dont think we'll be bringing in the genetic 4/5 star freaks super consistently. But this staff has already shown a talent for player development.
I think in 2024(how his first couple classes pan out production wise) we will see a better picture of the overall grade we can give Bret as a recruiter.