Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#201      
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Anyone have any details on the Luke Williams commitment? I'm specifically looking for time and (online) location if anyone knows. Thanks in advance for any help.
 
#210      
Joel Goodson
Simeon Rice said:
Pretty sure it's Belleville, MI

But Bolingbrook has a young QB i think in '26 that will be a national recruit
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ah, yes. think I read about that kid a few weeks back. same HS as our late, late DL pickup in last year's class (23), right?
 
#212      
Qwiksilvur
Illiniam1984 said:
More positivity surrounding the football team than the basketball team right now! :)
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It seems like Bret is executing a plan more so than Underwood is. There are also almost no significant transfers so player retention is high whereas in bball it’s transfers all the time. It just feels more stable than bball feels. Also, probably worth mentioning our expectations for football in general are significantly lower than basketball.
 
#214      
redwingillini11
Qwiksilvur said:
It seems like Bret is executing a plan more so than Underwood is. There are also almost no significant transfers so player retention is high whereas in bball it’s transfers all the time. It just feels more stable than bball feels. Also, probably worth mentioning our expectations for football in general are significantly lower than basketball.
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On the one hand, I think it's different for how Bret wants to build the football program and how any college basketball coach needs to build his roster in this day and age. We are never going to have a top half of the Big Ten recruiting class under Bret. I doubt we are getting any 5 stars. But that's ok. Where we want Illinois football to be, 7-9 wins a year and starting to win bowl games, you don't need that type of talent. Bret knows how to find a couple of 4 stars and some solid 3 stars and build them up into something impressive. Bret hasn't let us down yet there, so we feel pretty good about how things are going.

As for BU, I understand he is also not a 5 star or bust kind of coach. But to actually compete where we want to be competing (conference titles and second weekend in the tournament) you have to basically have a top half of the conference player at every starting position. Diamonds in the rough come along and can contribute significantly, but you can't really build a contending lineup entirely out of them. I feel like that is where we were in the JFG era. So a missed recruitment or a bad judgment call on where to put one's eggs is that much more consequential in basketball than it is in football.

Maybe BU deserves just as much trust, if not more, than we have with Bret. The difference just seems to be one guy appears to be executing his plan, and the other guy appears to have to keep moving on to the following Plan B, C, D, etc.
 
#216      
redwingillini11
Denzel Washington GIF
 
#217      
Bleedorangeandblue44
I was at U of I in the early 90s when there could actually be a debate about Illinois being a football or basketball school -- even though to me it seemed obviously basketball. To see these questions now again, well, I am not smart (or young) enough to put the GIFs out on "why not both" -- but why not both? Let's go. I don't really like putting down what Underwood has done bringing Big Ten championships back to the program to make what Bielema is doing seem more impressive. Love what both coaches have done. They both took over programs in horrible shape and have brought back expectations to what I remember as a student. Think Illinois is in the best position since the Mike White/Lou Henson days and can't wait for good news on the football recruits and upcoming football and basketball seasons. I'm taking the over for both win totals.
 
#222      
Fighter of the Nightman
lstewart53x3 said:
Yep, I gave the football team a bit of a handicap due to the history of both programs
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Exactly. Regardless of the current situation at any given time with basketball, the ultimate goal for Illini hoops has always been and remains to win our first National Championship. That is a very lofty goal, but it's reasonable for us, as we are arguably the best program to never have won one and we have had a couple of close calls (i.e., the evidence we can reach those heights is there). Conversely, I think most of our fans are just desperate for football to consistently fill us with any sort of pride every fall, which usually just means a damn bowl game and no blowout embarrassments!
 
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