Recent content by MadSeason

I think this is accurate and that Delano had been getting most of the first team reps. I am a little more optimistic than most about the talent and depth at linebacker. Milo will get plenty of time regardless if he starts and he has been eased back into everything because of a shoulder injury I...

I kind of doubt it. These grad visits aren't like high school ones. They seem to be a lot more business like and not much in way of gamesmanship. These guys have been through process and they don't need the hype, nor do they likely feel the need to save anyone's feelings. I think (absolutely...

I agree. This is a very interesting depth piece at this point. It is possible that his inexperience at football, depth at USC, injuries and switch to linebacker stunted his growth and his talent can be pulled out in a new environment. It is more likely that he can provide situational depth...

Their Spring game is this weekend, so it will be interesting to see how they all look and if a starter is named. Mazzone and Tate have each made comments this spring, although neutral, show that there hasn't been much change in their relationship. I doubt Tate trusts Mazzone and Sumlin with...

I agree with you, I think it helps by showing other top guys that they aren't going to be on an island without help

It also means we don't have to fret as much when the bottom halves of our class don't quite match Purdue, Northwestern etc.

I would say this staff probably should get the benefit of the doubt in regards to identifying underranked talent not based on the above mentioned players who like you say may be playing out of necessity but by the 2017 class. I think it is not arguable at this point that Roundtree, Palcz, Lowe...

I agree with much of what you are saying but one can arrive at 6-6 at vastly different ways which can either build confidence or devastate trust in your coach. Like Zook dropping the last 6 games of the season after a 6-0 start. Next year if we win 6 games because our offense is scoring 40 ppg...

Just a quick antecdote from back in Coach Lou's days here. Chase Daniel QB of the Mizzou team who routinely whipped our butts was asked which team he faced that was the most physically intimidating. I'm paraphrasing here and said that easy Illinois, they looked like an NFL team. Mizzou was in...

Bellamy is a solid hire who I think could really grow under Rod Smith. If the pick is Garin Justice, I will be happy as he has had a very good start to his young career. If it's Frey, that is pretty much a home run with his success, experience and he has been an effective recruiter. If it is...

You think the staff's evaluations follow recruiting sites rankings? If they did we wouldn't have offered Seth Coleman or essentially our entire starting offensive line. I'll try and make it simple. In the 2019 class we prioritized Keith Randolph Defensive End. We also recruited Jason Bargy and...

Lovie as well but you're right with Ward and Butkus leaving you have to replace those with guys who can get the job done, though I'm not sure how much recruiting Butkus was doing. You have to hope Hudson and other 2 assistants they bring in have existing connections and relationships that will...

The staff is going to prioritize guys regardless of ranking like Okpala and Randolph (who are just outside the top 500) and when scholarships are short like this year it is going to be hard for Illinois to rake in 8 highly ranked guys and still have room for guys they like regardless of ranking...

There is no way to know that. We knew spots were limited and we landed most of the guys we had targeted for a very long time. Our success rate in holding off late pushes for several of our priority recruits indicates a pretty good success rate at who we target.

Have to put it into context. When the final rankings come out, our number will be 4 and we will have a higher percentage of Top 500 than all but Penn St, OSU, Michigan, Nebraska and Wisconsin. We had a very small class