Illini Football 2017

#76      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
FT35 said:
I assumed that Cam Miller was the #2 QB this Spring
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Could be, but like Davis he was also a WR moved to QB because of his high school QB background when we were desperate for bodies. And he's a walk-on.

Bet on there being some goofy rules for our spring game. It's hardly fair to not give one of the teams a real QB.
 
#77      

FT35

FT35
Naperville
FT35
Second and Chalmers said:
Could be, but like Davis he was also a WR moved to QB because of his high school QB background when we were desperate for bodies. And he's a walk-on.

Bet on there being some goofy rules for our spring game. It's hardly fair to not give one of the teams a real QB.
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There isn't going to be a Spring Game. Garrick McGee addressed this in a Q&A with Jeremy Werner:

http://www.scout.com/college/illinois/story/1737701-mcgee-want-extreme-competitor-at-illini-qb

So who's going to be available at quarterback this spring? I think you're going to have three guys coming in this fall, so is it the Jeff George show in the spring? How do you prepare your offense around that?

McGee: "It's going to be fun. We're going to get a lot of fundamentals. There's going to be a lot of guys getting better because there's not going to be many guys out there, so some guys are going to get a lot of reps. But that's the way it works. We don't have a game in the spring, so we don't have to worry about winning or losing the game. So we can just focus on development. Also, a lot has been said about us getting the job late. Most times the transition doesn't happen that late. We only had a week with our players before they went on spring break. Then we had one week and then we started (spring ball). But in reality, the coaching staff needs an offseason to go back through and really spend time installing the offense and all the techniques and all the language -- because it happened fast for us also. So there's a lot of growth that's going to happen in spring ball in regards to our offense, not just with the athletes on the field but our coaching staff is going to grow a lot in spring ball."
 
#78      

IlliniFisherman

I
MN
IlliniFisherman
FT35 said:
There isn't going to be a Spring Game. Garrick McGee addressed this in a Q&A with Jeremy Werner:

http://www.scout.com/college/illinois/story/1737701-mcgee-want-extreme-competitor-at-illini-qb

So who's going to be available at quarterback this spring? I think you're going to have three guys coming in this fall, so is it the Jeff George show in the spring? How do you prepare your offense around that?

McGee: "It's going to be fun. We're going to get a lot of fundamentals. There's going to be a lot of guys getting better because there's not going to be many guys out there, so some guys are going to get a lot of reps. But that's the way it works. We don't have a game in the spring, so we don't have to worry about winning or losing the game. So we can just focus on development. Also, a lot has been said about us getting the job late. Most times the transition doesn't happen that late. We only had a week with our players before they went on spring break. Then we had one week and then we started (spring ball). But in reality, the coaching staff needs an offseason to go back through and really spend time installing the offense and all the techniques and all the language -- because it happened fast for us also. So there's a lot of growth that's going to happen in spring ball in regards to our offense, not just with the athletes on the field but our coaching staff is going to grow a lot in spring ball."
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Reading that has me thinking I can't wait for 2018... were so deprived of talent we cant even play a scrimmage....
 
#79      

GameOfThrows

G
GameOfThrows
IlliniFisherman said:
Reading that has me thinking I can't wait for 2018... were so deprived of talent we cant even play a scrimmage....
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Agreed. I just hope this board doesn't go all "Fire Lovie" mode when we struggle again in 2017.

Next year's team may make a bowl if everything breaks right, but a 4-5 win season with lots of youth gaining experience will put us in position to have a nice 2018 season and beyond.

Maybe next season is the season we have a signature upset.
 
#80      

CUWPC

C
Geneva, IL
CUWPC
GameOfThrows said:
Agreed. I just hope this board doesn't go all "Fire Lovie" mode when we struggle again in 2017.

Next year's team may make a bowl if everything breaks right, but a 4-5 win season with lots of youth gaining experience will put us in position to have a nice 2018 season and beyond.

Maybe next season is the season we have a signature upset.
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2018 is the year where I see expectations raised. In 18, based on the current roster, there’ll be 37 juniors and seniors. Of the 37, I count 25 who played in 2016. Many of the 25 played significant minutes in 16 and project to play a lot in 17. The 17 and 18 classes will provide depth and add more skill to positions of need.
 
#81      

HatTrikPatrick

H
Peoria, Arizona
HatTrikPatrick
FT35 said:
The Spring Semester starts on the 17th. Are Fish, Day and Cain the only guys that have announced that they are transferring from Illinois?

Cain is still listed on the roster FWIW while Day and Fish are not. Could this be another Kendrick Foster situation?

http://www.fightingillini.com/roster.aspx?path=football

Trenard Davis is Cain's cousin and I haven't heard anything about him? Vaughn is another guy who a lot of people speculated about leaving.

They were hardly any RS-JRs on the roster last year so I don't know if we even have that many guys who could potentially be graduate transfers.
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It doesn't look like Vaughn is leaving. He had a post on Facebook today that talked about how excited he is for Spring ball, and showed him wearing an Illini uniform. The more good RB's we have, the better.
 
#82      

BRy12

B
BRy12
C16R6EHXgAAGGUw.jpg


Looks like Del'Shawn is locker buddies with Julian Jones.. and rocking Mr. President's #14
 
#84      

BigStan97

B
Cincinnati OH
BigStan97
If Vaughn can bounce back and continue to develop.

Brown comes back from injury ready to roll.

Foster is a better version of himself this year then last.

Corbin (same as Foster)

We will have a large committee at RB who all can push each other.

I didn't even include- Nation, Epstein, Bonnor. But we definitely have quantity at RB position.

Only issue is who will emerge as the primer #1 RB for 2017.
 
#85      

StateFarmCenter

StateFarmCenter
StateFarmCenter
https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/5pfme8/50_state_belt_buckles_illinois_450/

I found this post interesting. Basically it gives a boxing-esque championship belt to teams from Illinois. Lake Forest beat Northwestern in the first game between 2 Illinois schools. Northwestern won it back a week later.

Starting in 1923, for a 91 year stretch Illinois and Northwestern were the only 2 schools to have it. Then NIU beat Northwestern and then lost to ISU who lost to Western.

Now the belt is probably lost to FCS forever with the B1G banning those games. Edit: Oh wait, I guess Illinois plays Western in 2018, so that maybe a chance if they still have it then.
 
#86      

PartyChicken

PartyChicken
Charlotte, NC
PartyChicken
StateFarmCenter said:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/5pfme8/50_state_belt_buckles_illinois_450/

I found this post interesting. Basically it gives a boxing-esque championship belt to teams from Illinois. Lake Forest beat Northwestern in the first game between 2 Illinois schools. Northwestern won it back a week later.

Starting in 1923, for a 91 year stretch Illinois and Northwestern were the only 2 schools to have it. Then NIU beat Northwestern and then lost to ISU who lost to Western.

Now the belt is probably lost to FCS forever with the B1G banning those games. Edit: Oh wait, I guess Illinois plays Western in 2018, so that maybe a chance if they still have it then.
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And for that to happen, Illinois State would need to defend the title at Eastern and at Southern before losing to Western at home.

That's a fun but upsetting idea.
 
#89      

illynifan34

I
That's a winner!!
OH
illynifan34
Second and Chalmers said:
So.....it's a little crazy that we've been as haphazard about the QB position as we have been.
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It sure is a concern. Maybe they thought Lawson would qualify, I know you don't think he will but it seems he might still. Without him the options are worse than meh.
 
#91      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
illynifan34 said:
It sure is a concern. Maybe they thought Lawson would qualify, I know you don't think he will but it seems he might still. Without him the options are worse than meh.
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Even if he does (and I would really bet we never see him), there's no way a guy who shows up a couple weeks before the first game, with a known history of struggling to learn a playbook, is your game one starter.
 
#92      

illynifan34

I
That's a winner!!
OH
illynifan34
Second and Chalmers said:
Even if he does (and I would really bet we never see him), there's no way a guy who shows up a couple weeks before the first game, with a known history of struggling to learn a playbook, is your game one starter.
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Maybe McGee trusts himself and a full off season with Crouch and George? That's a big leap though.
 
#93      

FT35

FT35
Naperville
FT35
Second and Chalmers said:
So.....it's a little crazy that we've been as haphazard about the QB position as we have been.
Click to expand...

I can't believe there isn't more concern about this. Our options now aren't all that much different from when Lunt got injured during the Purdue game AND Crouch is now coming of a serious injury.

Unless you want to count Davis (I don't), Crouch is the only option who even fits in with McGee's offense.
 
#95      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
FT35 said:
Unless you want to count Davis (I don't), Crouch is the only option who even fits in with McGee's offense.
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And Cam Thomas. Throwing him to the wolves as a true freshman....yikes.

I get that the plan is to sell a 2018 recruit as being THE guy, but why not go more aggressively after 5th year guys then?
 
#96      

FT35

FT35
Naperville
FT35
I don't even consider Thomas to be an option. There's no way he's ready by this fall. He needs to put on at least 20 lbs before they consider putting him in there.
 
#99      

champaignchris

C
champaignchris
Maybe I'm just high on fumes or something, but the more I look at that schedule, the more I think we could get 5 wins going into the NU game at home, needing to beat the Kitties to secure a bowl game.

Ball St, W Kent, Rutgers, PU and IU should all be winnable games.

Don't harsh my mellow with your rational talk about our quarterbacks or lack thereof.
 
#100      

LurkLongandProsper

L
C-U
LurkLongandProsper
champaignchris said:
Maybe I'm just high on fumes or something, but the more I look at that schedule, the more I think we could get 5 wins going into the NU game at home, needing to beat the Kitties to secure a bowl game.

Ball St, W Kent, Rutgers, PU and IU should all be winnable games.

Don't harsh my mellow with your rational talk about our quarterbacks or lack thereof.
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QB matters and will be interesting to see what sort of dropoff WKU experiences and how much Purdue's O improves under Brohm, but those are all games we can be competitive in.