Illini Football 2023
I don’t see it with Williams. I’d be thrilled, but I’m not sure his stock gets any higher than it is now if he’s wanting to go pro.
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
He could make more in college than being a day 3 draft pick
Probably not at Illinois.
Credit should be given to LS for the recruitment of several players that have gone to the NFL or otherwise have played very well. BB and staff have developed them as well. Developing depth is the key for ILL. to be a consistent team and that takes time. BB is working hard to develop the State of ILL. into a recruiting ground which should have been done years and years ago. BB is on a good path with this program. The fans need to be very patient with this process and be supportive.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Haven't indications been that we are actually pretty well-organized with NIL...?
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
What's craziest about this is that other than a fairly random 4-game winning streak toward the end of 2019 - a stretch that included one of the biggest upsets in college football history vs. Wisconsin and an absolutely insane, record-setting comeback at Michigan State - Lovie was actually worse than Beckman ... he was just way more likable.
NIL is a free for all. We are porbably top 3rd but nothing stops a team from jumping infront with 2/3x the amount we can offfer(we literally lost a C this offseason). If a player gets a mid to high 3rd round draft grade(not saying IW will get that), that's like a 900K-1mil per year with potentially guaranteed money.
Either way, as surprisingly solid as our NIL coffers might be, we risk losing players to better deals AND the NFL.
I'm not aware of any public information on NIL standings by school.
We definitely have decent football NIL; we've hardly lost any major contributors to the portal (Johnny came back despite being a likely Day 2 pick). We probably don't have enough to fund our whole roster, but very few B1G teams can do that.
Joel Goodson
- ties will be resolved
This is why ABI is largely a fallacy. If you're fortunate enough to be a BIG-level recruit, why the hell would you want to join a dumpster fire? So what if it's the state school, a dumpster fire is a dumpster fire. Everyone wants to have a chance to win.
While this is true it's also noteworthy that he still had room to improve his draft position. That's not the same for every player.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Yes, and he could have chose to improve his draft position elsewhere, but stayed here, showing we can compete on NIL for at least a few of our top players each year.
We lost that center because our offer was 0
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I was referring to anecdotal insider comments. I know it’s for basketball, but Mayer also made a comment last year that our excellent NIL played a factor in him choosing us. If we don’t have good NIL for football, it’s kind of sad … one of the larger alumni bases in the Big Ten and not exactly financially challenged…
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I would consider it more surprising if our coffers were behind the curve!
Agree with all you write except the last sentence. Beckman was a buffoon and Lovie was a stick in the mud. Not good either way.
This is a succinct summarization of the "raising the floor" point I've been trying to make despite the late losses last year and the frustrations of this season.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
REALLY hoping to see our recruiting take the next step forward with all of these stud Illini making it to the NFL!