Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#1,551      
IlliniCaboose
Esl FlyersFootball
‏@Football_Flyers
Trevour Simms is still committed to Mizzou. Illinois is a great school and will make the next month or so tough on the kid.
 
#1,552      
illinidarrin
IlliniCaboose said:
Esl FlyersFootball
‏@Football_Flyers
Trevour Simms is still committed to Mizzou. Illinois is a great school and will make the next month or so tough on the kid.
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Obviously someone is getting into his ear and poisoning his mind. I think he wants to go to Illinois, but other people want him to go to Missouri.
 
#1,554      
Illininer
illinidarrin said:
Obviously someone is getting into his ear and poisoning his mind. I think he wants to go to Illinois, but other people want him to go to Missouri.
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Yup, and now the east side coach is saying that he didn't even flip back to Illinois despite the kid confirming it with scout, rivals, and listing himself as an Illini commit on twitter.

Eh, whatever, something sounds fishy. I'd just avoid this recruitment.
 
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#1,555      
Title
The ESL coaches never wanted Trevour to flip to Mizzou however he got very excited on his visit and moved too fast. That being said the events over this past weekend were suspect and forceful. Now the kid is 60/40 trying to make tough decision. Right now he is been protected from people only interested in publishing the next great story. Hopefully he make the choice that is right for him. He has plenty of time to weigh his options which is why the Flyers Page tweeted today. Let the kid make the best decision without the nonsense.
 
#1,556      
Lake Camelot
Title said:
The ESL coaches never wanted Trevour to flip to Mizzou however he got very excited on his visit and moved too fast. That being said the events over this past weekend were suspect and forceful. Now the kid is 60/40 trying to make tough decision. Right now he is been protected from people only interested in publishing the next great story. Hopefully he make the choice that is right for him. He has plenty of time to weigh his options which is why the Flyers Page tweeted today. Let the kid make the best decision without the nonsense.
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It would be easy for Illinois fans to say."You don't know what you are talking about, The ESL coaches are making him go to Mizzou"
But I think your post makes sense. He hasn't been doing the best job, but it is hard for kids to deal with the recruiting process.
 
#1,557      
Title
Lake Camelot said:
It would be easy for Illinois fans to say."You don't know what you are talking about, The ESL coaches are making him go to Mizzou"
But I think your post makes sense. He hasn't been doing the best job, but it is hard for kids to deal with the recruiting process.
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ESL Coaches had a huge influence on Terry Hawthorne honoring his commitment to Illinois versus flipping to Oklahoma. The way he is being treated by the current staff and his career at Illinois has guaranteed that the current coaching staff at ESL will never interfere with what a kid wants again.

On another note, the new O Line coach for Illinois is the O Line coach that didn't offer Trevour while he was at Mizzou. Let that sink in for a little bit on why he is leaning more toward Mizzou.
 
#1,558      
combes
Title said:
ESL Coaches had a huge influence on Terry Hawthorne honoring his commitment to Illinois versus flipping to Oklahoma. The way he is being treated by the current staff and his career at Illinois has guaranteed that the current coaching staff at ESL will never interfere with what a kid wants again.

On another note, the new O Line coach for Illinois is the O Line coach that didn't offer Trevour while he was at Mizzou. Let that sink in for a little bit on why he is leaning more toward Mizzou.
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Assistant coaches don't make offers. Have to be cleared with head coach and rest of staff. If the head coach and recruiting coordinator tell you to recruit someone, you recruit them.
 
#1,559      
PaytonHighstep
Title said:
ESL Coaches had a huge influence on Terry Hawthorne honoring his commitment to Illinois versus flipping to Oklahoma. The way he is being treated by the current staff and his career at Illinois has guaranteed that the current coaching staff at ESL will never interfere with what a kid wants again.

On another note, the new O Line coach for Illinois is the O Line coach that didn't offer Trevour while he was at Mizzou. Let that sink in for a little bit on why he is leaning more toward Mizzou.
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If I was a D1 coach, I would despise recruiting. Fans, don't care who fits your system, they seem to just care about player ratings. Not every player fits schemes, sometimes that means not taking local kids. It's a tough situation to be in.

We hear it all the time on this board and others, about getting more local players and I tend to agree, except if the player doesn't fit scheme wise. I'm not saying Simms doesn't fit at Illinois, I think the offer from Cubit's staff before and the fact they still want him says something.

It appears Illinois is the only school that has bad experiences by former players held against them from high school coaches. I don't visit too many other opposing team message boards, but I have yet to see comments like this anywhere else. I'm sure it happens, but it seems to happen regularly at Illinois no matter who the head coach is. Why is that?
 
#1,560      
ChazzReinhold
Title said:
ESL Coaches had a huge influence on Terry Hawthorne honoring his commitment to Illinois versus flipping to Oklahoma. The way he is being treated by the current staff and his career at Illinois has guaranteed that the current coaching staff at ESL will never interfere with what a kid wants again.

On another note, the new O Line coach for Illinois is the O Line coach that didn't offer Trevour while he was at Mizzou. Let that sink in for a little bit on why he is leaning more toward Mizzou.
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How is Hawthorne being treated by the current staff?
 
#1,561      
Title
combes said:
Assistant coaches don't make offers. Have to be cleared with head coach and rest of staff. If the head coach and recruiting coordinator tell you to recruit someone, you recruit them.
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He has a 45 minute session with the entire staff and the O LINE coach said he would rather have the kid from Texas. The day he was let go, the next day Trevour had an offer from Mizzou!. I am just educating however you don't have to believe a word I am saying.
 
#1,562      
Title
PaytonHighstep said:
If I was a D1 coach, I would despise recruiting. Fans, don't care who fits your system, they seem to just care about player ratings. Not every player fits schemes, sometimes that means not taking local kids. It's a tough situation to be in.

We hear it all the time on this board and others, about getting more local players and I tend to agree, except if the player doesn't fit scheme wise. I'm not saying Simms doesn't fit at Illinois, I think the offer from Cubit's staff before and the fact they still want him says something.

It appears Illinois is the only school that has bad experiences by former players held against them from high school coaches. I don't visit too many other opposing team message boards, but I have yet to see comments like this anywhere else. I'm sure it happens, but it seems to happen regularly at Illinois no matter who the head coach is. Why is that?
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I can answer your last statement a little. Mizzou was in the dog house based on the treatment of Nash. For a long time 10 years, the current head coach at ESL said he will never send a kid to Mizzou as long as Pinkel was there. That held true for a long time until Mizzou joined the SEC. The no longer wanted to recruit Texas as much so they came a had a sit down to discuss all the issue. After that meeting, The coach no longer boycotted Mizzou and allowed access to the kids. The SEC hype has a lot of local kids wanting to attend Mizzou.

With Illinois the issue is often treatment of players and their lack of desire to take chances on kids that are great ball players. When you are stubborn in your recruiting efforts, no one will help when it is time to recruit that 4 star ball player. Here is an example specifically for ESL. Illinois passed on Keonte Minor, Tony Pierson, Glen Faulkner, Kyron Watson. Taking two of those ball players in after taking Terry Hawthorne would have pretty much guaranteed Terry Beckner and all other top recruits from ESL moving forward. The choice would be Illinois. Instead Mizzou signed and place a couple at a Juco and bam Terry Beckner is excited about Mizzou.

In recruiting, you have to take chances on a couple of ball players that might end up being great college ball players. Brian Hill Wyoming- Taking him would giving Illinois a solid chance at other top recruits out of the area. True he didn't have the star rating (mainly due of lack of exposure) but now he is the second leading rusher in college football.

Simply put, Illinois is not good enough to have these type of recruitment screw ups.
 
#1,563      
IlliniJim20
Title said:
I can answer your last statement a little. Mizzou was in the dog house based on the treatment of Nash. For a long time 10 years, the current head coach at ESL said he will never send a kid to Mizzou as long as Pinkel was there. That held true for a long time until Mizzou joined the SEC. The no longer wanted to recruit Texas as much so they came a had a sit down to discuss all the issue. After that meeting, The coach no longer boycotted Mizzou and allowed access to the kids. The SEC hype has a lot of local kids wanting to attend Mizzou.

With Illinois the issue is often treatment of players and their lack of desire to take chances on kids that are great ball players. When you are stubborn in your recruiting efforts, no one will help when it is time to recruit that 4 star ball player. Here is an example specifically for ESL. Illinois passed on Keonte Minor, Tony Pierson, Glen Faulkner, Kyron Watson. Taking two of those ball players in after taking Terry Hawthorne would have pretty much guaranteed Terry Beckner and all other top recruits from ESL moving forward. The choice would be Illinois. Instead Mizzou signed and place a couple at a Juco and bam Terry Beckner is excited about Mizzou.

In recruiting, you have to take chances on a couple of ball players that might end up being great college ball players. Brian Hill Wyoming- Taking him would giving Illinois a solid chance at other top recruits out of the area. True he didn't have the star rating (mainly due of lack of exposure) but now he is the second leading rusher in college football.

Simply put, Illinois is not good enough to have these type of recruitment screw ups.
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Thanks for the info, appreciate the detail.

As somewhat of a rebuttal, didn't illnois take a couple borderline players in similar fashion you mention? Drawing a blank on names and exact time frame. One was a safety who was shot prior to entering Illinois. Tommy something????The other one was a lineman. Neither panned out. I forget if the timing was around Hawthorne?

In your opinion, what would the reaction be if the coaches be if they took a couple/few you mentioned, and they didn't work out? Would the blame Illinois? Or would it be a situation where the ESL coaches knew they were borderline D1 products?

Thanks in advance.
 
#1,564      
PaytonHighstep
It feels like Illinois has situations held against them more than not.

Jim, I recall the same as you. I'm pretty sure there were a couple guys taken around the TH recruitment that would lead a program to believe they were in good shape with a high school coach/program. Tommie Hopkins and Clint Tucker followed TH in a couple classes after him.

Honestly, I claim to know nothing of how this works, but I'm trying to understand why it seems Illinois is being questioned. It might help understand or get to the root of the ABI (Anywhere But Illinois) mindset/comments that pops up during recruiting season.
 
#1,565      
GameOfThrows
PaytonHighstep said:
It feels like Illinois has situations held against them more than not.

Jim, I recall the same as you. I'm pretty sure there were a couple guys taken around the TH recruitment that would lead a program to believe they were in good shape with a high school coach/program. Tommie Hopkins and Clint Tucker followed TH in a couple classes after him.

Honestly, I claim to know nothing of how this works, but I'm trying to understand why it seems Illinois is being questioned. It might help understand or get to the root of the ABI (Anywhere But Illinois) mindset/comments that pops up during recruiting season.
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The real truth behind "Anywhere But Illinois" comes from the fact that Illinois' fanbase is not the biggest or best when it comes to football. The top recruits want to play in front of larger crowds and for better programs.

That is okay though as long as we continue to identify good under the radar players which I think Beckman and staff were doing the last couple of years. Hopefully, the team plays well the next couple of years and the fans come back as that will help in recruiting a few more top in state players.

My 2 cents.
 
#1,566      
Title
IlliniJim20 said:
Thanks for the info, appreciate the detail.

As somewhat of a rebuttal, didn't illnois take a couple borderline players in similar fashion you mention? Drawing a blank on names and exact time frame. One was a safety who was shot prior to entering Illinois. Tommy something????The other one was a lineman. Neither panned out. I forget if the timing was around Hawthorne?

In your opinion, what would the reaction be if the coaches be if they took a couple/few you mentioned, and they didn't work out? Would the blame Illinois? Or would it be a situation where the ESL coaches knew they were borderline D1 products?

Thanks in advance.
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No you don't blame Illinois when they take a chance but all have played at the University they went to. Two at Kansas and two at SEC schools. Yes they took Tommie which was the same year as Terry. The lineman was a knuckle head and was advised not to take him. The kids I mentioned were the top ball players for ESL they respective years. I didn't mentioned guys like Ivy and Williams who are having pretty decent careers. Can't speak for others but ESL coaches still respect Illinois as the in state school but they are not interested in going above and beyond to influence a kid. Heck Illinois itself isn't interested in doing the right thing for the program.
 
#1,567      
JucoIllini10
Title said:
No you don't blame Illinois when they take a chance but all have played at the University they went to. Two at Kansas and two at SEC schools. Yes they took Tommie which was the same year as Terry. The lineman was a knuckle head and was advised not to take him. The kids I mentioned were the top ball players for ESL they respective years. I didn't mentioned guys like Ivy and Williams who are having pretty decent careers. Can't speak for others but ESL coaches still respect Illinois as the in state school but they are not interested in going above and beyond to influence a kid. Heck Illinois itself isn't interested in doing the right thing for the program.
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These recruits mentioned were after the end of the bridge program. I'm sure Zook, Becks, and now Cubit would love to have the top student athletes coming out of ESL but many times those guys don't meet the admissions standards. Clint Tucker didn't qualify at Illinois. Beckner barely qualified at Mizzou.
 
#1,568      
Illininer
Pretty sure we were after Kraig Appleton hard too, only for him to turn us down and choose Wisconsin, which probably turned out to be a good thing.
 
#1,569      
PaytonHighstep
Do 100 football and basketball players' grades really have an impact on the overall academic perception of an institution like Illinois? I know we talk about the admission standards and how they are a bit higher at Illinois. Does leadership at the university really think 100 athletes would impact the institution's academic perception overall?
 
#1,570      
Title
JucoIllini10 said:
These recruits mentioned were after the end of the bridge program. I'm sure Zook, Becks, and now Cubit would love to have the top student athletes coming out of ESL but many times those guys don't meet the admissions standards. Clint Tucker didn't qualify at Illinois. Beckner barely qualified at Mizzou.
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The same can be said for Mt Carmel or any other high school. Mt Carmel recently had a kid that didn't make it. It's comments like this that gives Illinois a bad name in my opinion. Recruiter should know admission standards and once they evaluate the transcript determine if a kid should be recruited. Similar to Northwestern. Don't recruit a kid and when they chose another school bring up qualifications.
 
#1,572      
themudflap
I'm confused. I thought all recruits that signed with Illinois were a big chance on our part?
 
#1,574      
cmore
Illininer said:
Pretty sure we were after Kraig Appleton hard too, only for him to turn us down and choose Wisconsin, which probably turned out to be a good thing.
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Pretty sure we didn't want Kraig Appleton and he ended up choosing Wisconsin.
 
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