Sorry for the debbie downer note, but thought I'd share some insight. I teach at a school in Prospect's conference, and just asked the football coaches about Palczewski and their thoughts of him from film and what they saw on the field. They said he is very athletic with a big frame but other than his size, nothing stood out (his team was also pretty bad and got waxed more than a few times this year). That was also my impression when first hearing about this recruit from a rival school in which I watched the game on the sideline and had no thoughts of seeing a D-1 lineman, let alone a top 2 OT in the state, on the field. Looks like he is rated solely on potential with his frame and athleticism, but certainly have a lot of faith in a guy like Lovie Smith to bring out all of the potential and maximize his abilities for us.
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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That's what is intriguing with Palczewski, big athletic kid that could flourish in the weight room and training program at Illinois. Basically has 2 years to build the body up and work with position coach in film room. Lot of upside here. JMO
Yep and you see it time and again with Lovie. Find the best athlete with upside and then hopefully build him into a football player. It is the right approach imo
Zook certainly knew how to find these type of athletes, but then didn't develop what he had into great team. A lot of pro players though
Agree 100%. Give me o-line recruits just like him every year and I'll be happy. When transitioning to higher level football, athleticism is easily as important (and for lineman, potentially more important) as actual football skill. The kid is 6' 6" with quickness, athleticism, and a big frame. You don't find that everywhere. He's also a wrestler which is great for lineman when thinking about balance and coordination. Put him in a B1G weight training program for 2 years and then see what you got.
Indianas OL coach just took a job at Michigan and according to Easterling's twitter, that'll make things interesting for Roundtree. Rivals listed him as his main recruiter. Maybe we got a shot there after all.
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
Is Creamer coming in for a visit? Some rumors floating around.
He hasn't stated where that OV is to yet, but as I posted earlier in this thread, he's taking one more OV this weekend. If he does come to CU, have to think there's a good chance there. We need CBs.
Coaches in the Corn Belt were not real complimentary of Josh Brent. He turned out to be pretty good and an NFL talent. Obviously not talking about his off the field issues.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Big news regarding Roundtree, I'm wondering if the staff somehow knew that was in the works and put on the full court press.
With all due respect, I'm going to side with the coaching staffs with recruiting departments for analyses on this one, but it's certainly worth noting that nobody is expecting AP to come in and play day 1.
Either or both of Creamer or Roundtree would be huge. Those are our two biggest areas of need.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Lists of remaining targets (let me know if I'm missing anyone)
Trey Creamer (CB)
Bobby Roundtree (DE)
Reggie Roberson (WR)
Jalen Harris (DE)
Zion Debose (DE)
Bennett Williams (CB)
Griffin Alstott (QB)
Deon Pate (DE)
Jeff Thomas (WR)
A couple punters
Trey Creamer (CB)
Bobby Roundtree (DE)
Reggie Roberson (WR)
Jalen Harris (DE)
Zion Debose (DE)
Bennett Williams (CB)
Griffin Alstott (QB)
Deon Pate (DE)
Jeff Thomas (WR)
A couple punters
Torri Singletary, Jamal Woods (DEs)
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illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
DE Torri Singeltary is a player we probably could get if we really want. It depends on Roundtree,Harris and Debose. If those 3 don't come, we probably take him. I say we have a great shot at Pate now. I say we take 2 more DE's in this class. I don't know what we would do if by some chance Debose, Roundtree, Harris,Pate and Singeltary wanted to come?
Not likely to happened, but wouldn't be something if it did.FT35
- Naperville
Henry Marchese committed to Iowa last night. For some reason his 247 profile had him visiting us this weekend?
http://247sports.com/Player/Henry-Marchese-46036963
http://www.chicagotribune.com/subur...ese-iowa-football-tl-0126-20170124-story.html
http://247sports.com/Player/Henry-Marchese-46036963
http://www.chicagotribune.com/subur...ese-iowa-football-tl-0126-20170124-story.html
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
DE Torri Singeltary is a player we probably could get if we really want. It depends on Roundtree,Harris and Debose. If those 3 don't come, we probably take him. I say we have a great shot at Pate now. I say we take 2 more DE's in this class. I don't know what we would do if by some chance Debose, Roundtree, Harris,Pate and Singeltary wanted to come?
Agreed, I think him and Woods are the back-up options depending on what shakes out with Debose, Roundtree, and Harris.
LLP, thanks for the reminder on those two, forgot about them.
FT35
- Naperville
DE Torri Singeltary is a player we probably could get if we really want. It depends on Roundtree,Harris and Debose. If those 3 don't come, we probably take him. I say we have a great shot at Pate now. I say we take 2 more DE's in this class. I don't know what we would do if by some chance Debose, Roundtree, Harris,Pate and Singeltary wanted to come?
The coaches offered Singletary for a reason. I'm sure they know that we are longshots for a few players on that list.
Singletary, Woods and Pate are probably the most likely to commit considering their offers and when they are visiting us. You take all of them because Pate and Woods look like guys who could be 3 Technique DTs and for some reason we stopped recruiting DTs after we got Green.
DE Torri Singeltary is a player we probably could get if we really want. It depends on Roundtree,Harris and Debose. If those 3 don't come, we probably take him. I say we have a great shot at Pate now. I say we take 2 more DE's in this class. I don't know what we would do if by some chance Debose, Roundtree, Harris,Pate and Singeltary wanted to come?
So, to set the board here, we've got 20 commits, 4 of whom are back-counted, so 16 against the 2017 limit, which means 9 more slots available. We probably won't use them all, with an eye towards adding spots to 2018.
Thomas, Roberson, Debose, Roundtree and Creamer are all commits we'll take no questions asked. None of those guys look like a lock at this moment.
We will probably take Bennett Williams and Deon Pate (who appears to be the chosen guy out of the group with Woods and Singletary) just to cover our bases, as well as a punter. That could potentially be everybody.
Not sure what the deal is with Griffin Alstott.
Because we have a handful of young, capable DTs already -- Jackson, Milan, Odenigbo, Oliver, incoming Green. No seniors in that group, so they're just kicking DT to next year. Plus, not a ton of super appealing DTs left.
Or yeah, maybe you take another one too. And if you end up getting Roundtree and Debose on top of that, the more the merrier. We've got the scholarships for them and goodness knows there is roster space available at DE.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
I think best-case (realistic) scenario would be to somehow snag three guys from that first group (including Harris), then get what you need from the second group.
Hypothetical: (Group 1) Harris, Roberson, Roundtree, (Group 2) Williams, Pate, Alstott, punter
Personally, I don't find landing 2 of Roberson/Debose/Harris realistic. That would be excellent and entirely welcome, but I am not optimistic about it. Debose or a last minute Roundtree coup seem far more likely than Jalen Harris right now. Get Roberson and a tier 1 DE, add Pate/Singletary and a punter and I am a happy camper. Creamer is also T1 priority right now.
FT35
- Naperville
I thought we could only over sign by three which would limit us to 8 more players if no one decommits? Not a big difference either way.
We're going to obviously miss on some of our top targets so this is where things get a little tricky. Smith has said he wanted a class of 25 but it's looking like we are making a big push to get 2-3 DEs, 2 CBs, 1 WR, 1 QB and 1 P.
The DEs are obviously most important. Just look at who we could have left in 2019 and we are going to have small classes in the next two years. Get as many DEs as you can in this class and hope the lower rated ones can provide depth two years from now.
We have 55 scholarship players on the roster not counting the 20 commits so we have 10 scholarships that we can still give out. Taking a class of 28 still gives us 2 scholarships for walk-ons or graduate transfers.
2018 could be a really small class if a number of guys don't move on after this year.
If Creamer visits, he might jump up to priority #1. We have Oladipo and Carney, and in Pate, Woods and Singletary, we have some backup options at DE.
We need another true on-an-island corner bad. Tony Adams is hurt, and he's the only guy like that in the class. Maybe the staff sees Bennett Williams that way, I dunno.
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