Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

[ATL Chief]

Coach Smith FaceTime 12:01
https://twitter.com/GarrickMcGee/status/720977166503178243

One minute after the first "open contact with recruits" period of Lovie Smith's head coaching career begins...
https://twitter.com/ALionEye/status/720978514028077058

I cant imagine Beckman or Cubit using a setup like this...Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But seeing Lovie on that couch has me all

:whoo:

 

[IAmChrisFarley]

We'll see if he's singing the same tune in 2-3 years.



Regardless, I like that they aren't treating the situation as some mysterious secret. They are at least creating the appearance that there is total transparency from admissions to Whitman to Lovie to the staff to the recruits. That's critical that nothing gets lost in translation through those channels.

Lovie is going to those questionable academic qualifiers through. Especially if Babs stays on as chancellor

 

[JBtheTrill]

2018 WR Micah Jones and 2017 LB Micah Awodiran are visiting this weekend for the open practice.

http://illinois.247sports.com/Bolt/Four-star-in-state-WR-visiting-Illinois-44822086
http://illinois.247sports.com/Bolt/Illini-to-host-Chicagos-top-linebacker-44821947

 

[Second and Chalmers]

Awodiran seems perfect for us. Linebacker from Chicago with Ivy League grades who was quoted saying something like he's going to have to try not to freak out when he meets Lovie. Get on board son!

 

[RyanK]

Awodiran seems perfect for us. Linebacker from Chicago with Ivy League grades who was quoted saying something like he's going to have to try not to freak out when he meets Lovie. Get on board son!

Agree. This is the type of kid this staff needs to land.

 

[orangeswarm76]

Any other names yet that wil be attending?

 

[illinincards12]

I saw where o'malley just decommited

 

[orangeswarm76]

Ya ditto on omalley what's the word anyone got the skinny on this?

 

[Klondike]

O'Malley is a good kid, but doesn't fit in the staff's plans. Sensible move, and good that it was done this early to let him find a soft landing elsewhere.

 

[bigruss22]

Damn, feel for the kid, tough spot.

Hopefully he finds somewhere that he loves just as much.

 

[Jacob]

Handled a bit more gracefully than Harbaugh handled his

 

[IAmChrisFarley]

Isaiah Robertson commits to Notre dame


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Smacko]

Lovie is going to those questionable academic qualifiers through. Especially if Babs stays on as chancellor

Yeah, you are NEVER going to see the school or any coach say "Yeah we are working to lower the admissions criteria" Lovie said exactly what he should have said.

 

[IAmChrisFarley]

Pretty safe to say at this point that we're not going to get any of the premier 2017 guys in-state. Not the start you would have hoped for.

Get Ricky Smalling onboard, and continue to work on Robertson. Those two are close, and Smalling may have a little pull with him. I highly doubt Robertson would flip, but never know.

 

[RyanK]

Pretty safe to say at this point that we're not going to get any of the premier 2017 guys in-state. Not the start you would have hoped for.

Not true. All the kids that have gone elsewhere the staff really had no shot at. Smalling, Oladipo, Awodiran...those are the type of kids the staff needs to land. Plus, this staff got a slow start on the '17 class, so I wouldn't judge their recruiting too soon.

 

[midastouch11]

Not true. All the kids that have gone elsewhere the staff really had no shot at. Smalling, Oladipo, Awodiran...those are the type of kids the staff needs to land. Plus, this staff got a slow start on the '17 class, so I wouldn't judge their recruiting too soon.

RyanK, the voice of knowledge and reason.

 

[MoellerDad]

2017 lineman from Cincinnati

Me and my son came up there for Lovie's first practice and we loved the visit and hopefully my son receives a offer because he really wants to be there. Coach Butkus was down to earth and seem as if he and my son are creating a bond. We will be back up there really soon.Here's his highlights to checkout. http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3072147/highlights/305878375/v2

 

[IAmChrisFarley]

Me and my son came up there for Lovie's first practice and we loved the visit and hopefully my son receives a offer because he really wants to be there. Coach Butkus was down to earth and seem as if he and my son are creating a bond. We will be back up there really soon.Here's his highlights to checkout. http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3072147/highlights/305878375/v2

Who else is looking at your son? Btw, nice looking highlights!

 

[TheBucket]

FYI - Here is Samari Saddler's 247 recruiting page:
http://247sports.com/Player/Samari-Saddler-85360

Glad you guys had a good time in Champaign.

 

[MoellerDad]

He has university of cincinnati, louisville, pitt, toledo, Indiana,tcu all talking to him and coming up to see him this spring. The thing that hurts him is we have no spring ball. Twitter is @samarisaddler. We have been down to miami, fla too! Spread the word!!! Let get him to Illinois...

 

[MoellerDad]

Thanks on the highlights, I thought it should be shorter but he really likes Illinois plus a great engineering program

 

[MoellerDad]

Well funny story is that we were suppose to come up to Illinois the week that the head coach got fired
My son thought he had a good chance to get a offer but that happen, so once that happen we had to take the wait and see approach. My son loves the Lovie and staff hires and now we have to give them time to hopefully evaluate my son and then a offer!

 

[orangeswarm76]

Like your sons highlights thanks for sharing

 

[MoellerDad]

Like your sons highlights thanks for sharing

Happy you enjoy them! http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3072147/highlights/305878375/v2

 

[dsboyce]

The only real chance we had was for them to wait a while to commit. I mean, the open contact period started yesterday, right? My expectations for the 2017 recruiting class are to be in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten and hopefully grab a few 4-star recruits. My expectations for 2018 will be a bit higher.