Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#1,801      

ivwilsoniv

I
Aurora, IL
ivwilsoniv
bert1991 said:
Do we have any shot at all with Luke Ford?
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Let's put ourselves in Ford's shoes and imagine him watching the offense last year and the QBs that would potentially be throwing him the ball... Then we can answer that question.

Georgia - In the college football playoff; bringing in the #1 QB recruit in 2018 (9th best team QB rating)
Alabama - In the college football playoff; their QBs threw a combined 2 INTs compared to 23 TDs this year (7th best team QB rating)
Texas A&M - A late add to his list with Jimbo Fisher there now
Auburn - Jarrett Stidham had a lot of success this year (10th best team QB rating)
Illinois - Team QB rating of 126th out of 130
 
#1,802      

mhuml32

mhuml32
Cincinnati, OH
mhuml32
bert1991 said:
Yeah, I'm with you. Obviously, my list was done a little tongue in cheek. I'm just really excited for some of the wins we've gotten recently and love how we are trending.
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Hey, I'm not here to crush your dreams. If somehow Illinois was able to get one of Adeoye or Robertson, that would make me recalibrate my thinking.



Losing Ford is really painful. Not that he would be the difference maker next year of making/not making a bowl, but it's just painful to lose the rare Central/Southern Illinois player that is a top-50 recruit.
 
#1,803      

bert1991

B
bert1991
ivwilsoniv said:
Let's put ourselves in Ford's shoes and imagine him watching the offense last year and the QBs that would potentially be throwing him the ball... Then we can answer that question.

Georgia - In the college football playoff; bringing in the #1 QB recruit in 2018 (9th best team QB rating)
Alabama - In the college football playoff; their QBs threw a combined 2 INTs compared to 23 TDs this year (7th best team QB rating)
Texas A&M - A late add to his list with Jimbo Fisher there now
Auburn - Jarrett Stidham had a lot of success this year (10th best team QB rating)
Illinois - Team QB rating of 126th out of 130
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So.....you're saying we've got a chance. Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssss!
 
#1,804      

SescIllini

SescIllini
SescIllini
I hope that we continue to improve on the recruiting front and win/loss record year over year. It seems like we might be slightly improved over last years recruiting #'s possibly with the guys we have on the board. I have confidence in this staff to find some gems like they did last year. Even the punter is so much better than expected.
 
#1,805      

breadman

B
Herndon, VA
breadman
Hold on to your hats everybody. Sounds like this week is going to get pretty exciting!!
 
#1,806      

t7nich

t7nich
Central IL
t7nich
FT35 said:
Jeremy Werner said on his radio show this morning that Ayodele Adeoye will be announcing his decision on Wednesday. He will have four hats on the table. I'm glad I'll be traveling that day so I don't have to go through that drama :D

At any rate, Jeremy said that Adeoye's parents would like him to stay closer to home but Texas and Oklahoma will be tough to beat.

I've also read elsewhere that if Missouri could flip Perkins then Adeoye would come to Illinois. Perkins staying at Oklahoma will probably draw Adeoye there.

He's been so quiet with his recruitment that no one really has a good read on what's going on here. The three visits to Illinois this fall are just odd, however. Can anyone remember a non-commit doing this? He was also here for Junior day in February and then made a visit in May.

As far as Ford goes, just look at the official visits. If he doesn't take one here then he obviously isn't coming here. At least we got guys like Craddieth, Petersen, Anderson, etc. on campus for official visits. Just like Daniels not coming for his official visit, if the kids aren't doing that then they aren't coming here.

Ford made an official visit to Texas and didn't even include them in his top 5. Texas A&M just offered him this weekend and they are in his top 5? He was committed to Arkansas but they aren't in his Top 5? That list was just odd. It's probably just between Auburn an Georgia at this point and including Illinois is just a tip of the cap to the staff.
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Thought he had already made the decision to play at Texas :confused:
 
#1,807      

SescIllini

SescIllini
SescIllini
I just scrolled through 247 Recruiting site for Illini team rankings and recruits from 2006-2017. Without taking pen to paper these were my impressions.


2010-2016-Few starters, low Big Ten quality players, very low rankings (#60-75), players were smaller (ht/weight) than what Lovie is recruiting right now.


2007-2009- Good ranking, several starters and impact players, some NFL talent. Identified talent with low hs rankings. Mid to high in BIG rankings.


2006-Low ranking, but some impact players. ID players with low rankings, many contributors.


Bottom Line-Lovie was trying to compete with some of the worst recruiting in two decades of Illini football. Of the higher ranked guys, many didn't pan out. Also Bechman landed players much smaller than what Lovie is going after, and probably slower/less talented. The plus side is the 2017 and 2018 class to be on par with Zook's better classes. Lovie and staff will need to provide the coaching because they are landing better players.
 
#1,808      

SescIllini

SescIllini
SescIllini
bert1991 said:
So according to 247, if we were to add the following:

Verdis Brown, Merlin Robertson, Dayven Coleman, Ayodele Adeoye....we would have a score of 200.99 and end up just outside the top 30.

Tack on Luke Ford.....and we would score 214.64 and be ranked #18.

Hey, if you are going to dream, dream BIG. ILL...
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I thought Ayodele Adeoye committed to Texas. Did something change, it sounds like he visited Illinois in December.
 
#1,809      

coryfor3

C
coryfor3
SescIllini said:
I thought Ayodele Adeoye committed to Texas. Did something change, it sounds like he visited Illinois in December.
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I was wondering too. Thought he did a commit video that included burning mail from other schools including a prominent camera shot of Illinois mailings.
 
#1,810      

IllinoisFanAtFSU

I
IllinoisFanAtFSU
FT35 said:
Ford made an official visit to Texas and didn't even include them in his top 5. Texas A&M just offered him this weekend and they are in his top 5? He was committed to Arkansas but they aren't in his Top 5? That list was just odd.
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Jimbo Fisher and his staff recruited him heavily while at Florida State. I haven't followed the staff transition closely, but this would especially make sense if Tim Brewster (TE coach and big time recruiter) is following Jimbo to TAMU. I think they (Aggies) have a great shot at landing Luke.
 
#1,811      

BlueGuy27

B
BlueGuy27
SescIllini said:
I thought Ayodele Adeoye committed to Texas. Did something change, it sounds like he visited Illinois in December.
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Verbal commit. Recruiting process just playing itself out. He has been on campus several times since his commitment. Definitely seems like something interesting going on here. Don't want to get my hopes up too much though.
 
#1,812      

IllinoisFanAtFSU

I
IllinoisFanAtFSU
https://www.hudl.com/profile/4670912/reuben-unije

I just read Robert's article over on IlliniBoard, and he only gave the Unije commitment two Tom Cruises. After watching his "Senior Szn" highlight video, I don't understand that disappointed reaction at all. This dude plays violent. I will gladly take an NFL-bodied offensive linemen who doesn't consider the play over until his opponent is lying on the ground. Four Tom Cruises from me :)
 
#1,813      

BlueGuy27

B
BlueGuy27
The nature of Ayodele's signing ceremony, combined with his recent official visit, leaves my slightly optimistic. He definitely sees value in our program and has respect for our coaching staff, especially Lovie Smith. He is already verbally committed to Texas. Putting our hat on the table and not picking us once again seems like a bit of a slap in the face. Ayodele does not seem like the kind of guy to do that to Illinois.

Bottom line, the fact that there are four hats on the table Wednesday, and one of them has an "I" on it means that we have a chance. A pretty good one imo.
 
#1,814      

Illini TJ

I
Omaha, Nebraska
Illini TJ
Haven't been this excited about Illini football in a long long time.
 
#1,816      

FT35

FT35
Naperville
FT35
BlueGuy27 said:
The nature of Ayodele's signing ceremony, combined with his recent official visit, leaves my slightly optimistic. He definitely sees value in our program and has respect for our coaching staff, especially Lovie Smith. He is already verbally committed to Texas. Putting our hat on the table and not picking us once again seems like a bit of a slap in the face. Ayodele does not seem like the kind of guy to do that to Illinois.

Bottom line, the fact that there are four hats on the table Wednesday, and one of them has an "I" on it means that we have a chance. A pretty good one imo.
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Out of curiosity, what are you basing this on? I find it hard to get a read on this kid one way or another. However, you can see in his recruitment video that he burned one of our letters so I really don't see why he wouldn't put a hat on a table and not pick us. No big deal to me if he does that since he has obviously has the right to go wherever he wants.

The one thing that's really telling is that he's been on campus so many times. He wouldn't come here that often if there wasn't genuine interest. Illinois also wouldn't waste time on an in-home visit if they didn't think they had a chance here.

Our facilities and where our program is at put us at a major disadvantage, however. What we can offer is a chance to play close(r) to home and immediate playing time. We'll see what he values more. If he doesn't pick us then I'm not sure what else this staff could have done. This article does put him on watch to flip to OU or Illinois:

https://247sports.com/Article/Early-Signing-Period-Preview-Analyzing-the-current-top-10-112422718

Flip watch: WR Rondale Moore to Purdue. LB Ayodele Adeoye to Illinois or Oklahoma. LB DaShaun White from Texas A&M.
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I like our chances with Robertson much better, especially if USC and Oklahoma have backed off. Robertson is actually much more intriguing to me since his size makes him a possible LB/DE hybrid. At 240+ lbs he's already bigger than a couple of our DEs.

The main concern with him is that he is LDS and BYU could get the edge because of that and we'll have to see if he visits them. If he's announcing his commitment at the Polynesian Bowl then our visit is the week before that.

His teammate John Jackson is also going to visit us in January although Illinois wants him to come after his visit with Wisconsin:

https://247sports.com/Article/Cali-...Visits-with-Illinois-and-Wisconsin--112328206

"I'm also going to visit Illinois but need to lock in that date still. I had a great home visit with them earlier in the month so I'll either visit the last weekend in January or on the weekend of the 12th but they want to make that last impression at the end of the month."
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#1,820      

bert1991

B
bert1991
Ubermensch said:
What's the likely optimistic finish? 10-12? Serious question. No idea how the scramble shakes out.
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I don't know how others on the board feel, but I'm less interested in the 247 overall score than i am the average score per recruit. 247 gives points for quanity and quality, and I'm much more interested in the quality as our # of open scholarships, depth by position plays into the recruitment process/ class.

That being said, we are ahead of Rutgers, Indiana, and Purdue and within striking distance of Northwestern and several others.
 
#1,821      

South Farms

S
near Ogden & Rt 83
South Farms
this staff does seem to have an ability to kick it up a notch at the finish line.

makes one wonder why we don't seem to be able to get a few more high profile guys to commit earlier and seemingly help with the overall recruiting buzz and what that might mean as to getting some other high 3* and 4* to consider us more.

Overall, their recruiting , given the recent state of the team on the field, is quite amazing. I know that they are selling playing time and they must be able to connect on other levels as well. I simply wish we could get a few more highly rated guys to commit in June/July
 
#1,822      

FT35

FT35
Naperville
FT35
Ubermensch said:
What's the likely optimistic finish? 10-12? Serious question. No idea how the scramble shakes out.
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No one knows at this point. The answer to this question is largely dependent on not only how we finish this class but how other schools in the conference finish their classes. There's just too many moving parts right now but we'll probably have a little more clarity by the end of the week.

Like someone else said, the bottom of the conference has really improved in terms of recruiting, at least as far as the rankings go. Illinois may be doing better than they have in most years since 2010, but the rest of the conference has also improved thanks to improved facilities via money from the Big Ten Network.
 
#1,823      

mhuml32

mhuml32
Cincinnati, OH
mhuml32
Ubermensch said:
What's the likely optimistic finish? 10-12? Serious question. No idea how the scramble shakes out.
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Not as familiar with how other teams are expecting to finish the class, but I'd be happy if the class is ranked 10th or above (and a slight improvement on last year's class being ranked 46th). Anything below that is when concern would start creeping in.
 
#1,824      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
bert1991 said:
I don't know how others on the board feel, but I'm less interested in the 247 overall score than i am the average score per recruit. 247 gives points for quanity and quality, and I'm much more interested in the quality as our # of open scholarships, depth by position plays into the recruitment process/ class.

That being said, we are ahead of Rutgers, Indiana, and Purdue and within striking distance of Northwestern and several others.
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Is that methodologically sound? I'm no math expert but something seems a bit fishy there.
 
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