Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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I know Adoree Jackson came for a visit during the summer during his recruitment.
Jeff Thomas
The glory days
FT35
- Naperville
I was under the assumption that kids go to the IMG Academy in order to get exposure and attract interest from "major" schools.
What other reasons are there to go there? Play against better competition? Academics? Go to school in Florida?
This is why I was under the impression that kids like Griffith, Brown, etc. would not be interested in us. Abraham changes things for us with these kids but how much? How long did he coach at IMG?
What other reasons are there to go there? Play against better competition? Academics? Go to school in Florida?
This is why I was under the impression that kids like Griffith, Brown, etc. would not be interested in us. Abraham changes things for us with these kids but how much? How long did he coach at IMG?
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
I would add better coaching and potentially better environment (depending on where the recruit is originally located) as other positives. I wouldn't say there is a causation between going there and wanting to go to a big school, but I'm sure it's one of the biggest reasons.
In order: Yes, Yes, Case-by-Case, Case-by-Case
The additional one, and Verdis Brown has mentioned it, is it's great college prep as it is a boarding school and away from parents.
Regarding his coaching experience, heres a resume of sorts: Link.
I think we should clarify early that the purpose of this hire was not SOLELY to get in with top kids at IMG, he has great ties throughout the state (see resume) that will help us recruit in FL. His tenure is not dependent on landing HG or VB.
Better coaching is certainly a major factor as well.
Lets not forget that he is connected to Lovie and Hardy from playing days and I am sure they know him, his work ethic, his ability, etc. You probably have more inside information than me, but I think that those are primary factors in him being a coach for us.
I'm not an insider at all, at least as it pertains to crootin', just for the record.
We certainly agree on the former though. I'm just trying to nix the thinking that Abraham was hired with the condition he lands HG or VB or something like that or solely to get into IMG. He was hired for the reasons you and I mentioned, his hire is because he is qualified, not just because he coaches two of the targets at the top of our board who were at IMG. But being from IMG definitely helps
FT35
- Naperville
There are two month old babies who haven't experienced the excitement of having a top 50 recruit visit us.
Starting watching 2018 tapes last week seen 29 so far. All offensive and skill guys and I never have seen so many hi end guys that we have a legit shot at, man has this staff got its sh#t together. Only a couple guys left me cold and a handful in omg category.
By the way the one guy that left me frigid cold was Micah Jones. Seemed to just coast get hit and go down on the spot manged to be open a decent amount of the time just showed no heart of effort. Now that was short tape and would like to a reasonable junior hilite vid but for now no thanks. He did not even hit a 3 star for me.
By the way the one guy that left me frigid cold was Micah Jones. Seemed to just coast get hit and go down on the spot manged to be open a decent amount of the time just showed no heart of effort. Now that was short tape and would like to a reasonable junior hilite vid but for now no thanks. He did not even hit a 3 star for me.
Are you Bob Zuppke on twitter?
Don't know anything about him, but that's a badass looking recruiting picture if our staff put that together :thumb:
FT35
- Naperville
JUCO QB who has/had? an offer from Illinois.
http://www.hudl.com/video/3/2396481/57daacacdfe29a4fd0db1a8b
Why? A lot of good offers out of High School. Top 100 Florida player
Interesting that it's not from Illinois' graphics department (see the @GridironGraphics tag on it.) Maybe offered as a PWO or something to give depth? His prior JuCo wanted to move him to safety, so he transferred to his current school per this article from 2015. 247 lists offers from Illinois, Temple, and Arizona, but not clear how "real" those are. If these stats from his juco are accurate, he doesn't seem to be a starter at QB there on a team that's last in the conference.
FT35
- Naperville
Since transferring from Syracuse he has been to two JUCOs. Both schools tried to convert him from a QB into a S. He was the backup QB for Independence CC last year and did not do well:
http://www.kjccc.org/sports/fball/2016-17/players/alinedouard79rq?view=gamelog&pos=qb
FT35
- Naperville
As good a job as I think we did this recruiting cycle, we REALLY REALLY botched the punter position. But I guess if you're going to botch one position, may as well be that.
Eh. Unless you're going to offer multiple punters at once or pursue one much earlier in the cycle, then I really don't think it was that badly botched. The only thing I would say should've been done differently was offering Day on his visit. After his commit, we went looking for new ones, visited Stonehouse and Robbins, picked Robbins as the new priority, lost him to Michigan on scholarship (not a big deal, it's Michigan), and then lost Stonehouse to CSU who offered a full scholly instead of a blueshirt (Cal and ILL supposedly both gave him blueshirt offers).
So really, IMO, nothing egregious, although of course I would've loved to get a great punter this cycle.
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