Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#752      

mhuml32

mhuml32
Cincinnati, OH
mhuml32
Myers and Taylor are the top two recruits by rankings.
 
#754      

618 Illini

6
Chicago
618 Illini
Football commitments make zero sense to me. I actually think it teaches these kids bad habits. NCAA should figure out a solution to this madness. These kids shouldn't be able to "commit" to a school but still tell coaches to recruit them. If the NCAA really cares about student athletes, then they shouldn't be allowing practices like this that damage their understanding of a commitment. I'd love to tell my boss that I am "Committed" to coming into work every day while also openly letting competitors know I am available.


IlliniCaboose said:
OL Kievan Myers commits to Illinois

https://twitter.com/BIGKIE99/status/880290386492760064

"My recruiting process is still open to all coaches and schools"? Then why commit? I'll never understand football recruiting. Welcome I guess though... right?
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#755      

Illiini

Illiini
In the land of the Nittany Lion
Illiini
IlliniCaboose said:
OL Kievan Myers commits to Illinois

https://twitter.com/BIGKIE99/status/880290386492760064

"My recruiting process is still open to all coaches and schools"? Then why commit? I'll never understand football recruiting. Welcome I guess though... right?
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It's what recruiting has become. Kids decommit all the time. At least this kid is up front about it. He loves us unless someone better comes along. But yes, maybe first kiss will make it all the way to aisle.

That said, looks like a good pickup, but I hope he realizes that my enthusiasm won't be greater than his.
 
#756      

FT35

FT35
Naperville
FT35
Decommits do happen although the staff did a pretty good job of keeping last year's class together. We only had one decommit and that was from a player who was offered by the previous staff and committed before ever visiting the campus.

We haven't had to worry about kids from this class getting poached since we're the only P5 offer for a number of them.

Teams are going to keep recruiting kids like Myers the same way we kept and keep pursuing Ford and other kids who are committed to other programs. Let's not forget that Pearl was committed to NIU before flipping to us.
 
#757      

Illiini

Illiini
In the land of the Nittany Lion
Illiini
FT35 said:
Let's not forget that Pearl was committed to NIU before flipping to us.
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Well, that's right. Ditto for him. I think "committed" has a new meaning vis a vis NCAA recruiting. It's more akin to going steady than engaged, which is when they sign their LOI. They're not married until they show up on campus. And even then, players get the horses all the time. The NCAA event has rules Regulate divorce court. 🙂
 
#759      

coryfor3

C
coryfor3
Illiini said:
Sounds like he's made up his mind...or is just messing with our minds. He's going to help with recruiting for Illinois but isn't going to decide until signing day? Odd. The best way to do that is commit yourself.
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Football recruiting is ridiculously weird. Saying how much he likes IL and wants to recruit guys there and then just that IL would make the Top 10? Other guys are committing and then at the end of the commitment they say how they are still completely wide open for recruiting. Huh?
 
#761      

ballislife17

ballislife17
ballislife17
mhuml32 said:
Was looking at the Rivals rankings. Pearl's composite is interesting because he's unranked by 247 and a mid-tier two-star on Rivals.
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That's a good point, the closer I look at the composite rankings the more flaws I find.

The UI Basketball recruiting twitter page as been nagging 247 like crazy to fix it


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#762      

FT35

FT35
Naperville
FT35
mhuml32 said:
Was looking at the Rivals rankings. Pearl's composite is interesting because he's unranked by 247 and a mid-tier two-star on Rivals.
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Pearl is ranked by ESPN as the 20th best recruit in Illinois:

http://www.espn.com/college-sports/...nkings/_/state/illinois/class/2018/view/state

Taylor is the only other one of our recruits from Illinois who has been evaluated by ESPN.

247 is probably not taking into account Pearl's Rivals rating, as they only list two services as evaluating him (Scout and ESPN).

Myers is the only recruit besides Taylor who has been evaluated by all four services, although I couldn't find him on the ESPN list for Texas. That probably just means he didn't make the Top 100 list for the state since 100 appears to be the cut off:

http://www.espn.com/college-sports/...nkings/_/state/illinois/class/2018/view/state
 
#763      

IlliniJim20

I
IlliniJim20
Strange. I get decommits happen all the time for one reason or another, but why commit and immediately tell coaches I'm stil available?

It's like getting engaged and immediately calling someone else for a date :crazy:
 
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#765      

Illwinsagain

Illwinsagain
Cary, IL
Illwinsagain
I wonder if the coaching staff wanted the "commitment" so bad that they are alright with this. Is it desperation? I hope not.
 
#766      

FT35

FT35
Naperville
FT35
Illwinsagain said:
I wonder if the coaching staff wanted the "commitment" so bad that they are alright with this. Is it desperation? I hope not.
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Desperation?

The staff has been pretty open about letting kids go on official visits after committing to Illinois. Last year, after giving verbal commitments, Carmoni Green visited North Carolina and Olalere Oladipo visited Penn State. Epstein (different circumstances) also took a number of official visits to P5 schools. This is just the way football recruiting works. There's just too many schools and kids involved. This is just the way the game is played.

It's a VERBAL commitment. That's all it is. None of these commitments mean anything until the kids sign the LOIs.

If he has a committable offer then they aren't going to stop a kid from publicly announcing his commitment.
 
#768      

eyepatch

E
eyepatch
FT35 said:
Desperation?

It's a VERBAL commitment. That's all it is. None of these commitments mean anything until the kids sign the LOIs.
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And it's not all on the kids. Coaches and recruiters everywhere speak with a forked tongue. Even this Illini staff withdrew offers the previous staff made. The recruiting process is brutal - and fraught with more lies than a real estate salesman selling Florida swampland. I think worst of all, once the kid signs, he's locked in. Coaches come and go - through their own choosing or not, i.e., three Illini coaching staffs in two years. The odds are astoundingly low that a high school junior will play in his fourth college year for a head coach he committed to. The smartest recruits pick the school, and not the coaching staff.
 
#769      

unapalmerclassic

U
unapalmerclassic
I can see it now with these kids. "I would like to announce that I have become to engaged to (Blank). (Blank) is my best friend....my soul mate.....my rock....and my support. It will be an honor and a privilege to call (Blank) my wife. However, I might add that I am open to dating others and am open to cancelling my plans if someone else better comes along.
 
#770      

Illwinsagain

Illwinsagain
Cary, IL
Illwinsagain
FT35 said:
Desperation?

The staff has been pretty open about letting kids go on official visits after committing to Illinois. Last year, after giving verbal commitments, Carmoni Green visited North Carolina and Olalere Oladipo visited Penn State. Epstein (different circumstances) also took a number of official visits to P5 schools. This is just the way football recruiting works. There's just too many schools and kids involved. This is just the way the game is played.

It's a VERBAL commitment. That's all it is. None of these commitments mean anything until the kids sign the LOIs.

If he has a committable offer then they aren't going to stop a kid from publicly announcing his commitment.
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I appreciate the response. This one just seemed a little different than others. I was aware that kids continue to go on visits.
 
#772      

BMo79

B
BMo79
FT35 said:
Just look at the offers Myers has. Great pick up. I wonder how many more OL we are taking in this class?

http://247sports.com/Recruitment/Kievan-Myers-93571/RecruitInterests
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I would think they would want to get at least 2 more, we are still really thin on the OL so I wouldn't be shocked at all to see them try to get 6. We have 13, 2 are SR so even taking 3 we would be super thin. J slaughter is up to 310 and is a very good pass blocker, but he is still only 16 if the young man is able to redshirt and develop for 2 years before he is needed he is going to be a beast at tackle
 
#773      

calibear

C
calibear
Definitely 2 more o-lineman more if there is any more attrition to the present squad.
I have watched nearly all the tapes of over the last month of those at the time were uncommited.
Names for me of the guys on my watch list for the o-line are as follows.
Rt/Og William Dunkle like Myers he can be special and is right up there with Boyd, Lt Raiqun O' Neal, Oyen Uzebu, Og, Chris Murray, Braison Mays and Lt Braeden Willis. No idea if Willis, Murray or Uzebo are considering us or not just there are up there with the very good to top guys at the positions.
All high or better quality players imo.
By the way if we land Verdis Brown he would on the o-line for me to start with liked his tape more there/
 
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