Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

[IlliniJim20]

Most players, even qbs, are not afraid of competition. However, with limited scholarships ( small class this year) bringing in three guys for one position seems strange, especially at a position where ideally only one guy plays per year. Yes you want depth, but you want depth over multiple classes. You don't necessarily want your QB depth chart to all be in the same class. ( fast forward a couple years)

I am guessing one or more has been told they might switch positions. Or I look for one to decommit.

 

[StateFarmCenter]

I don't think it's weird when you realize they have the worst QB depth chart in the country.

 

[Joel Goodson]

I don't think it's weird when you realize they have the worst QB depth chart in the country.

Yep. We're in triage mode at QB. Desperate times require desperate measures, yada yada yada. Perfectly sensible move considering the situation.

 

[blmillini]

Yep. We're in triage mode at QB. Desperate times require desperate measures, yada yada yada. Perfectly sensible move considering the situation.

Turner used to take several Quarterbacks. It is not unusual for them to switch positions or transfer if they do not become the guy and after redshirting there first year, we are going to need some healthy competition to see which one is going to be able to lead better teams into the future.

 

[calibear]

i would like to hear from CaliBear or some evaluations on these 3 committed QB's. I do believe the Illini has closed the door on Lawson.

I'll give a shot, just wish I had more time to post.
WE should be extremely happy with all 3 As a group as well as individually. It is more about subtle differences between the 3.
All have very good height, length and athleticism.
All have very good arms, all can make all the throws. Rivers is the fastest and the most likely to pickup big yards if a play breaks down. Both Taylor and Littlejohn a little better at throwing to where the receiver should be not to where he is. Taylor a little better. All will need to and will put on anywhere from 15 to Littlejohns 30 pounds of good. Muscle all have the right kind of ego. They all throw a nice catch able ball Littlejohn the best.
They should all be higher rated. I wolfed for landing Littlejohn way back when. I originally rated him a tad above Taylor who was a tad higher than Rivers, frankly know on seeing senior tape on Littlejohn playing better opponents it's s dog fall.
They imo are high high rated 3 star talent so you can imagine my delight with the exception of Thomas last year these are best guys i have see since Juice played. Littlejohn and Taylor on my scale are 7.25 or on rival 5.7 as is Rivers who got a 7.00 from me.
This was big time.

 

[calibear]

And he would already be listed on the published roster.



7 out of 7.25?

I used the rivals numbering to rate prospects previously. 5 * guys go up to 6.1 and so on.
I was asked to write up the same thing I am doing here actually was asked by someone who come one who read my stuff here.
I did for a short time but was told they had to big a work load so it ceased pretty quickly. I did not want any problems of doing that with rivals so, I developed my own method. Going from one to 10. Top guy I have seen is Avery with a a 9.0 folks that is a 5* But based on slight improvement this year.
Anyways some guys are not clean number stars 6.0 or 7.0 and so on for rating so to differentiate they receive 1/4 points on what I feel. To be a 7. They are very highly rated equal to a rivals 5.7 I hope that helps

 

[IlliniFisherman]

I'll give a shot, just wish I had more time to post.
WE should be extremely happy with all 3 As a group as well as individually. It is more about subtle differences between the 3.
All have very good height, length and athleticism.
All have very good arms, all can make all the throws. Rivers is the fastest and the most likely to pickup big yards if a play breaks down. Both Taylor and Littlejohn a little better at throwing to where the receiver should be not to where he is. Taylor a little better. All will need to and will put on anywhere from 15 to Littlejohns 30 pounds of good. Muscle all have the right kind of ego. They all throw a nice catch able ball Littlejohn the best.
They should all be higher rated. I wolfed for landing Littlejohn way back when. I originally rated him a tad above Taylor who was a tad higher than Rivers, frankly know on seeing senior tape on Littlejohn playing better opponents it's s dog fall.
They imo are high high rated 3 star talent so you can imagine my delight with the exception of Thomas last year these are best guys i have see since Juice played. Littlejohn and Taylor on my scale are 7.25 or on rival 5.7 as is Rivers who got a 7.00 from me.
This was big time.

So are you saying Cam Thomas is better than these three guys? I can't interpret tape like yall can. What are people saying about Cam Thomas in his first month-ish of practicing?

 

[StateFarmCenter]

As a prospect I'd put Thomas 4th out of the 4. But since he has the year up that doesn't mean much

 

[FiveStar]

I used the rivals numbering to rate prospects previously. 5 * guys go up to 6.1 and so on.
I was asked to write up the same thing I am doing here actually was asked by someone who come one who read my stuff here.
I did for a short time but was told they had to big a work load so it ceased pretty quickly. I did not want any problems of doing that with rivals so, I developed my own method. Going from one to 10. Top guy I have seen is Avery with a a 9.0 folks that is a 5* But based on slight improvement this year.
Anyways some guys are not clean number stars 6.0 or 7.0 and so on for rating so to differentiate they receive 1/4 points on what I feel. To be a 7. They are very highly rated equal to a rivals 5.7 I hope that helps

Yes it does. Thank you.

 

[calibear]

So are you saying Cam Thomas is better than these three guys? I can't interpret tape like yall can. What are people saying about Cam Thomas in his first month-ish of practicing?

I was going to let myself of easy on this one but.
Thomas has the speed of Rivers his arm strength maybe the best , he needs work on the technical more than the others, foot work and so forth. Little more raw on reads. Like Bailey a few years back I thought he needed more time with the coaches but had real upside.
If he has put in the work and learned while gaining 15 pounds of strength an flexbilty than yes. As mentioned there is no clear number one. It is a fun problem to have. :thumb:

 

[FT35]

Coran Taylor leads Peoria High to an 82-80 win over Peoria Notre Dame

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/201709...-record-setting-82-80-victory-over-notre-dame

 

[FiveStar]

Coran Taylor leads Peoria High to an 82-80 win over Peoria Notre Dame

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/201709...-record-setting-82-80-victory-over-notre-dame

So the big 12 doesn't play defense in high school or college huh?

 

[Liesse1997]

https://twitter.com/csnpreps/status/909047325854715904 TFSports has a good run down of the 4th quarter/OT of that Peoria High game. Some videos included. The game was insane to say the least, and Coran would've had even better numbers if his receivers weren't dropping the ball all night.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FT35]

https://twitter.com/csnpreps/status/909047325854715904 TFSports has a good run down of the 4th quarter/OT of that Peoria High game. Some videos included. The game was insane to say the least, and Coran would've had even better numbers if his receivers weren't dropping the ball all night.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This has been a problem since last year.

He actually had better passing numbers when he was a Sophomore and had Jamir Whitelow (had an Illinois offer from the old staff but moved to Texas) and Jason Bennett.

Last year Jowers was the only one who stepped up and became a reliable WR and this year Mack appears to be the best of the bunch. I've seen Coran get a bit frustrated by the drops but they have no choice but to throw the ball when the defense can't stop anyone and they are down by 34 points (like last night).

Coran has a lot of work to do as a pocket passer but all of the tools are there. He has the size, speed and arm strength to succeed in the B1G.

 

[SycIllini]

Have we looked at Jordan Gandy from Dekalb? Excellent db for them. Does some pretty good work on offense and returning kicks too.

 

[FT35]

Class of 2019 DE Khris Bogle of Cardinal Gibbons apparently wants to join his teammates (Carlos Sandy and Ron Hardge) at Illinois. He doesn't have an offer as of yet.

https://twitter.com/khris_a1/status/902949099766415360

http://247sports.com/Player/Khris-Bogle-46038472

http://www.hudl.com/video/3/6448495/582516c0bd752031a009a7db

Khris finally got an offer:

https://twitter.com/khris_a1/status/910102062649741313

 

[IlliniMed]

Khris finally got an offer:

https://twitter.com/khris_a1/status/910102062649741313

So weird they didnt do this earlier

 

[Custard]

So weird they didnt do this earlier

Seriously

 

[NJILLINI]

Turner used to take several Quarterbacks. It is not unusual for them to switch positions or transfer if they do not become the guy and after redshirting there first year, we are going to need some healthy competition to see which one is going to be able to lead better teams into the future.

I don't remember Turner taking that many QBs and never recall him moving them to other positions (Ziegler, Kittner, D-Lugs, Brasic, Pazan, Ward, etc). Brad Bower transferred but started for Turner at Illinois. I think you are thinking of CDP. He seemed to load up on QBs and then try to convert them to DEs, TEs or LBs (Justin Cella from Neptune, NJ is one example).

 

[Sal Iacuzzo]

Christian Morton was a QB

 

[Oskeefan]

I don't remember Turner taking that many QBs and never recall him moving them to other positions (Ziegler, Kittner, D-Lugs, Brasic, Pazan, Ward, etc). Brad Bower transferred but started for Turner at Illinois. I think you are thinking of CDP. He seemed to load up on QBs and then try to convert them to DEs, TEs or LBs (Justin Cella from Neptune, NJ is one example).

Christian Morton, Walter Young, Mark Kornfeld were excellent athletes who changed positions, Morton and Young made it to the NFL.

 

[TEYPAY]

Eddie McGee

 

[UofI08]

When you can't land a Juice Williams type consensus 4-5 star QB, this is the correct way to do it (even in that case, they brought in McGee too). Grab a bunch of guys with solid potential and see who develops. As a bonus, luckily all these guys are great athletes and can potentially switch positions if they never make it as qb.

 

[TexasIllini]

I really hope the staff goes after a JUCO or Grad transfer QB for 2018, or else we're in for another 1-2 years of poor QB play until these young QB's are ready.

 

[NJILLINI]

Christian Morton, Walter Young, Mark Kornfeld were excellent athletes who changed positions, Morton and Young made it to the NFL.

Better memory than mine (most are these days!) Thanks. I stand corrected.