Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

[Ramrod2010]

I believe that the staff had an issue or two last year, but this is the first time with a signing period this early. Not sure if any other schools had similar issues, but that might explain the "numbers" thing that Kerby mentioned.

Who knows.

 

[Qwiksilvur]

I'm glad this story had a happy ending but you can see how the decisions the staff makes can effect these kids. It sounds like we were waiting to see what Adams would do and we're fortunate that Kerby was still available.

Welcome to the Illini! It's nice to read quotes from a kid who is excited about playing here.

Definitely cool. Don’t think I’ve ever read a recruiting piece like that on the basketball or football side. Closest maybe Frazier on the basketball side of things.

Based on that article that kid is absolutely stoked with where his life is headed.

 

[illinidarrin]

I believe that the staff had an issue or two last year, but this is the first time with a signing period this early. Not sure if any other schools had similar issues, but that might explain the "numbers" thing that Kerby mentioned.

Who knows.

I'm not sure how we are having problems with numbers when we had 24-25 available after all the transfers?

 

[FT35]

Wow, we let a kid commit then it goes silent, we now miss on a handful of kids we were hoping we had a chance with, we now go back with our tail tucked between our legs and say hey Kirby, sooooooo ya still want to come here? Yeah ?, okay sign this.

This recruiting cycle has NOT been handled well.

I'm not sure I understand the scholarship availability issues? Was the staff talking about secondary offers? We're obviously well under the limit of 25.

 

[ILLINIShox24]

This guy had an offer from the South Dakota School of Mines. That's gotta be good then, right?

Assuming that means he might be interested in engineering, yes that's good.

 

[Deleted member 649710]

"Short on scholarships"? Maybe this means short on rides for DBs? With Martin, Hodge, Ware, Brown and now Joseph signed, should we presume that the staff is not waiting on Coleman and is now done with DBs?

After getting visits from Craddieth, Coleman, Cisco, Griffith, Taylor-Stuart, Adams, and a few I probably am forgetting, today we signed two unranked DBs that none of us heard of before last week. Hmmmm. The rebuild is going to take a long time at this rate. :tsk:

 

[basementcheetos]

Wow, we let a kid commit then it goes silent, we now miss on a handful of kids we were hoping we had a chance with, we now go back with our tail tucked between our legs and say hey Kirby, sooooooo ya still want to come here? Yeah ?, okay sign this.

This recruiting cycle has NOT been handled well.

We absolutely handled this poorly, and are fortunate the kid stuck it out. The staff needs to clean this up now. It has been rumored that Williams is on the way out, which would be a plus given how he bungled this deal.

 

[Deleted member 654622]

https://twitter.com/verdisbrown/status/943662661761404929

Is this a reaction to AA sticking with Texas over us? Can it be that simple?

 

[Dan]

OL Kievan Myers
https://twitter.com/IlliniFootball/status/943682693694414848

 

[Qwiksilvur]

Werner in his article about Joseph writes: "The Orlando Jones cornerback took an official visit to Illinois last weekend and planned on committing, but Illinois told him it was short on scholarships. But cornerbacks coach Paul Williams told Joseph on Wednesday afternoon that Illinois had room for him. Junior-college target Terin Adams committed to Arizona State earlier in the day."

Short on scholarships? Maybe this means short on rides for DBs? With Martin, Hodge, Ware, Brown and now Joseph signed, should we presume that the staff is not waiting on Coleman and is now done with DBs?

After getting visits from Craddieth, Coleman, Cisco, Griffith, Taylor-Stuart, Adams, and a few I probably am forgetting, today we signed two unranked DBs that none of us heard of before last week. Hmmmm. The rebuild is going to take a long time at this rate. :tsk:

Perhaps, but considering they hit on Hobbs and Bennett, both of whom were ranked quite low, they absolutely deserve the benefit of the doubt on DB’s. At least from my perspective.

 

[MadSeason]

"Short on scholarships"? Maybe this means short on rides for DBs? With Martin, Hodge, Ware, Brown and now Joseph signed, should we presume that the staff is not waiting on Coleman and is now done with DBs?

After getting visits from Craddieth, Coleman, Cisco, Griffith, Taylor-Stuart, Adams, and a few I probably am forgetting, today we signed two unranked DBs that none of us heard of before last week. Hmmmm. The rebuild is going to take a long time at this rate. :tsk:

Last year we received late commitments from little known D-Backs Bennett Williams and Nate Hobbs. Turned out pretty well

 

[IlliniJim20]

I'm not sure how we are having problems with numbers when we had 24-25 available after all the transfers?

Numbers at his position more levels likely than overall numbers.

 

[FT35]

"Short on scholarships"? Maybe this means short on rides for DBs? With Martin, Hodge, Ware, Brown and now Joseph signed, should we presume that the staff is not waiting on Coleman and is now done with DBs?

I'm pretty certain they are recruiting him as an OLB. He's pretty similar in size to Tolson. This staff appears to like smaller, more athletic LBs.

 

[Deleted member 649710]

Glass half full perspective:

Avery, Unije and (if he signs) Brown are arguably better than any kid in last year's class, which turned out pretty decent.

If Lovie can close on Brown, Taylor, and let's say Knowles (what happened with him any way?), the quality of this class would be a little bit better than last class. Just not the quantity we wanted to see.

Grad transfer WR Shaedon Meadors will provide immediate help.

We're getting help at every position except LB. Boy, can we use a few more LBs.

Oh hey . . . Robertson didn't sign with anyone, and is visiting. Who knows? Pray for a January heat wave.

Add three or four depth guys/JUCOs, and that's a class as good as last year. IMHO.

 

[BigStan97]

I'm pretty certain they are recruiting him as an OLB. He's pretty similar in size to Tolson. This staff appears to like smaller, more athletic LBs.

I would think Tolson 6’ 200 is WLB, Coleman 6’2 200 SLB and Merlin 6’3 240 MLB.

Tolson and Coleman will easily gain weight to play P5 College LB.

*** all above is in a ideal world where we actually get Coleman and Merlin***

 

[Ramrod2010]

I'm not sure how we are having problems with numbers when we had 24-25 available after all the transfers?

Yeah, the only numbers problem would be the number of DBs, not total scholarships.

Unless what the coaches really meant by problems with numbers is, "We aren't sure we're going to fill all of our available spots." But I don't think they would tell a recruit that

 

[IlliniNation1010]

We are very fortunate that Kerby was still available. It doesn't like like the staff handled this recruiting cycle well at all.

I'll be interested to see how we close out this class. We have to land Brown and Robertson. We still need a DE and we may have to reevaluate the QB situation after Friday.

Not a great day, IMO.

I agree, another mishandled recruitment. Communication issues need to be corrected. Players know their ranking. It's ok to tell a fringe Power 5 recruit where he stands. Coaches tell players all of the time "you're high on our board, if the numbers play out and we have an open scholly it's yours" It looks bad when you give the hard sell to a recruit & then when he's ready to commit, there's no longer an offer. Our staff is so professional in the way they do things, it's disappointing that they've stumbled a couple of times with basic recruiting practice.

Overall so far, I'm satisfied with the class. We weren't able to flip anyone today, but no one else really did either. So I'd say the early signing period worked the way NCAA coaches were hoping.

 

[EJ33]

Glass half full perspective:

Avery, Unije and (if he signs) Brown are arguably better than any kid in last year's class, which turned out pretty decent.

If Lovie can close on Brown, Taylor, and let's say Knowles (what happened with him any way?), the quality of this class would be a little bit better than last class. Just not the quantity we wanted to see.

Grad transfer WR Shaedon Meadors will provide immediate help.

We're getting help at every position except LB. Boy, can we use a few more LBs.

Oh hey . . . Robertson didn't sign with anyone, and is visiting. Who knows? Pray for a January heat wave.

Add three or four depth guys/JUCOs, and that's a class as good as last year. IMHO.

More glass half full:

- We continue to upgrade the talent in the OL and DL. Soon we will have legit B1G lines. This is the foundation for success in the West.

- They seem to be able to evaluate secondary prospects, so I'm hoping they've gotten guys they can work with

- Clearly they think they can fill out the class and there are several targets that still haven't signed

Concerns:

- Coran Taylor would be a huge loss. We need more than one good QB prospect in this class. Getting only 1 QB would be a huge recruiting fail.

- Minimal "on paper" talent at RB, WR, DB, LB

- Why did they run off so many veterans with such low rated targets?

- Who else can recruit besides Thad Ward and Andrew Hayes Stoker?

 

[IlliniMed]

More glass half full:

- We continue to upgrade the talent in the OL and DL. Soon we will have legit B1G lines. This is the foundation for success in the West.

- They seem to be able to evaluate secondary prospects, so I'm hoping they've gotten guys they can work with

- Clearly they think they can fill out the class and there are several targets that still haven't signed

Concerns:

- Coran Taylor would be a huge loss. We need more than one good QB prospect in this class. Getting only 1 QB would be a huge recruiting fail.

- Minimal "on paper" talent at RB, WR, DB, LB

- Why did they run off so many veterans with such low rated targets?

- Who else can recruit besides Thad Ward and Andrew Hayes Stoker?

Hence the pink slip. Honestly think bringing in a st Louise guy will do wonders

 

[MadSeason]

More glass half full:

- We continue to upgrade the talent in the OL and DL. Soon we will have legit B1G lines. This is the foundation for success in the West.

- They seem to be able to evaluate secondary prospects, so I'm hoping they've gotten guys they can work with

- Clearly they think they can fill out the class and there are several targets that still haven't signed

Concerns:

- Coran Taylor would be a huge loss. We need more than one good QB prospect in this class. Getting only 1 QB would be a huge recruiting fail.

- Minimal "on paper" talent at RB, WR, DB, LB

- Why did they run off so many veterans with such low rated targets?

- Who else can recruit besides Thad Ward and Andrew Hayes Stoker?

Good post and I agree with much of it. I think our D-line will be legit as early as next year and start causing people some real problems. O-Line may take a little longer but you're right they are adding real talent there.

The only other pro I would throw in, is that while on paper they are unheralded, there is one thing in common with our RB, WR, DB and LB prospects. Speed. Track speed. They are mostly undersized, but mostly burners too. Similar to Zook, we are loading the roster with elite athletes. Zook couldn't coach em up, but the NFL sure noticed them. Let's hope this staff can turn that potential in to production.

Oh and fingers crossed for a grad transfer QB with or without Taylor

 

[WhiteRhino]

"When I tried to commit, they said they were kind of messed up with numbers, so they had to see what was going on with the scholarships," Joseph said. "When they told me that, I was scared like I wouldn't be able to go to the college I wanted to go to. But I just prayed over it with my family. The next day after that I knew I was going to sign. But I got the text right after school that I was able to sign. It feels amazing. I'm still jumping around."

So I guess we should blame God for missing out on all those recruits today

Now, if this kid can pray with the same urgency that Illinois wins some big games next year we'll be in great shape

 

[ivwilsoniv]

Good post and I agree with much of it. I think our D-line will be legit as early as next year and start causing people some real problems. O-Line may take a little longer but you're right they are adding real talent there.

The only other pro I would throw in, is that while on paper they are unheralded, there is one thing in common with our RB, WR, DB and LB prospects. Speed. Track speed. They are mostly undersized, but mostly burners too. Similar to Zook, we are loading the roster with elite athletes. Zook couldn't coach em up, but the NFL sure noticed them. Let's hope this staff can turn that potential in to production.

Oh and fingers crossed for a grad transfer QB with or without Taylor

Agreed - I really think the QB thing is going to be the same issue that Groce had with point guards. You can only get so far without someone legitimate running the show. I wish they would've closed on someone like a Quincy Patterson.

 

[BZuppke]

Did you hear of MJ Rivers?

 

[IlliniMed]

A good QB goes a long way in making a crappy team a decent team. We have 2 of those minus one who might sign as well.

 

[MadSeason]

Agreed - I really think the QB thing is going to be the same issue that Groce had with point guards. You can only get so far without someone legitimate running the show. I wish they would've closed on someone like a Quincy Patterson.

Definitely would have liked Patterson but I do like Rivers and Taylor. I just don't like Freshman starting QB in Big 10. I like Thomas, and think he can be the guy but we need depth