Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
#1      

Dan

Admin
------------------------------------------------------
2019 Illinois Football Signees
1) DB Joseph Thompson
2) RB Nick Fedanzo
3) OL Evan Kirts
4) QB Isaiah Williams
5) DL Seth Coleman
6) DL Moses Okpala
7) TE Griffin Moore
8) DB Marquez Beason
9) WR Casey Washington
10) DL Keith Randolph
11) RB Kyron Cumby
12) LB Shammond Cooper
13) LB Tarique Barnes

February 16th, 2019: OL Josh Plohr commits to Illinois


January 26th, 2018
K Caleb Griffin commits to Illinois (blueshirt - he'll be on scholarship in 2018 & will redshirt, and will count towards the 2019 class)

March 10th, 2018
DB Marquez Beason commits to Illinois

March 16th, 2018
TE Griffin Moore commits to Illinois

March 23, 2018
QB Isaiah Williams commits to Illinois

April 25, 2018
DB Joseph Thompson commits to Illinois

WR Bryce Childress commits to Illinois on April 26th, decommits from Illinois on October 6th

June 21, 2018
RB Kyron Cumby commits to Illinois

June 22, 2018
RB Nick Fedanzo commits to Illinois

July 2, 2018
LB Camilo Eifler (Washington transfer) commits to Illinois

WR Fabian McCray commits to Illinois on July 2nd, decommits from Illinois on November 4th

July 27, 2018
WR Casey Washington commits to Illinois

July 29, 2018
DE Seth Coleman commits to Illinois

November 2, 2018
DL Moses Okpala commits to Illinois

OL Jakai Clark commits to Illinois on November 11th, flips to Miami FL on December 10th

November 18, 2018
OT Evan Kirts commits to Illinois
 
Last edited:
#3      

South Farms

near Ogden & Rt 83
Dan , We might as well start a list and stick it to the top .
First commit is the kicker from Danville, Caleb Griffin .
 
#5      

froggy101

Chicago, IL
2019 recruiting needs to be much improved - especially given the talent in-state and nearby, and addition of patterson.
 
#6      

mhuml32

Cincinnati, OH
Do whatever is necessary for Isaiah Williams and Jason Bargy (metaphorically speaking). Also, find someone that has the moxie and is decently ranked to be the first commit and become the leader of the recruiting class.
 
#8      

Illiini

In the land of the Nittany Lion
Do whatever is necessary for Isaiah Williams and Jason Bargy (metaphorically speaking). Also, find someone that has the moxie and is decently ranked to be the first commit and become the leader of the recruiting class.

+1000

Kids have to know they're joining a team on the way up, and no better way to know that than seeing others believe it.
 
#9      

Deleted member 654622

D
Guest
I'm calling it now, IL will have a recruiting class in the 30s in 2019.
This will be a result of Lovie's correction to the recruiting process with the early offers and better recruiters on staff. Add that to some more development evidence on the field, other than wins (cause we aint getting many), and the facilities upgrading.
It's gonna be fun!
 
#10      
I'm calling it now, IL will have a recruiting class in the 30s in 2019.
This will be a result of Lovie's correction to the recruiting process with the early offers and better recruiters on staff. Add that to some more development evidence on the field, other than wins (cause we aint getting many), and the facilities upgrading.
It's gonna be fun!

I'm not going to have a conniption fit if the class is ranked #40. :)
 
#11      

BananaShampoo

Captain 'Paign
Phoenix, AZ
I'm calling it now, IL will have a recruiting class in the 30s in 2019.
This will be a result of Lovie's correction to the recruiting process with the early offers and better recruiters on staff. Add that to some more development evidence on the field, other than wins (cause we aint getting many), and the facilities upgrading.
It's gonna be fun!

I agree with that IF (and it's a big if), we can put together some semblance of competitiveness on the field. If we go O-fer in the B1G again then all bets are off. Need to win a couple and not get blown out a bunch of times. Show definite improvement over last season.
 
#12      
Honestly, I feel like this is the most important class for sustainment purposes. We’ve seen both Zook and Turner (and technically even Beckman) have their best years at the 3-4 year point. Then things completely dropped off again.

To me that says they couldn’t sustain the recruiting level for some reason. If we do have success in 2019/2021, this current class will be the decider of whether we fall off another ledge in 2022.

I think the recruiting dropoffs resulted from coaching turnover. Once those revolving doors started we were seeing new systems every two years and recruits started backing away. Is that wrong? I think some coaching stability, and I think Josh agrees, will go a long way to inching those closed doors back open. I also think Lovie and Co. have prioritized which doors to open first and I think Illinois is a priority now. I think, maybe, we've crawled out of the recruiting doghouse, and we can now start building relationships.

I remember when the Bears fired Lovie and a sports broadcaster, I don't remember his name, said something to the effect, "The thing is, you can fire someone but if you don't have someone BETTER to replace him, then you're only going to be worse off." The Bears, since Lovie's dismissal, has sort of resembled Illinois football. It would be nice, and maybe a little ironical, if Lovie was the cure for our revolving door problem. I think the Illini will need 3-4 years to shake the "culture of losing" and I think staff stability is job #1 for 4-5 years. Hopefully then we're bowling and happy and the forums is all sunshine and unicorn farts.
 

Attachments

  • Po.png
    Po.png
    248.3 KB · Views: 993
Last edited:
#13      

BZuppke

Plainfield
The thing that is different now is that for the first time since the 1980s we have an AD who knows what he is doing. Do not underestimate how important a factor this is. Every program from the downtrodden to the blue bloods live and die by the quality of their AD. I remember Nick Saban saying many years ago that the AD is the most important factor in a program’s success and whether he would want to work at a school. Josh is putting the full force of the administration behind winning (did we just get another $5million towards the performance center the other day?).
 
#14      

mhuml32

Cincinnati, OH
For a mental exercise on the 2019, here is what it would take to put together a top 25-35 recruiting class.





Only 13 total recruits, but would score higher than Illinois' current 2018 class. I'm not an insider, so I'm not 100% certain on Illinois' chances for each recruit, but each should at least give Illinois a healthy chance to give their pitch and stay in contention for the forseeable future. Each of these recruits is either Illinois or Missouri, many of them had Illinois as their first, or were involved early. Illinois would like add 2 more LB's and 2 more DB's to this class (attrition dependent). That said, this is the equivalent of what Illinois is going to need in this 2019 class to increase the quality. Need to win some serious recruiting battles against top-flight schools (especially Isaiah Williams).
 
#15      
The thing that is different now is that for the first time since the 1980s we have an AD who knows what he is doing. Do not underestimate how important a factor this is. Every program from the downtrodden to the blue bloods live and die by the quality of their AD. I remember Nick Saban saying many years ago that the AD is the most important factor in a program’s success and whether he would want to work at a school. Josh is putting the full force of the administration behind winning (did we just get another $5million towards the performance center the other day?).

That is an EXCELLENT post. I like the Saban reference too. Josh and Co. (I think) are really going aboot all this the way this needs to be gone aboot. Well said BZuppke.

When you look back at where we were, post-Guentherized, Thomas gone, Becks gone, Cubit in a holding pattern, no ability to recruit and worst of the worst... We now have Josh W. as AD, Lovie and his staff, lines being built from ground up, scouring the nation for athletes and getting 3 and 4 star recruits from Cali, FL & TX... and now in 2019 making inroads with ILL high schools. This is pretty much the best freakin case scenario that any of us could have scripted. The fact that we're doing it the hard way should surprise no one. The fact that it's going to take four years to become a real program again should surprise no one (not if you're looking at this at the point Cubit took over).

If we can hang on to a top 40-50 class next year we'll start seeing success and it's going to be easier to get that top talent interested. I think a new offensive system (good gawd almighty could we finally play something up-tempo for a change once in a while?) is going to do wonders for the program over the next two years.
 
#22      

South Farms

near Ogden & Rt 83
in a serious line of thought, its been years since we have had a 4* or 5*:
- linebacker
- receiver
- db


technically, its been awhile since we had more than two 4* players in any class. With 3 QB's in this class, I doubt we are really going after any this coming year unless its a 4* guy who shows a lot of interest. So really, all positions other than QB are immediate interest. But ideally, we recruit one QB every class, so another one who was highly rated wouldn't really surprise me.


A dominant LB, who can be possible all conference, is really long overdue for us. We used to be known for that position, but not so much the last 20-25 years.
 
#23      

BananaShampoo

Captain 'Paign
Phoenix, AZ
in a serious line of thought, its been years since we have had a 4* or 5*:
- linebacker
- receiver
- db


technically, its been awhile since we had more than two 4* players in any class. With 3 QB's in this class, I doubt we are really going after any this coming year unless its a 4* guy who shows a lot of interest. So really, all positions other than QB are immediate interest. But ideally, we recruit one QB every class, so another one who was highly rated wouldn't really surprise me.


A dominant LB, who can be possible all conference, is really long overdue for us. We used to be known for that position, but not so much the last 20-25 years.
Was Smalling not a four star? As for LB...J Lehman, Britt Miller, and Nickerson Jr were all very very solid
 
#24      

Deleted member 654622

D
Guest
technically, its been awhile since we had more than two 4* players in any class. With 3 QB's in this class, I doubt we are really going after any this coming year unless its a 4* guy who shows a lot of interest. So really, all positions other than QB are immediate interest. But ideally, we recruit one QB every class, so another one who was highly rated wouldn't really surprise me.

FYI we have already offered at least 2 QBs in 2019 as far as I know.
 
#25      

South Farms

near Ogden & Rt 83
Yea , some of you are misunderstanding what I said

Recruiting QBs this 2018 class was a high priority , and it’s why we took 3. One will redshirt next year and run scout team and get lots of practice . The other 2 will be competing with Taylor to staRt under center on Sats in the fall . As was mentioned , it’s oftrn tough to keep multiple QBs in the same class for 4 years , and it’s more than likely one of the 3 guys in the 2018 class are playing a different position in 2019 or 2020, or have transferred out .

I would not be surprised if we get abother QB in this next class , esp with Smith here as our OC . Does that mean it’s a priority for this new class ? Maybe , but maybe not . The one lad we offered already , i believe is being recruited more as an ATH , but I readily Agree it’s a position that you ALWAYS seek to sign a highly rated guy , as often as you can . But it’s not the pressing need that it was 3 months ago .

And yes , class balance is important . Ours is not tight now . But if we sign 16 players in 2019, and all are rated 86 or better, and none are QBs, we would be ok with that .

That said , who doesn’t want a 5 star QB sometime ? If you don’t offer them , you don’t have a chance , so make the offers , by all means .
 
Status
Not open for further replies.