Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#701      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
Trieu and Werner just changed their CB picks for Joseph Thompson to Iowa State. Trieu had already written an article about changing his CB pick to ILL. Strange.

<pure speculation>

Mebbe we've decided to become more selective because we're feeling better about some of our targets that are higher on our board.
 
#703      

Deleted member 654622

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#704      

FT35

Naperville
Do we have any kind of shot at Jirehl Brock? Haven't heard him mentioned much, but ILL is listed as "Warm" on 247.

For now it looks like a battle between Iowa and Iowa State.

Scheelhaase is his main recruiter at Iowa State and he's the one who extended the Illinois offer to him last fall.

He only has 11 offers at the moment but that number will rise. He has actually never been to any camps and once he starts attending those this Spring he could get interest and offers from the blue bloods.

I'm guessing Butkus is now the main recruiter for him at the moment which doesn't bode well for us. Maybe Thad gets involved since he's a RB.
 
#707      

kcib8130

Parts Unknown
For now it looks like a battle between Iowa and Iowa State.

Scheelhaase is his main recruiter at Iowa State and he's the one who extended the Illinois offer to him last fall.

He only has 11 offers at the moment but that number will rise. He has actually never been to any camps and once he starts attending those this Spring he could get interest and offers from the blue bloods.

I'm guessing Butkus is now the main recruiter for him at the moment which doesn't bode well for us. Maybe Thad gets involved since he's a RB.

Living in the area and having some connections in Quincy, this is what I've heard as well.
 
#708      
<pure speculation>

Mebbe we've decided to become more selective because we're feeling better about some of our targets that are higher on our board.

I think it is this or that we have someone else that is at his level in the fold and we want to use the other scholarships on higher end recruits.
 
#709      

Deleted member 654622

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I think it is this or that we have someone else that is at his level in the fold and we want to use the other scholarships on higher end recruits.

So I would then raise the question "How high is the staff on Billingsley?" If getting his two teammates Thompson and Fabian would help landing Billingsley (which was what has been reported), would we not take a 3 star CB to help land a 4 star TE? Maybe the TE is not that big of a position in this offense? Maybe with the commitment of Beason and Williams has pushed Billingsley to consider IL with or without his teammates.
Just random thoughts here
 
#710      
Yes Trinity will play ESL in the classic. Also Lutheran North and Phillips will participate as well.
 
#711      

FT35

Naperville
Yes Trinity will play ESL in the classic. Also Lutheran North and Phillips will participate as well.

Looks like a lot of great games.

Any thoughts on Illinois' chances with the rest of the Trinity kids, primarily Washington and Cooper? I'm guessing Washington is still a longshot but it's nice that he is at least considering us now.
 
#712      

FT35

Naperville
So I would then raise the question "How high is the staff on Billingsley?" If getting his two teammates Thompson and Fabian would help landing Billingsley (which was what has been reported), would we not take a 3 star CB to help land a 4 star TE? Maybe the TE is not that big of a position in this offense? Maybe with the commitment of Beason and Williams has pushed Billingsley to consider IL with or without his teammates.
Just random thoughts here

There's a lot of things that could be going on here.

Thompson is listed as a CB but is shorter than almost all of the CBs this staff has recruited . This staff likes CBs who are 6'1+. The only exceptions have been Nick Walker and Marquez Beason. This is quite a contrast from the shorter CBs that Beckman recruited (i.e. Bentley). Notice how little playing time Frank Sumpter got last year as opposed to Ahmari Hayes who is 6'3?

Then you have to look at where else he could play. Safety seems to be the most logical place to put him but we added quite a few secondary players last year and are probably looking at higher rated targets at that position in this class. I don't think Thompson can be a slot WR looking at his highlights.

It could also be an issue with numbers. We have offers to six Trinity Catholic kids and may only have 18 or so scholarships available for this class. We realistically have a chance at getting at least four of these players with Williams in the fold. I know there is some question as to whether or not the staff would pursue Andrews and Childress and this may indicate that they are. If we hired Patterson for "The Movement" then we really shouldn't be cherry picking or slow playing a couple of these kids. Take them and make it work and get as many of their 2020 kids as well.

The other scenario is that the staff wants to wait and see if Erick Young is serious about considering us. I would hope this isn't the case as I'd rather take a kid from an in-state power house as opposed to a guy who wasn't even thinking about us three weeks ago. Maybe the staff wants to see how that plays out. Thompson may have wanted to commit and the staff told him to wait and maybe he doesn't want to be slow played (understandable).

McCray is a guy we definitely want and need. Given that they took two graduate transfers at WR this year and only took two WRs in 2018, WR is a big need for this class.

I do think we want a TE and Billingsley is probably our top target. He may be difficult to land even as part of a package deal though.
 
#713      

Deleted member 654622

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Completely agree about Erick Young. I feel like it is a twitter grab to get more likes and what not. I mentioned earlier that I wont give it any consideration unless he takes an official visit.
Would much rather build a pipeline to Phillips and Trinity. You see that WR I posted that is only going to be a sophomore. Tons of talent building in Trinity and Luthern North.

I also believe someone mentioned something along the lines of getting one official commitment every week or two? If that is legit, that is a real good strategy to keep ILL in the focus.
 
#714      

Deleted member 654622

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I believe we get Shammond due to the attractiveness of what the coaching staff can give to a high level linebacker. And I think we get Ira Henry because of his relationship with Larry Boyd.
I feel like Washington's decision isn't coming anytime soon. He's decision may be more swayed by what the team looks like this year. If we look like poop - he out
 
#715      

FT35

Naperville
Completely agree about Erick Young. I feel like it is a twitter grab to get more likes and what not. I mentioned earlier that I wont give it any consideration unless he takes an official visit.
Would much rather build a pipeline to Phillips and Trinity. You see that WR I posted that is only going to be a sophomore. Tons of talent building in Trinity and Luthern North.

I also believe someone mentioned something along the lines of getting one official commitment every week or two? If that is legit, that is a real good strategy to keep ILL in the focus.

Yes, he's very impressive. Saw his name mentioned at the end of Allen Trieu's article about the United Stars Showcase:

https://247sports.com/Article/Recap-Top-Performers-United-Stars-Showcase-116666336

We'll see how much pull Cory has at Trinity beyond the Class of 2020, but at least the Class of 2021 (the ones on Varsity) were coached by Patterson. They also are teammates with at least one future Illini. We can see how much influence that Boyd has on guys who are a couple of years younger than him and I would expect Williams to have the same kind of impact.

It's amazing how many weapons Trinity has. They just hired a new OC so I'll be interested to see how they manage to distribute the ball around to all of these guys. Williams was even saying that it was hard to get everyone enough touches per game.

Getting anything going with Lutheran North would be great. They've produced so much talent over the years. It's now Cory's job to get them to consider Illinois and hopefully land one or two. I think Buford is headed elsewhere and Azubuike doesn't appear to have an offer. D'vion Harris is a possibility though. I think we need a couple of DEs in this class. Two of Harris, Steven Hawthorne and Keith Randolph would be nice.
 
#716      

Deleted member 654622

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Guest
Getting anything going with Lutheran North would be great. They've produced so much talent over the years. It's now Cory's job to get them to consider Illinois and hopefully land one or two. I think Buford is headed elsewhere and Azubuike doesn't appear to have an offer. D'vion Harris is a possibility though. I think we need a couple of DEs in this class. Two of Harris, Steven Hawthorne and Keith Randolph would be nice.

At least CP has a good relationship with Lutheran's HC. It seemed very optimistic on the STL junior day visit when his son was all decked out in Illini gear. I really hope we land Buford but I agree they are going to be in a fight to get him. Hopefully he likes his Illini uncle! I have seen some tweets between him and some trinity kids so I think they are on good terms at least. He could be the Larry Boyd of another future pipeline.
 
#719      

mhuml32

Cincinnati, OH
There's a lot of things that could be going on here.

Thompson is listed as a CB but is shorter than almost all of the CBs this staff has recruited . This staff likes CBs who are 6'1+. The only exceptions have been Nick Walker and Marquez Beason. This is quite a contrast from the shorter CBs that Beckman recruited (i.e. Bentley). Notice how little playing time Frank Sumpter got last year as opposed to Ahmari Hayes who is 6'3?

Then you have to look at where else he could play. Safety seems to be the most logical place to put him but we added quite a few secondary players last year and are probably looking at higher rated targets at that position in this class. I don't think Thompson can be a slot WR looking at his highlights.

It could also be an issue with numbers. We have offers to six Trinity Catholic kids and may only have 18 or so scholarships available for this class. We realistically have a chance at getting at least four of these players with Williams in the fold. I know there is some question as to whether or not the staff would pursue Andrews and Childress and this may indicate that they are. If we hired Patterson for "The Movement" then we really shouldn't be cherry picking or slow playing a couple of these kids. Take them and make it work and get as many of their 2020 kids as well.

The other scenario is that the staff wants to wait and see if Erick Young is serious about considering us. I would hope this isn't the case as I'd rather take a kid from an in-state power house as opposed to a guy who wasn't even thinking about us three weeks ago. Maybe the staff wants to see how that plays out. Thompson may have wanted to commit and the staff told him to wait and maybe he doesn't want to be slow played (understandable).

McCray is a guy we definitely want and need. Given that they took two graduate transfers at WR this year and only took two WRs in 2018, WR is a big need for this class.

I do think we want a TE and Billingsley is probably our top target. He may be difficult to land even as part of a package deal though.


Great breakdown. IF they are changing their focus to other prospects, regardless to whether that is for height or other reasons, it's disappointing. I wouldn't say 5'10" is short for a corner, and I only see positives for grabbing him a prospect from a school in Chicago.
 
#721      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
At least CP has a good relationship with Lutheran's HC. It seemed very optimistic on the STL junior day visit when his son was all decked out in Illini gear. I really hope we land Buford but I agree they are going to be in a fight to get him. Hopefully he likes his Illini uncle! I have seen some tweets between him and some trinity kids so I think they are on good terms at least. He could be the Larry Boyd of another future pipeline.

Good points. Buford would be an excellent get if he was playing on a desert island. But, he isn't, and that's what makes his recruitment key, a la Boyd.


McCray seems like he's still on board, despite our slow play of Thompson. Getting the Quincy RB would be huge. Very happy he's visiting.
 
#722      
Can someone explain this one to me? Don't we have a ton of empty slots on the roster right now?

It looks to me that there is ~56 scholarship players on the spring roster.

There will be 20 more incoming freshman plus Greene, which makes the 2018 roster ~77 scholarships players.

I count 8 seniors on the roster. Which 77-8 leaves 69 scholarship players for 2019 roster.

Add 2 for blue shirts (Griffin and Bush) and that is ~71 scholarships for 2019.

With a max of 85 scholarships, there will be ~14 + whatever spots open up due to attrition.
 
#723      
Looks like a lot of great games.

Any thoughts on Illinois' chances with the rest of the Trinity kids, primarily Washington and Cooper? I'm guessing Washington is still a longshot but it's nice that he is at least considering us now.

Nothing has changed as everyone knew that Williams was coming to Illinois. At this point nothing changes.

As far as Lutheran North, the HC is looking for a similar situation as Patterson. The next few months will get interesting.
 
#724      

mhuml32

Cincinnati, OH
For 2020 news, Werner is reporting that Dylan Barrett just came back to campus for a second time. He would be a fantastic get to start the 2020 class. Will likely be the best junior lineman in the state.
 
#725      

FT35

Naperville
Nothing has changed as everyone knew that Williams was coming to Illinois. At this point nothing changes.

As far as Lutheran North, the HC is looking for a similar situation as Patterson. The next few months will get interesting.

Thanks for the insight Title. Can't blame Reed with regards to that. I just hope it's not Missouri.

It looks like East St. Louis has a couple of highly rated 2020 kids who already have offers from Virginia Tech? All the best for the upcoming year!
 
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