Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

#205      

CubsIlliniFan

C
CubsIlliniFan
I love the idea that we now have a coaching staff that is going to concentrate on in-state recruiting . We lose too many kids to Iowa, Wisky and ND plus others.
 
#208      

NEIlliniFan

N
No longer in New England
NEIlliniFan
Better question is how many high school football programs are there in IL.

My central IL county: 9 towns
3 school districts
Only 1 school has a high school football team
 
#211      

Shabasco

S
Shabasco
NEIlliniFan said:
Better question is how many high school football programs are there in IL.

My central IL county: 9 towns
3 school districts
Only 1 school has a high school football team
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I was just getting ready to post to this effect as well. Not all IL high schools have a football program and some co-op with another school.
 
#212      

Whitewaterr

W
Whitewaterr
The Principal of DeLand-Wheldon High School (enrollment 54) en route to tell his buddies about how Coach McDonald just called him asking if they had a football team.
Image result for jimmy neutron cool meme
 
#213      

illini80

I
Forgottonia
illini80
BRucks said:
How many high schools are there in IL approximately?
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Director of recruiting, Pat Embleton, mentioned 500 something I believe. I‘m not clear if that was the number of schools or coaches they were going to contact. He said they were dividing that number up between all the coaches on staff.
 
#214      

rbachhuber

rbachhuber
Planet Earth, when not battling Ming the Merciless
rbachhuber
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#215      

RonC

R
RonC
Dude said:
I think Danny would be a great considering he is a Chicago kid with all the North schools offering him. You know, he is also 6-5 270lb which is cool.

Just from the timeline, it looks like we are starting pretty late on Jared Bradie. The roster would take a huge boost if we can start pulling these .83-.87 rated kids out of the state as our core group every year
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Bradie would be nice as an OLB in a 4-3 defense. These are in-state kids that have been ignored in recent years. Like the new approach.
 
#217      

JustPassing

J
JustPassing
rbachhuber said:
As I look over this list, it is definitely not exhaustive.

There are eight classes, and 32 teams per class make the playoffs, or 256. So I would guess that 500 is a pretty good estimate.
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When I searched I expected Champaign or/and Urbana to show up. Neither did. Hope BB does not miss HS teams in his own backyard
 
#218      

rbachhuber

rbachhuber
Planet Earth, when not battling Ming the Merciless
rbachhuber
JustPassing said:
When I searched I expected Champaign or/and Urbana to show up. Neither did. Hope BB does not miss HS teams in his own backyard
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Put in 61820 as a search term, and Champaign area schools pop up.
 
#219      

rtbritt

rtbritt
rtbritt
Whitewaterr said:
The Principal of DeLand-Wheldon High School (enrollment 54) en route to tell his buddies about how Coach McDonald just called him asking if they had a football team.
Image result for jimmy neutron cool meme
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Hilarious. DeLand-Weldon kids who want to play football are allowed to play at the co-op of Cerro Gordo-Bement.
 
#220      

illiniu

I
illiniu
May I ask, as far as football recruiting is concerned, was J.C Caroline a great get?
 
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#222      

Dude

D
Dude
BZuppke said:
One age old issue - how do you handle the HS coach who thinks you should offer his guy a scholarship but you don’t?
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That's all about the relationship between the HS coach and IL coach right? If that relationship has mutual respect, you tell the coach no and why. Then you tell him about how we are building this great walk on program. Explain to him how he can earn that scholarship. Let him know this football team needs examples like Player A to come in, work his ace off and show everyone how it is done. Be the example for this new age IL team. Close the scholarship door for now, but give them other routes.
If the HS coach is being professional, he can disagree with the player evaluation, but he needs to respect the honesty and the decision.
 
#223      

Keisersose

Keisersose
Keisersose
Yes. You handle it openly and honestly. And maybe you use your connections to help the athlete find a different situation.

i have a personal experience with a family friend that really wanted to play a sport (not FB or Bball) at Illinois, but probably wasn’t quite good enough and it wasn’t a position of need. This person was invited to be a “preferred walk-on” but the Illini coach also recommended the athlete to a different school based on a coaching connection (I don’t want to say lower or lesser, but it wasn’t B1G) They got a full ride and had a great career.
 
#224      

trtl

T
trtl
BZuppke said:
One age old issue - how do you handle the HS coach who thinks you should offer his guy a scholarship but you don’t?
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“He’s not a good fit for our program right now, but he’s a helluva player. Let me call my buddy at (not Power 5) school and make sure he takes a look at him.”