Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
- Status
You're probably missing 2017 from your research because he redshirt that year and didn't play in any games. He has only one year of eligibility.
I know that sounds optimistic, and I’m not generally on that side of the spectrum regarding Illini football. But I think we saw some reasons for hope toward the end of the season. This crew could perform well with a decent QB:
Williams
Spann
Washington
Navarro
<freshman or transfer >
I expect to see improvement relative to 2021.
Let's hope it's the size of the fight in the dog that counts rather than the size of the dog in the fight. He is in for a big adjustment to size and speed of players on the other side of the ball. Best of luck to him and hope he is still an Illini on his senior day.
I'm bullish on what Shawn Miller could potentially do as a freshman. He went against 4 star plus talent everyday in practice at IMG.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Thanks. Good info.
So..........2017 was his offical redshirt; therefore, even though he played only 4 games in 2021, it can't be used as his second redshirt season.
2017 - Redsirt Season
2018 - Season 1
2019 - Season 2
2020 - FREE (Covid)
2021 - Season 3 (even tho he played only 4 games)
2022 - Season 4
Aside from possibly some spot minutes for Isiah, pretty much none of those guys would see the field on a decent team. The offense needs huge upgrades at QB, WR, and OL. But hey, the RBs should be pretty good
Considering Iowa wanted him badly, I would not look into that much. Dudek was not big either, and if he had avoided horrific luck with injuries, he would have been one of the best WR this program has ever had.
Not drawing any conclusions, just making an observation. If BB and Co. want him, that is good enough for me.
Mike Dudek didn't look very big either...plus he's standing next to BB.
Agreed. He only played one full season, his frosh year, and was outstanding. I believe he was named to the freshman all-american team. Speed, good route runner and great hands. A receiver like Dudek makes a QB better.
Translation: Our QBs are pretty decent receivers considering that they are QBs
LOL jk, Spann and Williams are better than pretty decent IMO
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illini80
- Forgottonia
I think the freshman will see the field and be contributors, but I hope we don’t need them to be impact players.
My thinking too. He got open a lot, saw poorly thrown passes, and really missed out on a lot of shouldabeen PI calls. I think he'll be a good one.
He has the frame. If he puts on muscle and get physical at the LOS he has a lot of upside.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Let's wait until a guy has at least double digit catches before we mention them as support for unit strength. If you told me Bryant has 20 catches next year I would be over-the-moon (a la Casey Washington's numbers this year). That said, 20-catch guys aren't difference makers. Williams could have 75 catches next year (if everything breaks right). Ford could have 30 catches next year (if everything breaks right), which would be incredible for an Illinois tight end. Need a transfer or Casey Washington to take the leap forward (or maybe Deuce after a year with the WRs? That might be a stretch) and then the pass catching unit is a position of strength.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
It would be a miracle if our passing game weren't a relative weakness next year, as it was this year. The questions are 1. how much of a weakness? and 2. how can we recruit and coach our way to that being less of a weakness as we go forward?
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
"He caught incompletions" to try to quote ALionEye from memory.
Imo I see Miller taking Navarro’s snaps. His tape’s electric, and Donny had way too many drops this past season
I saw all I needed to see after that first highlight. He’s accurate and not hesitant. Huge upgrade over Peters
MustangWally
- Mayfield
Looks like a Heisman Trophy candidate.
I think it’s at the worst the same as this year. I’m probably more bullish on our WRs than most.
Well they're highlights, you could make a pretty sick highlight reel for Peters this year too but fans know he was injured and struggled at times.
I think best scenario here is gonna be basically 2019 Peters which would have had us at like 6-7 wins this year.
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