Meh, Zook was done. He could no longer recruit. Beckman was a terrible hire, but that doesn't change the fact that we were late in firing Zook
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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Meh, Zook was done. He could no longer recruit. Beckman was a terrible hire, but that doesn't change the fact that we were late in firing Zook
Wow....Zook was certainly a clown and should have been canned after 2009, but we could have easily gone 10-2 in 2011. What does Thomas do then?
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Good question. You start leaking rumors before that happens.
You left out "...and have absolutely no clue as to how to hire a competent backfill"
blackdog
- Champaign
I wasn't sure where to post this. If it's a duplicate please delete.
Illini DB Kendall Smith withdraws from transfer portal, returns to Illinois
Kendall Smith has withdrawn from the transfer portal and will return to Illinois, he announced.247sports.com
A little late but just stumbled across this and I feel like this is up there with Sam McLaurin's infamous tweet.
I agree that Zook needed to be fired, but think of how much better the program would have been if we would have just replaced the Beckman years with a continuation of the Zoom years before going to Lovie-ball. Zook was at least trying to retain his job by bringing in higher profile coordinators.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
Same thing happened with Weber, the no confidence vote, led to an 0-8 run, or something like that.
I'm just glad that people are talking about Illinois football. I don't care if it's old recruiting news. Imagine how dead this forum would be otherwise.
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
I would love to see Kendall Smith come back and get lots of PT and make an big impact at S, if not start. I believe he was the first commit in his class and has been moved around alot. Good to see him get settled into 1 position and Excel.
I'm not sure they would have been any better quite honestly. He probably would have been better than 2-10 in 2012, but I doubt Zook wins as many games from 2013-2015 as Beckman/Cubit did. The talent well was completely dry and Zook had lost whatever recruiting magic he had
Was poking around recruiting articles and read an older piece done by SI (link below). Always had good not great recruitering at Wisky but was always winning. His classes were always in the 40s.
Interesting, as we consider recruiting success maybe we get as excited about what BB will actually do with what he gets.
Interesting, as we consider recruiting success maybe we get as excited about what BB will actually do with what he gets.
Attachments
What are the odds that Hank Beatty ends up at qb?
ummm 0
How about the odds that he is the first WR to complete that trick play to the wide open QB?
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Better him than Washington.
After signing 2 TEs in 2022 class, Illini offer 2023 4-star TE from MA. He’s the second TE offered for that class. BB likes them TEs.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
convertible to OL.......
I haven’t heard anything about position change for the two 2022 signees, but that doesn’t mean anything. Boyer certainly looks like he has the size to make a change (6-6, 250). Owen Anderson is listed at 6-4, 235. The kid just offered I think was listed at something like 6-4, 215.
Just saw that Jalen St. John, OL from Arkansas, has entered the portal. The 2020 recruit from Trinity Catholic was a backup this year. 24/7 had him as a 3 star, but I believe Rivals had him 4*. Illini did offer him coming out of HS, and I think you can guess who was listed as lead recruiter then.
Interest?
EDIT: Just saw that he was second on depth chart most of year at LT.
Interest?
EDIT: Just saw that he was second on depth chart most of year at LT.
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Have we heard any more about the punter/kicker we offered? When do we find out when the transfers have made it to campus?
Mike Thomas was the undoing of both the football and basketball programs at the UofI and he not only decimated the teams but recruiting was dead
217sports
- Springfield
Arkansas fans seem to think he would have a shot to start next year. So it would seemingly be a solid addition if Cory can get us in it
Partially disagreeing. Weber was the start of the demise of the basketball program. Thomas finalized the demise. But JW and BB have the football program rising. Recruits are going to come here to succeed.
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