Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#276      

Illwinsagain

Cary, IL
No BB is not dead last. As of today the BG10 recruiting rankings are:

NW-18 commits-87.22 avg-200.68 total
PSU-12 commits-90.31 avg-198.49 total
OSU-10 commits-92.80 avg-196.80 total
MSU-14 commits-89.47 avg-155.60 total
Minn-13 commits-85.95 avg-146.44 total
Iowa-10 commits-87.06 avg-135.58 total
Neb-8 commits-87.37 avg-126.01 total
Wisc-8 commits-86.54 avg-120.13 total
Mich-6 commits-88.57 avg-106.82 total
ILL-8 commits-85.68 avg-102.34 total As I previously stated, IMO at least 5 of these commits will be re-rated higher. Swanson isn't even rated yet!
Rut-12 commits-85.91 avg-90.78 total
Pur-4 commits-88.56 avg-55.17 total
Ind-3 commits-86.09 avg-4781 total
MD-2 commits-85.29 avg-30.49 total
How does Rutgers have a higher average and more commits, but we are rated higher? Not that I think it matters too much, just trying to understand the math.
 
#278      
These things will continue to mystify me. 2025 Geneva WR Talyn Taylor received 3 B1G offers yesterday after a camp performance. Iowa, Minny, and Wisconsin. For a program that wants to lock down state borders, we seem to be fairly late in offering studs vs. our nearest competition. We don't really have the luxury to not take advantage of the natural (geography) resources that we have

I'm from Geneva and graduated from there and one I'm absolutely shocked that there is a Geneva kid that looks like that with tons of high major offers. But yea Illinois has done a horrible job at recruiting the talent from the Tri-Cities (Geneva/St Charles/Batavia with many of these kids choosing Wisconsin. Even Aurora kids we haven't been great at and its not just basketball. Kids from these schools besides soccer seem to go to many other big ten schools over us. Which is weird since so many kids from these schools go to Illinois that don't play sports. My graduating class of about 500 kids at Geneva had like 30-35 going to Illinois. And I constantly meet kids from this area.
 
#279      
These things will continue to mystify me. 2025 Geneva WR Talyn Taylor received 3 B1G offers yesterday after a camp performance. Iowa, Minny, and Wisconsin. For a program that wants to lock down state borders, we seem to be fairly late in offering studs vs. our nearest competition. We don't really have the luxury to not take advantage of the natural (geography) resources that we have

I don't follow football recruiting in any detail. Just curious. Would Íowa, Minny, or Wiscy accept a commitment from Talyn Taylor today? Should Illinois offer in-state kids early, just to be first?
 
#280      
Feagin is higher than any of theirs (and ours for that matter) by a fair margin, and it's not really linear how they do the score.
no idea how they calc total but consider: A) 9 players all at 90 plus 1 player at 0 has average = 81 vs. B) 12 players all at 83
 
#281      

mhuml32

Cincinnati, OH
I'm from Geneva and graduated from there and one I'm absolutely shocked that there is a Geneva kid that looks like that with tons of high major offers. But yea Illinois has done a horrible job at recruiting the talent from the Tri-Cities (Geneva/St Charles/Batavia with many of these kids choosing Wisconsin. Even Aurora kids we haven't been great at and its not just basketball. Kids from these schools besides soccer seem to go to many other big ten schools over us. Which is weird since so many kids from these schools go to Illinois that don't play sports. My graduating class of about 500 kids at Geneva had like 30-35 going to Illinois. And I constantly meet kids from this area.

Well said. West Suburbs have been really successful for Wisconsin (especially Batavia) and Minnesota (Fleck is a Kaneland grad).
 
#282      
no idea how they calc total but consider: A) 9 players all at 90 plus 1 player at 0 has average = 81 vs. B) 12 players

Rutgers now has 14 commits- 86.02 avg-116.63 Total

I don't know how it's calculated. I look at the average as it's a reflection on what the scouts think nut, they can be wrong or totally miss players like Swanson.
 
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#283      
How does Rutgers have a higher average and more commits, but we are rated higher? Not that I think it matters too much, just trying to understand the math.
They have 6 recruits not ranked, so they aren't included in the average or the score for the school. At the time, they effectively had only 6 recruits who factored into their score. Now they have 8 recruits factoring in and they are ranked ahead of Illinois.
 
#284      
no idea how they calc total but consider: A) 9 players all at 90 plus 1 player at 0 has average = 81 vs. B) 12 players all at 83
I’ll take Door A...
 
#285      

Cook

Richmond, VA
How accurate are the reports of who has/hasn't offered? If we're truly late to the party on prospects we really shouldn't be, then one of the many folks covering Illini FB should just ask BB about it.
 
#286      
Staff needs to survive this weekend (visit to Wisconsin). Staff has been (understandably) scuffling when facing off against Wisconsin in a recruiting battle. Need to break through and win one of these. Going to be an uphill battle w/ Howard. Get him and you instantly feel great about the defensive line's future (when including Harkless).
It looks like we survived the weekend visit. I checked his Twitter and can't find any indication of a commitment. 👍
 
#287      
How accurate are the reports of who has/hasn't offered? If we're truly late to the party on prospects we really shouldn't be, then one of the many folks covering Illini FB should just ask BB about it.
We aren't late to offering prospects. The uninformed can go off our past track record but majority of those who have tracked BB have seen what miracles he has worked so far. I think way to many expect him to right the ship and get recruits left and right. Football roster takes way more time to churn than a basketball roster.

BB said he wanted to recruit inside the Illinois borders and has mastered it beautifully so far


Here is just a list of the top 50 Illinois recruits that committed to Illinois in the past few years

2020 ZERO (Under Lovie Smith)

2021 2 (Under Lovie Smith and none inside top 25)

2022 11 (BB and all are top 35)

2023 Currently 4 with time to add more (All are top 25)


BB is sharp as a tack. Just like loading the lines and working outwards, he is doing the same with the state of Illinois.
 
#288      
We aren't late to offering prospects. The uninformed can go off our past track record but majority of those who have tracked BB have seen what miracles he has worked so far. I think way to many expect him to right the ship and get recruits left and right.
I think you're confusing offering recruits early vs. landing them. Nobody expects BB to land a bunch of blue-chippers. But, they should put themselves in the best position to compete for them. This is especially true if part of your campaign is that we want to keep the best in-staters at home.

That doesn't mean that you need to be quicker than every school out there, but you certainly should vs. our direct peers. Whether it's Dupree, Taylor, Betancur, Tate, Lightfoot, etc....there's no reason Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Mizzou, etc. should get in the door with top Illinois prospects before the state school.
 
#289      
I think you're confusing offering recruits early vs. landing them. Nobody expects BB to land a bunch of blue-chippers. But, they should put themselves in the best position to compete for them. This is especially true if part of your campaign is that we want to keep the best in-staters at home.

That doesn't mean that you need to be quicker than every school out there, but you certainly should vs. our direct peers. Whether it's Dupree, Taylor, Betancur, Tate, Lightfoot, etc....there's no reason Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Mizzou, etc. should get in the door with top Illinois prospects before the state school.
I don't think I am confused at all LOL

Nor did I ever say anyone expects BB to land blue-chippers

BB has done exactly everything he said was going to do so far. Not only recruit IL but land IL recruits. That is all that was said!

Illinois will always be recruited heavily in football and basketball and other schools will always land IL recruits. That will never change, ever. That being said BB has at least taken steps to lower the blow and recruit/land IL guys. Lovie Smith got lazy recruiting in general, got lazy recruiting IL and never had the relationship that BB has already made inside the IL lines with high school coaching staffs. You have to put in the time and the current staff is doing that. I also have more faith in BB recruiting outside the IL lines which Lovie got complacent on as well. Seems like the current staff is hitting FL pretty hard ;)
 
#290      
No BB is not dead last. As of today the BG10 recruiting rankings are:

NW-18 commits-87.22 avg-200.68 total
PSU-12 commits-90.31 avg-198.49 total
OSU-10 commits-92.80 avg-196.80 total
MSU-14 commits-89.47 avg-155.60 total
Minn-13 commits-85.95 avg-146.44 total
Iowa-10 commits-87.06 avg-135.58 total
Neb-8 commits-87.37 avg-126.01 total
Wisc-8 commits-86.54 avg-120.13 total
Mich-6 commits-88.57 avg-106.82 total
ILL-8 commits-85.68 avg-102.34 total As I previously stated, IMO at least 5 of these commits will be re-rated higher. Swanson isn't even rated yet!
Rut-12 commits-85.91 avg-90.78 total
Pur-4 commits-88.56 avg-55.17 total
Ind-3 commits-86.09 avg-4781 total
MD-2 commits-85.29 avg-30.49 total

Mel Tucker is killing it so far at MSU. Hope we get a similar jump next year with BB's second full cycle.
 
#296      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
I forgot we just signed Cal Swanson but I'm only seeing the one QB in the 2023 class. He looked like a good fit for a bielema offense especially compared to Swanson that only had FCS offers.

We have a big, strapping kid from Austin (Westlake, IIRC) coming in as a PWO. Supposed to be going on scholarship next year. Played JUCO baseball for a couple of years. Decided he'd rather play football. Westlake is and was a total powerhouse. Kid is good. How good? Stay tuned.

 
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#298      

Illinivek23

Gurnee
We have a big, strapping kid from Austin (Westlake, IIRC) coming in as a PWO. Supposed to be going on scholarship next year. Played JUCO baseball for a couple of years. Decided he'd rather play football. Westlake is and was a total powerhouse. Kid is good. How good? Stay tuned.

How many years will we have him for?
 
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