Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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Illinivek23
- Gurnee
Any news on the HIll UV?
Only that it may or may not have occurred and that if it occurred it may or may not have gone well. But to be clear, I am not an insider.
cuillini
- San Bernardino, Ca.
Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but looking average star rating from 6 on down, there doesn't seem to be much difference. Gaining or losing a recruit or two among any of those teams could make a huge difference.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Yeah we've just got to be frank about it. The recruiting benchmarks of a successful program building effort are not being met, and it's negatively changing the trajectory of our chances of meaningful success. I think your point about NIL is probably pretty insightful, we're all probably operating a bit behind the curve in the way we think about how this works.
Two notes of hope
1. We as fans might be operating behind the curve of the new realities of college football, but we can feel pretty confident Bielema isn't, as he's clearly a creative and systematic thinker about these sorts of things, and as we saw with Tony Petersen he's willing to be swift, decisive and unsentimental. The intake and deployment of NIL money isn't entirely in his or Whitman's hands though, of course.
2. The transfer portal makes roster construction a faster moving and more dynamic system even if you're trying to minimize that avenue to the extent reasonably possible (which I have a sense we are). In a normal program building scenario these first two HS classes are something close to the be-all, end-all. That's way, way less true now, so less damage has already been done than the conventional wisdom would indicate. But, it nonetheless has to be said, our performance in the portal has been even worse than with HS recruits. We have no choice but for that to change.
The project sinks or swims in the next 18 months. Hold onto your butts.
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
As far as the transfer portal moving forward, this staff seems far superior to any Illinois staff in the last 30 yrs at talent evaluation and figuring out where there needs are.
Probably had the advantage of coming from the outside to evaluate the roster they inherited, but I thought they were really good at that, in addition to schemes and play calling on D.
Solid W/L record will go a long ways, with no blowouts is a huge step from 63-0 against the Squawks. I'm betting on the swimmer.
Probably had the advantage of coming from the outside to evaluate the roster they inherited, but I thought they were really good at that, in addition to schemes and play calling on D.
Solid W/L record will go a long ways, with no blowouts is a huge step from 63-0 against the Squawks. I'm betting on the swimmer.
I think BB is slowly raising the treasure chest from the bottom of the ocean. This football program(and fans) have endured some really messy times. I have never been this optimistic about the chance of Illinois football getting turned around. Same time I also know we are still in the process and if somehow we end up 6-6 or better and in a bowl game this year I think we are way ahead of schedule.
Lovie got lazy in recruiting and relied heavily upon the transfer portal the last few years of his tenure. BB is trying to build a foundation of recruits and young men that want to be here. He is building it inside and adding through the transfer portal. So far he has added more positions of need through the portal than wants. Getting quality is key, adding depth is just important. Pretty sure all of the recruiting classes BB landed were in the 30s and 40s while at Wisconsin. He is doing the same here so far and just sprinkling in pieces through the transfer portal. BB is only in his 2nd full recruiting class and I look for more quality to get added. I think us fans will be spoiled in future years if our worst recruiting classes fall in the 40s or 50s and have the transfer portal open still.
Look at what BB said at media day. There are a lot of little things that people don't pick up on that the head coach should. Roster size is 118, way up from where it use to be. Small strides are a victory....
Lovie got lazy in recruiting and relied heavily upon the transfer portal the last few years of his tenure. BB is trying to build a foundation of recruits and young men that want to be here. He is building it inside and adding through the transfer portal. So far he has added more positions of need through the portal than wants. Getting quality is key, adding depth is just important. Pretty sure all of the recruiting classes BB landed were in the 30s and 40s while at Wisconsin. He is doing the same here so far and just sprinkling in pieces through the transfer portal. BB is only in his 2nd full recruiting class and I look for more quality to get added. I think us fans will be spoiled in future years if our worst recruiting classes fall in the 40s or 50s and have the transfer portal open still.
Look at what BB said at media day. There are a lot of little things that people don't pick up on that the head coach should. Roster size is 118, way up from where it use to be. Small strides are a victory....
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Visits always go well... Very rare you hear of a bad visit ... We'll see if Harbaugh is a pit master or not lol ...
As a pit master myself I volunteer to cook for the UM bbq so I can knowingly screw it up.Visits always go well... Very rare you hear of a bad visit ... We'll see if Harbaugh is a pit master or not lol ...
Yes, I'm not overly worried about the recruiting right now. There are still MAC or Sunbelt level recruits, but certainly not to the extent we saw under Lovie and Becks. We are going to have a consistent scheme, we are going to recruit to that scheme and this staff appears to be quite good at player development. There aren't many coaches that can immediately light it up in terms of recruiting, and most who do are Zook clones who can't coach and eventually flame out. I'd much rather have a coach who will build a sound foundation and who can actually develop players and can coach. If Bielema sticks around and we are competitive and we see good player development, the players will come.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
So yeah, obviously every single one of those narratives has been trotted out for every failed coach at Illinois and everywhere else, and it is sparklingly clear in the data that new coaches are more likely to create a bump in recruiting immediately upon being hired than later. But, this is a college football message board and certain religious incantations are necessary, I've been around well long enough to know that.
Just for fun and some hard numbers though, the national ranks (which seems like the germane statistic to claims of "MAC or Sun Belt level recruits") of all of our classes under the aforementioned administrations
2019 (Lovie) - 35th
2016 (Lovie) - 45th
2023 (Bielema) - 48th so far
2015 (Beckman) - 50th
2013 (Beckman) - 51st
2018 (Lovie) - 54th
2022 (Bielema) - 63rd
2012 (Zook/Beckman) - 63rd
2020 (Lovie) - 67th
2021 (Lovie/Bielema) - 69th
2014 (Beckman) - 71st
2016 (Cubit/Not Ideal) - 73rd
As I said before, we're at the hinge point right now. Very easy to see this thing being kicked into high gear when sights turn to 2024, but also very easy to see how it might be all over but the shouting at that point. College football is hard, Illinois is even harder, this is what everybody signed up for, let's go do it!
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Main thing you are missing is BB has a track record of recruiting, developing and winning.....Illinois does not
Those recruiting rankings and past coaches could not recruit consistent classes on a yearly basis. Once again BB has a track record of recruiting solid classes on a consistent basis.
Fans and the program have suffered for a very long time. It might not transition to instant results on the field even this year but this thing can't be worse than it has over past years. Molding a football roster takes much longer than basketball.
you are right, you hear this every time recruiting isn't as good as you want it to be. I do think there is some validity to it this time; BB has been around coaches and programs that have done a pretty stellar job of winning on the field more than they do on the recruiting trail; his UW teams pretty consistently beat UI teams that had higher rated talent.
We have heard quite a bit about basketballs NIL, structure, and developments. Football almost a whisper IMO. Good point! We need to organize as alumni and business owners. I feel confident AD Whitman is getting this portion of NIL together. I am confused and have questions how much guidance the AD and DIA can have for impute? We need to speed it up and move in unison!
Coach B won a ton of games at UW, won Big10 West, Big 10 championship, and Rose
! Look at the Coaches he's hired? 1 is the head coach of Badgers, the other is defensive coordinator-considered best in the country. His Offensive Line coach at Arkansas is now Razorbacks Head Coach and not playing around. Awesome Head Coach for Arkansas... Our staff is outstanding and the new addition of Coach Snyder is just phenomenal! He is hands down one of the best JUCO recruiters in the nation. He was the reason K-State had a ton of JUCO players and competed in Big12. Great hire. Coach B can win with lower ranked kids and has proven it over a long period of time.
I always get a kick out of the “respect my decision” tweets.
Well that’s not good. He was the one who was starting to get some solid offers in the last few weeks. I’m guessing he will jump on one of those?
I get a kick from the “blessed to receive an Offer”.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
His last reported offer was six weeks ago and he hasn't taken a visit anywhere else. Odd timing. He did jump awfully quick at committing during his visit, maybe time away has made him realize Illinois is not the place for him? Maybe the staff is moving on? Not sure.
Wish the kid best of luck wherever he winds up. If you aren't 100% committed than you have to do what is best for yourself.
Not ideal, but BB isn't having much trouble bring O-Line help in. One of those positions where this won't make a big impact. Plenty of time to add another OL if the team so chooses through recruit or later on through transfer portal.
Things will get more crazy once the endless transfers become reality. Will lose guys like usual and also gain some we lost on recruiting the first time.
Not ideal, but BB isn't having much trouble bring O-Line help in. One of those positions where this won't make a big impact. Plenty of time to add another OL if the team so chooses through recruit or later on through transfer portal.
Things will get more crazy once the endless transfers become reality. Will lose guys like usual and also gain some we lost on recruiting the first time.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Well stated. Offensive line recruits are always going to give Illinois greater interest and Bielema has the track record where this one lost is meh.
Any chance they can get back in on Austin Barrett from St. Charles?
Or, the Henderson kid from ESL
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
Didn't Henderson commit to Iowa State?
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