Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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BZuppke
- Plainfield
Or seminal. Good word.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Yeah just kinda didn't live up to the billing. Not sure why they have him at OLB now where he's even more undersized than he was at ILB.
Still two years of eligibility left. And I think one of this staff's great strengths is that they keep the faith with kids who keep the faith with them. No better example of that than Kendall Smith at the moment.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Just to flog an old hobby horse for a second, there's a way of looking at things where people would have been happy if Smith had been Creaned out of the program to make way for Matthew Bailey to start as a true freshman.
But I really believe and I think our staff believes that sitting behind Kendall Smith who may not have the same upside but is at this moment a player who will more reliably operate the defense, and is a super experienced guy who has obviously done the right things and conquered a lot of struggles to still be here, isn't just doing something nice for Kendall Smith, and isn't just improving this year's team, it will be an enormous benefit and advantage TO MATTHEW BAILEY.
Smith is playing over Bailey but Gabe Jacas is playing over Shammond Cooper (and Deon Pate who's been here even longer) because snaps being something that are earned by performance is not something this staff is just paying lip service to, they have had the courage and foresight and willingness to work with players they didn't recruit to make it real. They aren't SAYING that's the culture, that IS the culture. The best player plays.
I've been a warrior against the lazy message board hire-and-fire cycle narrative for, well, a long time, and one of the things that is making me most happy about what Bielema is accomplishing is how thoroughly he's disproving a lot of it.
Colorado is not a no brained. Not an easy place to have success and with the uncertainty of what’s happening with their conference.
This is reminiscent of the approach Gary Moeller took vs the one Mike White took.
Moeller inherited a pretty solid program from Bob Blackman. Given modern day scheduling, Blackman probably would have gone bowling all 6 years he was here. Anyway, Moeller inherited quite a few starters from the '76 team, including Kurt Steger at QB and a good number of skill players. He proceeded to completely change both the offensive and defensive schemes and ran off a ton of his inherited players. Net result was that he won 6 games in 3 years.
White inherited much less in the way of talent than Moeller did. but rather than run them off he used them to build the foundation of the program, supplemented by a lot of Juco's and new recruits of course. There is a lot to be said about having 4th and 5th year guys on the roster who have survived some tough years and who can act as leaders/mentors to the younger players. Kudos to Bielema for taking this approach to roster building
Colorado’s AD, Rick George, has already hired two coaches that haven’t been very good. Not a Colorado insider, but it would seem he needs to get this one right. I, if I were in his position, would be concerned that Ryan Walters is too green and couldn’t assemble a staff. I’d try to find an established program builder.
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
Bronco Mendenhall seems to be a natural choice there, if he wants to get back to HCing CFB
anybody named Bronco should be coaching in Colorado.
Discussion on ESPNU radio this morning (about us - can you effing believe it) where the conclusion was that Coach Walt is the perfect candidate for Colorado but that he should be careful and wait for the right opportunity. They suggested without saying that Colorado is not the gig he should take.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
We were the job you shouldn't take two years ago.
And be careful, if your logic is that only plum powerhouse jobs are worth taking, the next step of that analysis is that Walters needs to be DC at a CFP contender rather than Illinois in order to get himself in that picture.
Losing assistants to head coaching jobs is the exact same thing as losing players to the NFL draft. It only makes those positions that much more appealing to the people you're going to recruit to fill them.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Lots of reports out there that Colorado is going to make Mendenhall turn them down before moving on to others. I also get why he would be the #1 target with his lengthy head coaching background and preference to get back out West as a HC. If Colorado does have him as their #1 choice, I would be doing a full investigation in him leaving Virginia to be confident he just needed a break or no longer wanted to be on the East Coast, working with UVA athletics, etc. If there was anything nefarious, then Walters is likely next in line (or he's already their #1 and the Mendenhall stuff is all his agent stirring up interest).
You’re wrong about him going to Colorado. If you’re right, I’ll say you were, but I don’t think it will happen. That AD needs a splash hire to keep his job, someone proven at P5 level and Walters isn’t that as a head coach. Someone like Bronco Mendenhall or something like that is a better fit.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I think Colorado may very well get cold feet too, to be clear. Hiring a 36 year old assistant at Illinois is a scary risk for a program in Colorado's position.
But if Walters gets the offer he's gone, and he should be, and if he gets it I hope he knocks that job out of the park.
Success breads Success. We have players drafted or coaches move on and be successful, then it only makes us more desirable for good players/coaches to come here.
Maybe he does. What does BB do?
No he does. Bret is the CEO of the whole program.(Like a good HC does)
He's in charge of post-game celebrations.
Kicks back and enjoys himself.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I have not been following our recruiting as much as I would have liked (or usually do with hoops), but you have GOT to figure some QB is watching us right now and licking his chops to transfer here next year ... thank God for Tommy!
We have a few guys to add to this class but can be selective. Have 15 commits and don't need a full class with this one. Illinois will add some guys between recruits/JUCO level/transfer portal for this class. Key now is getting those 2024 and 2025 guys in early which they are doing real well and at the right time.
Hitting the JUCO level pretty hard to replace some key pieces that might leave early for the Draft. Haven't been able to say that since.......
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