Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#126      

SouthFLILLINI

SouthFLILLINI
SouthFLILLINI
Future QB for the ILLINI. This kid has all the tools to be great. NOTE, not saying he will be but, has all the tools to be.

Cal Swanson, Illinois - Let me make my point here. Swanson was hand-picked by Barry Lunney and threw for over 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns and his high school profile says he has his eyes aimed downfield, has pocket presence, and can move the chains with his legs.
 
#128      

IlliniTaffy

I
IlliniTaffy
There's definitely more sustainability now than before. Don't think BB is gonna jump for another job after what happened at Arkansas.

Don't think there's much upside though either, maybe Illinois has a random good season here or there but the Big Ten West is only going to get stronger. They took advantage of a very easy schedule this year and a painfully terrible division. But I think people would take constant bowl seasons over terrible seasons like under Lovie.
 
#129      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
Pikeillinifan said:
First, I'm just some guy that has been following Illinois sports since the late 70's/early 80's when I was 6-7 years old, and am in no way shape or form part of the program - I'm an alum and professional in an unrelated field, so take this all with a grain of salt.

BUT, if we get Altmyer and anyone on this board is not ecstatic about that, they are crazy.

For anyone that has followed our beloved Illini for more than a few years, this is the best the program has looked (including the future), since White and Mackovic. Sure Turner and Zook had some good years, but you could tell things weren't going to be sustainable.

This looks and feels very, very different.

Frankly, I thought the Beilema hire was solid, but not without risks. So far, I have to say I have been blown away by not only the improvements on the field, but by the way he has managed the program. I thought he was carried somewhat by Alvarez at Wisky and got exposed at Arkansas - but based on what we're seeing so far, I was way, way off with that.

Hopefully the improvements keep coming and I would love to see the day when we are fighting and complaining about 8, 9 and 10 win seasons every year - and 7 wins cause a massive freakout calling for big changes.

It's a great time to be an Illinois Football fan. . . and Underwood will straighten things out with hoops, hopefully it doesn't get uglier fist though.
Click to expand...

uglier fist: great band name

Altmeyer: not chopped liver, not another Mark Hoekstra.
 
#130      

Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs
southeast DuPage
Mr. Tibbs
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#132      

mhuml32

mhuml32
Cincinnati, OH
mhuml32
mhuml32 said:
I have no idea if Illinois has a chance with each of these names but there are tiers. Put them in my preferred order in each tier.

Take Them Immediately
Leary (NC State)
Armstrong (Virginia)
Pyne (Notre Dame)
Card (Texas)

Lower Level Stars Wanting More
Gabbert (Miami OH)
Reed (WKU)

Up & Comers Who Haven't Played
Altmyer (Ole Miss)
Drones (Baylor)
Hornsby (Arkansas)
Veilleux (Penn State)

Previous Starters/Never Met Their Ceiling
Mertz (Wisconsin)
Sims (GT)
Slovis (WV)
Click to expand...

Bump from previous post. Card was riding that edge between "take them immediately" and "up and comers", so getting Altmyer keeps you in relatively the same setting as getting Card.
 
#133      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
mhuml32 said:
Bump from previous post. Card was riding that edge between "take them immediately" and "up and comers", so getting Altmyer keeps you in relatively the same setting as getting Card.
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Card doesn't necessarily have a higher ceiling than Altmyer, both were very highly regarded prospects who lost battles to be the starter in elite offensive situations that they'd been set up to lose based on the incoming transfer. Both are making the right decision by entering the portal.

Card just has a much, much higher floor because of how well he's played as a starter, an opportunity Altmyer hasn't had. Altmyer is the much bigger risk.

But I would still rather have him than someone like Graham Mertz who has just shown over and over again that he doesn't have it. Florida thinks they can fix him, good luck.

But we'd better have backup plans. We are not Altmyer's only suitor.
 
#134      

PassingBy

P
PassingBy
Just saying:

If I am not mistaken, both Altmyer and Card visited IL on the same day/weekend. What is little known is that Card was a touch-and-go visit - spent **relatively** very little time on campus. Altmyer on the other hand got pretty much a full visit - a LOT more time, especially when compared to Card.
 
#135      

KrushCow31

KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
Chicago, IL
KrushCow31
So is the hype for Altmyer entirely surrounded by his recruiting ranking? That's fine if it is, I'm just legitimately curious.
 
#136      

Illiniam1984

I
Illiniam1984
There’s mutual interest between both Altmyer, and the staff but he has other suitors so we need to act fast. I have no idea if there was any mutual interest between Card and the staff so right now I feel more confident with our chances to land Altmyer in this case.
 
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#143      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
KrushCow31 said:
So is the hype for Altmyer entirely surrounded by his recruiting ranking? That's fine if it is, I'm just legitimately curious.
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Ole Miss felt enough confidence in him as a true freshman to have him be the backup to Matt Corral and move John Rhys Plumlee to full time WR. That's not nothing, and speaks to the level of polish that made Altmyer such a sought-after HS prospect (originally committed to Florida State, flipped to Ole Miss, had offers from Bama, Oregon, LSU, many others).

But a big time SEC school is still going to look for a transfer option to supplement a guy like that, and the Jaxson Dart opportunity presented itself and he won the job going forward, just like Quinn Ewers did with Card. The difference is Ewers got hurt, and Card shined in his opportunity to show what he could do.

Lunt, Peters, Sitkowski and DeVito had all played way more than Altmyer has, and all basically brought here what they had already shown at their prior stops, good and bad. Altmyer is a totally different style of player (and moved up the depth chart faster at a better school, to be clear), but it's a bit more of an AJ Bush mystery box situation in terms of the extent he can deliver on what his skill set is.
 
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#144      

Dee_4_3

Dee_4_3
Dee_4_3
Not sure if Malik Hornsby is a Nebraska lock or if he's a fit or if there's any interest. But he would be fun to watch under center.
 
#145      

kyillinifan

K
kyillinifan
Pike I agree wholeheartedly. Getting Altmeyer would help this offense greatly. We do have some good freshmen qb and will need a chance to play. Who knows what we have at qb? They haven’t been on the field yet. Spring and fall of 23 will be interesting. Beat Mi State.
 
#148      

bluemountain

B
bluemountain
ChiefGritty said:
The exact same thing was being said in 1999, and then the exact same thing was being said in 2007.

It isn't different. It's the same. Pure 20:20 hindsight to pretend anything different.

But that's good news, because Turner and Zook were in fact both building well conceived sustainable programs, and only a litany of mistakes and failures derailed them. They had it, they were doing it, and they blew it. We're being offered another bite at the apple, let's take it.

Lucy has never pulled the ball away from Illinois football, every single time it's been *us* failing to direct our foot to it.
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I'm kind of 50/50 on this. I was pretty optimistic after 1999 that RT would be successful here long-term; I was obviously wrong there

Having seen Zook's coaching multiple times/year while he was at Florida, it was obvious whatever success he had at UI would be fool's gold. The guy could recruit like nobody I've ever seen, but he was just godawful at every other aspect of the job. You can recruit all the 4* and 5*'s you want, but they do you no good if the X's and O's aren't there.
 
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