Joel Goodson
- dawgville
same as it ever was
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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same as it ever was
Did Brian play for Chatham? A lefty? If that’s him, I distinctly remember as as 12 or 13 year old playing left field during a summer tournament night game and he hit a rocket line drive down the left field line that tailed away from me like I’ve never seen. He was quite the hitter.
He did. Batted left and threw right. As a 17 and 18 yr old he was talked about in the same breath as Alex Rodriguez. Both Parade All Americans and starters at the Junior Pan Am games. Straight up stud.
Ugh
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Coaching staff is about to start year 3, best season in 10-20 years, unprecedented commitment to in-state recruiting: you need dividends from from the top in-state recruits. You can't make excuses due to random factors. This isn't meant to sound existential (because it certainly isn't!) but it's a warning sign if they can't get 4-5 recruits in the state's top-15.
I'd be surprised if we even land 4-5 of the top 20.
currently using 247 composite, out of the 16 uncommitted top 20 players in IL, we've offered 9.
1. Bradford from ESL has offers from everyone so probably depends on if any of the big boys push hard for him.
2. Easley- Bama offer so we'll have to see how bad they want him.
3. RB Dupree- has a ton of offers and we were fairly late, no idea on that one.
4. Griffin - offers from everyone.
5. Turek- currently our most likely
6. Lightfoot - offers from everyone, has visited MSU
7. Stewart- Michigan probably, if they want him.
8. Luke Williams- maybe? he's listed as a "top" target for us, but has a ton of offers as well.
9. J. Scott- no chance.
Our one commit, Hansen is currently #21 on the list.
We'll see. Hopefully our new hires can be ace recruiters and maybe if we keep looking legitimate next year they will come, but right now I'd be surprised if we land more than 3 from that list. Hope I'm wrong!
illini80
- Forgottonia
I’m disappointed when we don’t get the highly ranked in state guys, but I feel like we can recruit the right guys regardless. Until proven otherwise, I won’t sweat the recruiting misses too much. And let’s face it, unless our NIL budget matches the “big time” offers we are going to have to develop somewhat lesser ranked guys. What I’ve seen so far says we can do that and compete. Maybe not for titles, but that’s not a goal I see as realistic so I won’t put that on a program that’s just getting it’s feet on solid ground again.
We got the 4th ranked player in the state?
illini80
- Forgottonia
I was mostly responding to the idea that we need a high(er) % of the top ranked in state guys. We’d all be happy to see them knocking down our doors. But I’m confident we will get guys who can play.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
This is a solid review but a couple caveats:
(1) There will be shuffling of the top recruits in the state. A good chunk of these guys will stay near the top but others will rise/fall. I said top-15 but it's an arbitrary goalpost. The staff could truly believe Hansen is a top 5/10/15 prospect in the state but him shutting it down early likely means he'll never rise to that ranking.
(2) Some offers may not be actionable. For example, I would be fairly surprised if Easley could commit to Alabama right now. They like him enough to give him an offer but likely want to see how he does this summer.
The path is there but it's going to be tough. Some of the top guys have already committed elsewhere (Stec, Cam Williams) and others are likely beyond the program's fingertips (Scott), but you need to find a way to get commits from the likes of Turek, L. Williams, Dupree, Lightfoot, Griffin, Alexander (if offered now that he de-committed from Wisconsin), Bradford, and Stewart because of their location, early offers from Illinois, and success at their positions. The math is starting to become more difficult, as the staff would need about a 60% hit rate on these guys to realize those dreams.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
The proof of concept is there; Illinois likely gets three of the top seven (!) in 2023 if Walters doesn't get the Purdue job. Getting two of the top seven is still to be celebrated as the step forward. The 2022 season went swimmingly, now it needs to pay off with greater quality, especially in-state, for the '24 class.
Understand what you are saying but Illinois is doing more than fine on the recruiting trail. Throwing a number on getting this many in state recruits depends on the position, ranking, etc. BB landed 5 of the top 25 in state recruits in 2022 and 2023. The 2022 class landed 11 of the top 35 in state recruits and 2023 class BB landed 6 of the top 26 recruits in state. The coaching staff is hitting Illinois real hard but not the end of the world if we don't land the top guys like usual who receive 40+ scholarship offers and have their pick of location. The state of Illinois has some decent talent but getting hooked up on a certain number is overblown. Florida is loaded and we have some ties to different areas. The #6 Illinois recruit could be like the #50 recruit in Florida for example on a given year.
*whispers* It doesn't really matter where the talent comes from.....
Illini Guardians
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Seriously, people act like Ohio State or Michigan fans go about sweating because they haven't met some quota of kids from Ohio/Michigan.
I'm almost tempted to pull the last top 25 and create a list with the percentage of in-state kids for each school.
Yep. I might be crazy, but I actually think this past year initially might make more of an impact with out of state kids rather than in-state — at least with the upcoming class. In state kids have basically been bombarded with “Illinois sucks” their whole lives and built up affinity and become fans of teams that have been better than the Illini across the course of their lives. We’re making in roads and having success, but its still a process to build relationships and overcome whatever negative stigma that might be built up in their minds. Kids that are incoming freshmen and sophomores have a chance to see the Illini in a different light.
With out of state kids there is no lifetime of negativity to overcome. They just see a school that has seemingly turned the corner, just went to a bowl game and is on the rise — and presents and opportunity to play in a top conference. Given the success and time we’ve put in in Florida and NJ, it wouldn’t surprise me if some of our top “gets” come from those areas.
Can someone please explain why getting more home state recruits matters? I just don’t see it. Maybe each guy brings in a dozen or so incremental season ticket holders who live within driving distance, but how does that move the needle for the program? My priority would be recruiting the most talented players with respect to position needs, regardless of their parents’ zip codes.
To @Ramrod2010 ’s point, don’t nationally ranked programs recruit nationally? Otherwise you’re handicapping yourself. Of course one would expect big national programs to attract more interest from their in-state recruiting, but that’s likely an effect of their program’s performance than a cause of it.
To @Ramrod2010 ’s point, don’t nationally ranked programs recruit nationally? Otherwise you’re handicapping yourself. Of course one would expect big national programs to attract more interest from their in-state recruiting, but that’s likely an effect of their program’s performance than a cause of it.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
prior to the information age, it was certainly more beneficial to develop relationships with in-state programs and coaches as they could then hopefully keep sending you more players afterwards - at least were more likely to than programs 1000 miles away. It was also easier to scout and recruit players if many of them lived within 150 miles of C-U.
It applies less today than it did before, but still does to some degree . But the days of 1/2 our roster being Illinois kids is long gone - for many reasons that aren't worth going into here
It applies less today than it did before, but still does to some degree . But the days of 1/2 our roster being Illinois kids is long gone - for many reasons that aren't worth going into here
2022 roster only had a handful of starters/impact players from instate. Most of the OL, Randolph, Bailey, Ford, Marchese, Griffin. I guess you can throw in Isaiah and Reggie Love if you want to count STL.
The rest of our top players were from elsewhere: DeVito, Brown twins, Newton, Witherspoon, Reiman, Barnes, Jacas, Coleman, etc
That number will change since we have a lot more instate players than the past, but 2022 was proof that you don't need to have 1/2 the roster from instate. It's nice to have a local pipeline, but developing talent is just as important.
The rest of our top players were from elsewhere: DeVito, Brown twins, Newton, Witherspoon, Reiman, Barnes, Jacas, Coleman, etc
That number will change since we have a lot more instate players than the past, but 2022 was proof that you don't need to have 1/2 the roster from instate. It's nice to have a local pipeline, but developing talent is just as important.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
(1) You are absolutely right that it doesn't matter where talent comes from, but...
(2) The coaching staff is pumping out a massive amount of PR and prioritizing their time in-state in a way that is unprecedented compared to previous staffs, whether that's the caravan to every high school in the state, or prioritizing recruiting positions for those with in-state connections. Those are choices. Those choices mean more resources are being expended on in-state recruiting. The coaching staff has made those choices with the intention of reaping greater rewards from in-state recruiting. These choices cannot be ignored, especially if we are suddenly going to say it doesn't matter if Illinois does poorly in 2024 in-state recruiting.
(2) The coaching staff is pumping out a massive amount of PR and prioritizing their time in-state in a way that is unprecedented compared to previous staffs, whether that's the caravan to every high school in the state, or prioritizing recruiting positions for those with in-state connections. Those are choices. Those choices mean more resources are being expended on in-state recruiting. The coaching staff has made those choices with the intention of reaping greater rewards from in-state recruiting. These choices cannot be ignored, especially if we are suddenly going to say it doesn't matter if Illinois does poorly in 2024 in-state recruiting.
Why is the bio about a guy who runs the Penn St NIL collective?Illini Guardians
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mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
I'm not expecting Illinois to land many guys with 40+ P5 scholarships, those are top-100, national recruits. That said, none of the guys I mentioned previously are ranked that high. Each are ranked around Elzy's 2023 ranking (or lower). These are guys who are getting lots of Big Ten West offers and a smattering of Big Ten East, SEC, and a blue blood offer (or two).
The 2023 class is much improved from previous recruiting years, I am not taking anything away from that. It's a great sign that Bielema and staff are raising the perceived talent coming into the door. Plus, it's early for 2024! Just not so early that a handful of the top recruits have already committed or confirmed they are looking at other schools. The staff could still get four or five of these heralded, in-state talents in 2024 and show they are raising the recruiting to top-25ish class. I'm pointing out, and others have mentioned, that the outlook on a sizable chunk of the '24 in-state top recruits isn't looking promising (Stec, Scott, Williams, Betancour, Stewart).
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