Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#326      

Ander1345

A
Ander1345
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I'm usually not that poster who doesn't just read through the damn pages, but I honestly am just kind of not very knowledgeable about football recruiting the way I am about basketball. So, would a poster mind giving his/her take on kind of "where we stand" as far as the Bielema Era goes for recruiting? I know we are nowhere close to getting back to the early Zook days, but I also get the impression that (1) the early outreach efforts (especially instate) from Bret and the staff have been a breath of fresh air compared to Lovey, (2) we are getting some encouraging "leads" on recruits that (if they commit) would really be a huge step forward for the program and (3) we all seem a bit more comfortable with the idea of finding under-the-radar guys and developing them with solid, proven coaching.

Living in Chicago, I have seen a very serious uptick in Illini gear around the city from 2020 to 2021 to 2022, exponetionally increasing each year. This is GREAT to see, as the atmosphere out at the bars on a college football Saturday in Chicago really can't be beat IMO, and Illinois' futility always held back the turnout of Illini fans ... and I am ecstatic to see that start to change! However, it would be a real shame if we cannot cash in some of this momentum and positive rebranding of the program with some substantial recruiting wins.

Again, apologies for the novice request ... lol, at the end of the day, it just stems from truly renewed excitement and optimism in the program and my desire to get excited further. :cool:
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Well objectively compared to Beckman/Cubit era Bret is light-years beyond that... like not even the same universe.

Compared to Lovie I'm not sure you can compare them side by side because the approach is so different.

Lovie purged a lot of the roster we had where Bret actually worked to retain some of Lovie's guys. There is obviously some things that Bret saw in Lovie's guys. He got Owen Carney to come back(I'm sure there is others I can't remember at the moment).

I guess the simple answer is we are trending up, but our roster was also better under Lovie then it was before under Beckman/Cubit... so there's real reasons for optimism.

Bret definitely has a particular mindset he likes in his players so unless he goes Super Saban for us I dont think we'll be bringing in the genetic 4/5 star freaks super consistently. But this staff has already shown a talent for player development.

I think in 2024(how his first couple classes pan out production wise) we will see a better picture of the overall grade we can give Bret as a recruiter.
 
#327      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
Ander1345 said:
Well objectively compared to Beckman/Cubit era Bret is light-years beyond that... like not even the same universe.

Compared to Lovie I'm not sure you can compare them side by side because the approach is so different.

Lovie purged a lot of the roster we had where Bret actually worked to retain some of Lovie's guys. There is obviously some things that Bret saw in Lovie's guys. He got Owen Carney to come back(I'm sure there is others I can't remember at the moment).

I guess the simple answer is we are trending up, but our roster was also better under Lovie then it was before under Beckman/Cubit... so there's real reasons for optimism.

Bret definitely has a particular mindset he likes in his players so unless he goes Super Saban for us I dont think we'll be bringing in the genetic 4/5 star freaks super consistently. But this staff has already shown a talent for player development.

I think in 2024(how his first couple classes pan out production wise) we will see a better picture of the overall grade we can give Bret as a recruiter.
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Not just a talent for player development. They've also ID'd a lot of 3 stars who end up becoming legit Big Ten players. Plus, our depth is massively better than the super thin seasons that rolled on for seemingly forever.
 
#328      

bluemountain

B
bluemountain
Joel Goodson said:
I agree w/the OP who said that Leys beating out Kruetz is very unlikely to happen. There's definitely value in strengthening the group though.
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One thing I find interesting about BB is he actively recruits to build depth. Leys and the kid from SIU may not start, but it will be nice to have them on the field for 20 snaps a game vs some untested true freshman. It also creates better competition in practice.
 
#329      

Ander1345

A
Ander1345
I think Bielema leverages his NFL experience a little to do this. With 53 player rosters and a longer regular season, you have to be good at identifying and developing talent, and find ways for those guys to contribute.
 
#330      

ptgrd23

ptgrd23
ptgrd23
I think Bret is major fan of rotating a lot of players in so everybody stays fresh and we develop depth.

JMO but I think this is good idea as there are a lot of injuries in CFB.

It seems like the only exception to this last year was Chase and Tommy.

Hard to argue with the results.
 
#333      

Ander1345

A
Ander1345
ptgrd23 said:
I think Bret is major fan of rotating a lot of players in so everybody stays fresh and we develop depth.

JMO but I think this is good idea as there are a lot of injuries in CFB.

It seems like the only exception to this last year was Chase and Tommy.

Hard to argue with the results.
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Yeah look at the Iowa game. Imo we run them out of the building if Tommy doesn't leave the game.
 
#334      

WeWillWhen

WeWillWhen
WeWillWhen
Ander1345 said:
Lovie purged a lot of the roster we had where Bret actually worked to retain some of Lovie's guys. There is obviously some things that Bret saw in Lovie's guys. He got Owen Carney to come back(I'm sure there is others I can't remember at the moment).
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As Robert Rosenthal pointed out last week, going into year 3 Lovie still had 30 Beckman/Cubit recruits on roster. Bielema currently has only 23 Lovie recruits left. So, Bret actually has retained fewer legacy recruits than Lovie.

But the majority of the guys Bret has retained are projected/potential starters -- Williams, Washington, Bryant, Slaughter, Kreutz, Pearl, Coleman, Newton, Randolph, Barnes, Strain, Nicholson, Robertson and Griffin -- and some key second stringers who should see a lot of snaps like Love and Holmes. One can draw a couple conclusions from this; either Bret is really good at spotting talent and developing it, or he is leaning on the holdovers because his HS recruits aren't ready yet or good enough. Probably its a bit of both.

Not many Bielema HS recruits have stood out on the field beyond Jacas (duh), Bailey, Adams, Scott and McCray. Maybe Boyer and Arkin, too. Of course, all of Bret's HS recruits are still underclassmen. I am very interested to see this Fall how many more young guys will be able to displace some of the upperclassmen in the list above. That should give us our first really good indication about the fruits of Bret's HS recruiting.
 
#336      

illini_tommy

illini_tommy
illini_tommy
WeWillWhen said:
As Robert Rosenthal pointed out last week, going into year 3 Lovie still had 30 Beckman/Cubit recruits on roster. Bielema currently has only 23 Lovie recruits left. So, Bret actually has retained fewer legacy recruits than Lovie.

But the majority of the guys Bret has retained are projected/potential starters -- Williams, Washington, Bryant, Slaughter, Kreutz, Pearl, Coleman, Newton, Randolph, Barnes, Strain, Nicholson, Robertson and Griffin -- and some key second stringers who should see a lot of snaps like Love and Holmes. One can draw a couple conclusions from this; either Bret is really good at spotting talent and developing it, or he is leaning on the holdovers because his HS recruits aren't ready yet or good enough. Probably its a bit of both.

Not many Bielema HS recruits have stood out on the field beyond Jacas (duh), Bailey, Adams, Scott and McCray. Maybe Boyer and Arkin, too. Of course, all of Bret's HS recruits are still underclassmen. I am very interested to see this Fall how many more young guys will be able to displace some of the upperclassmen in the list above. That should give us our first really good indication about the fruits of Bret's HS recruiting.
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You also have to factor in the small size of Lovie's last couple recruiting classes. Lovie depended so heavily on transfers that they're all gone before Bret could get to Yr 3..
 
#342      

AyoDos11

AyoDos11
Southern Illinois
AyoDos11
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I'm usually not that poster who doesn't just read through the damn pages, but I honestly am just kind of not very knowledgeable about football recruiting the way I am about basketball. So, would a poster mind giving his/her take on kind of "where we stand" as far as the Bielema Era goes for recruiting? I know we are nowhere close to getting back to the early Zook days, but I also get the impression that (1) the early outreach efforts (especially instate) from Bret and the staff have been a breath of fresh air compared to Lovey, (2) we are getting some encouraging "leads" on recruits that (if they commit) would really be a huge step forward for the program and (3) we all seem a bit more comfortable with the idea of finding under-the-radar guys and developing them with solid, proven coaching.

Living in Chicago, I have seen a very serious uptick in Illini gear around the city from 2020 to 2021 to 2022, exponetionally increasing each year. This is GREAT to see, as the atmosphere out at the bars on a college football Saturday in Chicago really can't be beat IMO, and Illinois' futility always held back the turnout of Illini fans ... and I am ecstatic to see that start to change! However, it would be a real shame if we cannot cash in some of this momentum and positive rebranding of the program with some substantial recruiting wins.

Again, apologies for the novice request ... lol, at the end of the day, it just stems from truly renewed excitement and optimism in the program and my desire to get excited further. :cool:
Click to expand...
I too have not followed FB recruiting very closely. I got used to the sucky years of Illini football, and it was kinda hard to get excited about a couple two star recruits with the occasional three star. Plus the fact that one football recruit has a way smaller impact than a basketball recruit does, I just never really payed close attention to it.
 
#347      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
GILL-INOIS said:
I love how Bielema is all over it.....also shows how much guys can develop in a season. Something BB is excellent at doing (y)

Out of the 4 Cornerbacks selected in the 1st round this year only ONE was in that top 50 list
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It's also an illustration that some (a lot?) lists are total garbage. They're really just filler and talking points til the games start.
 
#349      

NJJ871

N
NJJ871
Joel Goodson said:
It's also an illustration that some (a lot?) lists are total garbage. They're really just filler and talking points til the games start.
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100% agree...close your eyes, think of the list of schools that are football "blue bloods" (I know that's a basketball term), and then take a look at the list. They're all there, the list probably starts with 1 guy from the top 25 all time teams and then the rest are pulled out of a hat (or somewhere else).
 
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