Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#552      

zentrails

Z
zentrails
Mr. Tibbs said:
overall across all D1, maybe even more schollies available as some players in the portal get shut out, and in previous years they likely would have been taking up a roster spot as 4th string somewhere
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Good points and some of them go overseas.
 
#558      

mhuml32

mhuml32
Cincinnati, OH
mhuml32
This won't be the last time I'll say this: I've never seen such a wide recruiting map in Illinois football history. The approach has always been Midwest + one Southern State (FL, TX, etc.). Bielema is still doing the heavy Illinois + Florida thing, but offers have gone out to guys in NJ, WI, MO, AZ, UT, CA, OH, PA, TN, KS, KY. This might finish as the most geographically diverse class in program history (just need another international recruit a la Magnus).
 
#559      

NJJ871

N
NJJ871
mhuml32 said:
This won't be the last time I'll say this: I've never seen such a wide recruiting map in Illinois football history. The approach has always been Midwest + one Southern State (FL, TX, etc.). Bielema is still doing the heavy Illinois + Florida thing, but offers have gone out to guys in NJ, WI, MO, AZ, UT, CA, OH, PA, TN, KS, KY. This might finish as the most geographically diverse class in program history (just need another international recruit a la Magnus).
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Can I ask for one of the big Samoan DL types that the BYU's, UCLA's, etc. seemed to routinely have? (Not that those players were all actually international recruits vs. their family heritage, but you get the point).
 
#560      

DeonThomas

DeonThomas
South Carolina
DeonThomas
mhuml32 said:
This won't be the last time I'll say this: I've never seen such a wide recruiting map in Illinois football history. The approach has always been Midwest + one Southern State (FL, TX, etc.). Bielema is still doing the heavy Illinois + Florida thing, but offers have gone out to guys in NJ, WI, MO, AZ, UT, CA, OH, PA, TN, KS, KY. This might finish as the most geographically diverse class in program history (just need another international recruit a la Magnus).
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Yeah -- but it's not really unprecedented. Alabama, UGA and ND have the same reach and do the same thing. /s
 
#561      

ptgrd23

ptgrd23
ptgrd23
DeonThomas said:
Yeah -- but it's not really unprecedented. Alabama, UGA and ND have the same reach and do the same thing. /s
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Illinois football history. I think both Bret and Brad have much more resources to track and trace recruits all over the country. My son plays HS football - players are encouraged to post game clips and send them to coaches. It could be the players/parents/coaches are reaching out to our staff to get the process started.
 
#566      

Bert2022

B
Bert2022
Ok....just doing a little Friday dreaming...
If we sign Braylon Burnside, we move up to #33 recruiting rank
If we additionally sign M. Lightfoot, we would move up to #29....one spot ahead of...wait for it....AUBURN, at least for the time being.
Our recruit average rating would be 87.90. Not too shabby.
 
#567      

ptgrd23

ptgrd23
ptgrd23
Username said:
we probably didn't have a realistic shot anyway, but still kind of a bummer.

247sports.com

Michigan lands Composite four-star WR I'Marion Stewart

Chicago Kenwood wide receiver I'Marion Stewart announces for Michigan at OT7 and spoke to 247Sports about why the Wolverines were the choice.
247sports.com 247sports.com
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Right now Bret is very conservative on offense to protect the defense. Once we get the right personnel to open up the offense it will improve our recruitment of wide receivers.

I am hoping Altmyer year 2 has the accuracy and arm to throw deep. With a solid running game the play action pass is the way to go!

Think Kurt Kittner to Brandon Lloyd

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#568      

TheDrinkinLincoln

TheDrinkinLincoln
TheDrinkinLincoln
ptgrd23 said:
Right now Bret is very conservative on offense to protect the defense. Once we get the right personnel to open up the offense it will improve our recruitment of wide receivers.

I am hoping Altmyer year 2 has the accuracy and arm to throw deep. With a solid running game the play action pass is the way to go!

Think Kurt Kittner to Brandon Lloyd

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Can't wait till we are set up with an OL that just mauls people and we get 3-5 yards on a run consistently enough to use PA on 1st and 2md down to throw it deep.
 
#569      

mhuml32

mhuml32
Cincinnati, OH
mhuml32
DeonThomas said:
Yeah -- but it's not really unprecedented. Alabama, UGA and ND have the same reach and do the same thing. /s
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I know you are kidding, but this definitely made me think, "how does Illinois' approach differ compared to these top programs?".

Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State offer the top recruits across the country. This creates a narrow pool of prospects to consider. Because of organized events for the top recruits across the country and summer camps put on by universities, they have an easier process for identifying the top players in the country. They also can tail offers from other top programs, because a school like Georgia or Ohio State isn't going to be concerned about their chances when the other also offers.

Illinois is offering recruits across the country but their pool consideration is many magnitudes larger. The consideration process is more time consuming than the top programs. While Illinois shouldn't be concerned about whether one of those top programs will offer, they likely know an offer from Bama, UGA, OSU is drastically reducing their chances of landing the recruit. With time being a finite resource, this could mean a prospect that already has one of these offers is either not going to get an offer or a more abbreviated recruitment unless there is immediate interest.

This is why I'm partially in awestruck at the approach and success. Time is finite and the staff is still finding success identifying, recruiting, and securing commitments from such a geographically diverse prospect pool. It's not something I've seen before at Illinois. Initially, I thought it was foolish and likely a response to struggling to crack into several of the top in-state prospects. The latter might be true but the former was a dumb initial reaction. They've found success in an non-traditional path. Makes me wonder if other programs will extend a wider net in the future, as this could be a benefactor of being an SEC/Big Ten school within the NIL era.
 
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