Bret’s probably just now getting home
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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Konkel and Carroll would be great.
Just the kind of thoughtful response I wanted to read. Thanks.
I'm guessing the brother thing sealed the deal.
his smugness rates up there with Harbaugh and the Ferentz family for me.
We HAVE to beat them every year now.
Oh without question ... Bret is a grinder, he’s at the facility all the freaking time …
He's the best kind of grinder - the kind with a vision and a detailed plan on how to execute the vision. There are a lot of people (I'm definitely one at times) who also work really hard but too often don't have the long term grasp of what the right moves are to move the needle. Bret does.
And I should add (edited) that he also seems to be the kind of leader who inspires others to grind, and to see the vision that he has laid out. The Illini are in excellent hands.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
So a great 24-hour period. Bravo!
Now back to recruiting reality. We're still 11th-12th in the Big 10 in the 2024 recruiting rankings, and we have just 9 players added so far. Are we anticipating another 4-6 player week/weekend in June or July?
And in the big picture --- do we have a shot at three more 7-9 win regular seasons in 2023, 2024 and 2025?
Now back to recruiting reality. We're still 11th-12th in the Big 10 in the 2024 recruiting rankings, and we have just 9 players added so far. Are we anticipating another 4-6 player week/weekend in June or July?
And in the big picture --- do we have a shot at three more 7-9 win regular seasons in 2023, 2024 and 2025?
i think i'd let them celebrate a little more. this hasn't been done this well in forever. we're recruiting top 1000 guys, we're recruiting in our backyard, we're reinvigorating pipelines... you can say 11-12th in big ten, but top 50 in nation with one player ungraded. that's the reality
23/25 - Yes
24 - Will the portal deliver a top notch LT and at least one, if not two, DT's - ?
blackdog
- Champaign
There's another big weekend of official visits similar to last weekend coming up the weekend of the 24th. Wouldn't be too surprised to see another batch of commitments after that.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Count me as very excited about the progress BB & staff are showing in the recruiting arena.............BB is making advances rarely seen by Illini Nation and looks to upgrade the roster with their tireless work being done.......
To me , this is bringing optimism that we are in a period of time where the Illini will ascend the ranking's and be able to compete in every game we play.................
Keep it up BB & staff ................We support you guys 1,000 %.........................................Go Illini !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To me , this is bringing optimism that we are in a period of time where the Illini will ascend the ranking's and be able to compete in every game we play.................
Keep it up BB & staff ................We support you guys 1,000 %.........................................Go Illini !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love the guys we're bringing in, a definite improvement over previous years and regimes. Don't love that a rival school is beating us in recruiting battles by selling OUR success better than we are at selling our successes. I would really love for Walters to stop drinking our milkshake soon.
Yeah, such a huge contrast to almost all our coaches in my lifetime. We're really fortunate.
C'mon.....his smugness is what drove out defense last year, helped us recruiting and left a huge imprint on this resurgence. He deserved his shot, he got his shot and I hope that he does well(not against us). Add that to the fact that our head coach and assistants aren't exactly low key. Recruiting is sales... smugness and confidence is part of the game.
I can appreciate the fact that he helped us have an awesome defense while also actively rooting for him to lose. He's acting like he was the sole reason any of our players got drafted or had any success. I understand it's gamesmanship. Purdue fans can love him for it. I don't have to.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
This. Looking at the other Big Ten classes, this is a good start but needs to be maintained. Repeat this in two weeks with another 3-4 vistors committing and the staff likely locks in a low-40's recruit class or better. Regardless to how you feel about recruiting rankings, and I agree they are a "noisy" measurement tool, the program is still looking up at lots of surrounding B1G schools (Wisconsin #15, Iowa #20, Nebraska #31, Northwestern #32, Purdue #33).
We can crow all we want about Bielema's staff and their development prowess, but the goal is to bring in equal or better talent than these other schools and have the developmental edge.
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mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Really enjoyed Werner's podcasts breaking down the recent commits. He also sheds some light into the other visitors that haven't committed and their upcoming plans. Of note - Werner has hinted at Hansen's improved perception in recruiting circles since committing. Sounds like he'll get a decent bump whenever the rankings are updated and that Illinois was fortunate to get in on that one early because plenty of schools have asked to get involved and he has passed.
That will likely be the way it ends up as well. Illinois is not going to have a very large class. Illinois will be improved over previous years on a per recruit basis - Quality over Quantity this year.
Just win and they will come. Class ranking doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot once they set foot on campus. Nebraska will probably end up with a top 25 class that will 15 games in the next 4 years lol. Some programs consistently overachieve, and some consistently underachieve. I'm confident Bret will have us in the former group.
At some point RW is going to have to stand on his own merit and accomplishments as a HC, and living on past glory of being our DC and playing a role in our players getting drafted is going to lose its luster. Best thing we can do is root against him on the field and kick PU's a$$ when we get the opportunity.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Each of those programs except Northwestern has a higher AVG score than Illinois does right now. Also, in the transfer portal era you aren't going to see the massive 30 high school recruit classes anymore. Everyone is hunting for quality because they know the transfer portal will smooth out any consistent recruiting misfires (or roster development failures).
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
That's the point. Illinois just won 8 games. This first full recruiting weekend was a home run. Just need to keep hitting home runs to keep up. It's great that we can keep discounting Nebraska (not sure about that), but plenty of the programs I mentioned have also overachieved.
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