I think Kevin Levy remains uncommitted. It was Ricky Knight III that committed to FSU recently...
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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I think Kevin Levy remains uncommitted. It was Ricky Knight III that committed to FSU recently...
I would characterize it more as "disappointing" versus "real bad." These are top-tier recruits and we are simply losing out to the field. That's gonna happen more often than not. Happy to be getting them on to campus...in their "top whatever." More wins on the field year over year will help us win more of those recruiting battles.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Probably doesn’t impact Lightfoot. But unexpected DL commit for OSU, according to randoms on internet.
Reddit - Dive into anything
www.reddit.com
It won't impact Lightfoot. Scott is an awesome interior d-line prospect (Illinois was involved last year but he ended up too big of a prospect), Lightfoot is playing edge. Scott is the only d-line commitment for Ohio State. Again, it would be a massive upset for Lightfoot to commit to Illinois. Fingers crossed.
He had 2 CBs to Utah July 1st. Seems to be trending in the wrong direction
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
+1. This is the tier of recruits where winning more than a couple was not realistic. Going 0-fer would sting though.
I don’t even consider it a disappointment though because of where we were and like I said I don’t expect them to just go away.
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mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Bummer. Dupree or bust now (and by bust, I mean obvious plan-B/C prep recruit or finding a transfer after the season).
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
yeah - I see the same thing re: RK III, but I also see Levy as a FL kid w/2 FSU crystal balls...so still wondering if we have a shot or not.
don't forget Carroll to Minnesota.
Dupree is announcing on Friday. If we miss on him as well, I think it's ok to feel somewhat disappointed.
Still a very solid class, but would kind of suck to miss out on all of our top RB targets and most of our top DB targets after the season and draft picks we had last year... while watching new staffs at Wisconsin and Purdue beat us out for those very same players.
Walters seems to have bested us at leveraging our recent DB success...and maybe he's also claimed credit for Chase Brown's success and has been convincing recruits nationwide that CP was the actual RB whisperer while in Champaign instead of BB...which is of course why he's now a WR coach
For real though - know, I know; we're Illinois. I'm all aboard the BB train so settle down. I'm aware that we are recruiting and developing substantially better than we have been in forever. It's great to see. I think we are in fantastic hands with this staff. I was just hoping we could capitalize even more on our recent success, because with divisions going away, we have to keep improving to have a shot at B1G relevancy.
Who knows though, maybe we land Lightfoot, Dupree, Lucas, and Platt and I can unbunch my undies.
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
don't forget Carroll to Minnesota.
Dupree is announcing on Friday. If we miss on him as well, I think it's ok to feel somewhat disappointed.
Still a very solid class, but would kind of suck to miss out on all of our top RB targets and most of our top DB targets after the season and draft picks we had last year... while watching new staffs at Wisconsin and Purdue beat us out for those very same players.
Walters seems to have bested us at leveraging our recent DB success...and maybe he's also claimed credit for Chase Brown's success and has been convincing recruits nationwide that CP was the actual RB whisperer while in Champaign instead of BB...which is of course why he's now a WR coach
For real though - know, I know; we're Illinois. I'm all aboard the BB train so settle down. I'm aware that we are recruiting and developing substantially better than we have been in forever. It's great to see. I think we are in fantastic hands with this staff. I was just hoping we could capitalize even more on our recent success, because with divisions going away, we have to keep improving to have a shot at B1G relevancy.
Who knows though, maybe we land Lightfoot, Dupree, Lucas, and Platt and I can unbunch my undies.
either way, unbunch them
if we lose out, I don't think we can say that our staff is comprised of lame recruiters or that they didn't put in the requisite effort. may not yield the desired results, but we've already seen tangible progress. gotta remember the deep, deep hole we were in for a looooong time.
I know what Lightfoot is doing but won’t share yet …
As for the rest of that list … Like our chances with a couple … I know at least 2 you mentioned are going elsewhere …
Remember folks if a player commits it doesn’t mean the recruitment is over.
Good to know. Even without being privy to such information, I don’t spend much time wondering why a 17 or 18-year old chooses another school even if they are from Illinois. Alexander quite likely didn’t grow up as an Illinois fan given its lack of success. And not everyone wants to stay “home.”
If I could have afforded to go out of state when I was looking at college I would have. And that was back when college was more affordable. But I could get Illinois State Scholarship, which paid for in state tuition. When I saw a flyer on a bulletin for a domestic exchange program and for some of the schools you still paid your school the tuition so I could still use that scholarship, I jumped at it. That’s how I ended up at Oregon State for a year, and it was by far my best year of college. Kansas isn’t Oregon, but sometimes you just want to stretch your wings and step out of your comfort zone.
Given how well he's recruiting at PU with a bunch of former UI assts and support staff, it's strange that he didn't have the same level of success while at UI
We trust the portal.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Some points + counter-points:
(1) Yes, it's frustrating that Illinois' defense had their best year in 25 years or ever and that recruiting success is happening for coaches now at another university instead of Illinois. Illinois' recruiting this year is improved (I posted a bunch of data points showing as such earlier), but Purdue's recruiting has really taken off.
(2) It's still early. Illinois has several battles this week and next week for recruits. Getting even one of them would move Illinois' quality and overall ranking into the middle of Big Ten rankings, and completely change the outlook of the program even from an outsiders perspective.
(3) Either you believe (a) Walters is taking a different approach in recruiting than Bielema and seeing some elevated payoff or (b) recruits are more buying into last year's defensive magic being more of a byproduct of Walters than Bielema.
(4) What I didn't expect was Illinois' recruiting to make substantial improvements in all areas except the secondary. I don't want this to drag into a "trust the staff" argument, but how many of us would have believed last December that Illinois would have almost all of their commits with a litany of other P5 offers but the only commits without those offers would be the secondary recruits? Would have been impossible to believe.
(5) For all of the discussion about Purdue - Illinois recruiting battles, it's only been the Luke Williams commitment that boiled down to both schools (and I would argue that recruitment will continue until he signs). It's proving to be a little overblown. Wisconsin continues to be the biggest rival across recruiting battles.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Let's not be prisoners of the moment.
It's okay to think that (a) recruiting this year is definitely stronger and we are optimistic with the direction, (b) you have a lot of trust in the coaching staff squeezing more development out of their classes, but (c) recruiting is improving across the conference because of TV contracts/NIL growth and the staff might (TBD) miss on some of the biggest national recruits. We can understand things are both improving and wishing a couple more targets were landed for talent and PR reasons.
It's okay to think that (a) recruiting this year is definitely stronger and we are optimistic with the direction, (b) you have a lot of trust in the coaching staff squeezing more development out of their classes, but (c) recruiting is improving across the conference because of TV contracts/NIL growth and the staff might (TBD) miss on some of the biggest national recruits. We can understand things are both improving and wishing a couple more targets were landed for talent and PR reasons.
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
It wasn't a criticism, it was stating a fact. Just not a good week, that's all.don't forget Carroll to Minnesota.
Dupree is announcing on Friday. If we miss on him as well, I think it's ok to feel somewhat disappointed.
Still a very solid class, but would kind of suck to miss out on all of our top RB targets and most of our top DB targets after the season and draft picks we had last year... while watching new staffs at Wisconsin and Purdue beat us out for those very same players.
Walters seems to have bested us at leveraging our recent DB success...and maybe he's also claimed credit for Chase Brown's success and has been convincing recruits nationwide that CP was the actual RB whisperer while in Champaign instead of BB...which is of course why he's now a WR coach
For real though - know, I know; we're Illinois. I'm all aboard the BB train so settle down. I'm aware that we are recruiting and developing substantially better than we have been in forever. It's great to see. I think we are in fantastic hands with this staff. I was just hoping we could capitalize even more on our recent success, because with divisions going away, we have to keep improving to have a shot at B1G relevancy.
Who knows though, maybe we land Lightfoot, Dupree, Lucas, and Platt and I can unbunch my undies.
BarfDupree…
Since you are being stingy with your intel could you ask Charlie to share with us?
Won't put anything on the recruiters right now, I think it's just reflective of the Illinois brand. I guess we will continue the uphill battle of winning without top end talent until that respect is earned.
Would love some of said talent to jump on board now, but there's usually a bit more buzz if those things are about to happen.
Since you are being stingy with your intel could you ask Charlie to share with us?
What if my intel came from Charlie …
Is it a possibility the staff just isn’t placing a huge priority on the running back position for 2024 because they already have Kaden Feagin and Jordan Anderson and they are happy with who they have right now.
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