Seems like a lot of people forget that these young men are still in the developmental stages of the game. College is where they start separating the men from the boys. Not high school.Recruiting rankings of our most recent NFL draft picks:
Witherspoon (zero stars)
Martin️
S. Brown
C. Brown
Newton
Reiman (zero stars)
Adams
Washington
My conclusions:
(1) rankings are questionable, or
(2) Bret’s staff is pretty good at development, or
(3) a little of both
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
Recruiting rankings of our most recent NFL draft picks:
Witherspoon (zero stars)
Martin
S. Brown
C. Brown
Newton
Reiman (zero stars)
Adams
Washington
My conclusions:
(1) rankings are questionable, or
(2) Bret’s staff is pretty good at development, or
(3) a little of both
Eh, I think you can make a case for there being some diamonds in the rough towards the back end of the rankings, but if both the draft and game results show us anything, it's that 4-5* players are typically highly correlated with good performance on the field
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Without getting into any broader narrative conclusions, I feel like you have to mention the Lovie admin's scouting, especially defensively.Recruiting rankings of our most recent NFL draft picks:
Witherspoon (zero stars)
Martin
S. Brown
C. Brown
Newton
Reiman (zero stars)
Adams
Washington
My conclusions:
(1) rankings are questionable, or
(2) Bret’s staff is pretty good at development, or
(3) a little of both
One would have hoped Lovie Smith would have had a keen eye for the traits that make for NFL defenders, and he did, despite the myriad other problems.
Recruiting rankings of our most recent NFL draft picks:
Witherspoon (zero stars)
Martin
S. Brown
C. Brown
Newton
Reiman (zero stars)
Adams
Washington
My conclusions:
(1) rankings are questionable, or
(2) Bret’s staff is pretty good at development, or
(3) a little of both
Stars are also take popularity into account somewhat. Witherspoon unrated because he really didn't play much football in high school, he obviously would have been rated pretty highly if more scouts and analysts had been in on him. This is why Bret's said multiple times in previous dressers that they have guys wait on committing sometimes and why it's such an arms race in recruiting.
Once that guy announces they get a lot of eyes on them, and in an NIL world that means you could be setting yourself up to get a recruit poached. The problem is that you have to not only outbid in the recruitment process, but also outbid in the *retaining* process.
Both Reiman and Witherspoon would have been rated higher if there was more eyes on them coming out of high school. Witherspoon for obvious reasons but Reiman because he is so gifted physically.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
'26 GA QB, has an M(ich)SU offer: