mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Pretty sure folks on here thought he was really overrated.
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
- Status
Pretty sure folks on here thought he was really overrated.
Would think Purdue would be the favorite with CP there, right?
Why would CP make them the favorite?
While I’m sure everyone would get excited from seeing Illinois land more 4 and 5 star ranked players, I take comfort in the fact that Bielema won a heck of a lot of games at Wisconsin with recruiting classes that didn’t look much different than what he’s bringing in here at Illinois. He knows what he’s doing.
I think he was over rated but he’s a massive dude. Right now OT is a bigger need than interior. We have Shuster and wigenton as depth for this year.
He will be very hard to get
While this is true... you also have to re-recruit "your guys" every season now.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
Scholarship and a spot on our roster. If we are offering much more, then we aren’t allocating our funds correctly.
Can confirm.
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
Bad business move. You should be maximizing your NIL in the open market.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Wiggenton came here to start. Getsky beat him out (thus far, anyway). does Wiggenton re-enter the portal?
Hope not. I would think there is a battle in fall camp. And both get significant playing time either way.
Could be Gesky more familiar with scheme right now. Whereas at the tackle spots…that’s already well discussed.
Wasn’t Wiggenton running center for the 2nd string offense Saturday?
It's hard to imagine completely whiffing on an incredible in-state DL class, but that seems to be taking shape
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
I've stopped worrying about In-state recruiting a long time a go. It's been like this for years and years. As long as we get good players in here, it doesn't really matter where they come from.
Completely agree, but the data shows you typically need to consistently rely on in-state recruiting to get good players
Let's take BB's UI recruiting classes
2024: Ranked 15th (out of 18) in conference
2023: Ranked 7th (out of 14) in conference (and the top 3 ranked recruits were in-staters)
2022: Ranked 12th (out of 14)
2021: Ranked 13th (out of 14)
If BB can't close on in-state talent, it will be very hard to get a collection of good talent that compares somewhat decently against our peers
There are transition years from one coach to another. I don't count 2016 against Lovie or 2021 against BB.
Lovie Smith composite national recruiting rankings
2017: 46
2018: 54
2019: 56
2020: 82
Lovie fired and BB brought in mid-December of 2020
2021: 73
BB composite national recruiting rankings
2022: 46
2023: 38
2024: 49
2025: Way too early but at 46
Narrative can be spun any direction. BB is doing just fine bringing in recruits. All these rankings are good for the moment(more so for fans) but few guys transfer in/out and they get skewed quickly. I don't worry about incoming transfers being from IL either.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Marshall is magnitudes better than a good player. In-state provides benefits based on established relationships and playing close to home. Barring some personal connection, getting a chance with someone like Marshall is based on proximity. At some point Illinois is going to need to land a couple of these guys to raise the ceiling.
Recruits are like homework assignments. You need to get As if you want a chance at an A season.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Recruiting has definitely improved, in some ways it’s improved dramatically.
…..but has it improved enough? The conference just got much tougher, the upcoming Illinois’ conference opponents just got tougher. Moving up in recruiting rankings by 7-12 spots might just be a reality of one of the power five conferences withering on the vine and another on life support. The issue is Illinois isn’t necessarily competing with those schools for recruits and wins. The old 55th ranking recruiting class might be the same as the current 43rd.
Exactly my point
It's just a number. As long as we aren't falling to 70-120 level we are fine. There is not a big difference between 30 to 55 because guys transfer out each season. We aren't luring elite talent but we are very solid. Difference is we have a track record of knowing what Lovie Smith and BB do with the same talent level.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
I would say being 55th now is like being 75th (average AAC level) in recruiting. The "does it matter?" is going to be more aligned with being 20th-40th in recruiting because all of those schools will not be competing for national championships and very unlikely to be competing for conference championships. A couple schools in that area will be good because they got the absolute max ceiling from a handful of recruits ('22 TCU, '15 MSU) but the remaining will be hoping to squeeze out 8 wins and hoping the bowl system will still support everything as currently devised.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
- Status