Its going to be near impossible to keep Laughery off the field. I think hes special truly do. He is just getting used to being healthy.
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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Its going to be near impossible to keep Laughery off the field. I think hes special truly do. He is just getting used to being healthy.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
When the Ball State TE became discussed, it lead me down the wormhole of Illinois finding a way to great more playmaking/scheme flexibility through significantly upgrading the TE room even if that meant a tradeoff somewhere else in the offensive skill positions. There are long-term HS reasons for Illinois to do more with TEs in the passing game. The '26 in-state class is much discussed.
2026
Mack Sutter - 105th overall
JC Anderson - 126th overall
Gavin Mueller - 639th overal
2025
Logan Farrell (ILL) - 671st overall
2024
Christian Bentanaur - 74th overall
Grant Stec - 291st overall
Eric Karner - 380th overall
Karsen Konkel - 874th overall
State of Illinois has had spurts of well-regarded WR preps but they have a high miss rate based on college production.
2026
Mack Sutter - 105th overall
JC Anderson - 126th overall
Gavin Mueller - 639th overal
2025
Logan Farrell (ILL) - 671st overall
2024
Christian Bentanaur - 74th overall
Grant Stec - 291st overall
Eric Karner - 380th overall
Karsen Konkel - 874th overall
State of Illinois has had spurts of well-regarded WR preps but they have a high miss rate based on college production.
I’m not really worried about how many catches and yards he gets here. Looks like he’ll improve the TE room even if only from a depth perspective — and I expect it will be more than that. If Bret and Robby feel it is a need and this guy wants to come here, sounds like a plan to me.
would love to see what Valentine could do with a clean running lane and into the second line of the defense....
I was thinking the same thing. We need to get Valentine in the rotation. He's got spin moves, cuts and speed.
BZuppke
- Plainfield
Back in the 1920s Zuppke said, and I paraphrase: ‘football makes campus life throb’. Yes he used al that particular word. The truth is, as good as it’s been to have good basketball, football is king. It drives college athletics and think about this: When the Bears are good the whole city is jacked up. No other pro team unites Chicago and beyond like the Bears.
‘I got one more in me’: J.C. Davis returning to Illinois in 2025
The Illini’s O-Line retains one of its stars.
www.thechampaignroom.com
We need to get Valentine in the weight room so he can pass block
SampsonRelpenk
- Edwardsville, IL
If he’s got decent hands I’d like to see him in some IW type plays. Could just be his size but I see a similar jitterbug type there.
Fadonie - definitely want. unless of course we're going into the bags of key returners (Jacas, Scott) and getting them in jeopardy.
would definitely upgrade the pass catching group. never a bad idea to arm your ace qb with weapons.
would definitely upgrade the pass catching group. never a bad idea to arm your ace qb with weapons.
Lets get Jordan Anderson in the weight room as well and turn him into a full time fullback. Open up some holes the the RB crew. JA is 6'4 240. He needs some reps as well, end his career with a bang. JA would be perfect for the T formation we ran in the bowl game, lead blocker.
Some of you may not remember FB Mike Alstot from Purdont. Alstot was a beast.
We use a FB about .05% of the time.
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
guessing he couldn't beat out the other guys
Better chance of him playing H back.
Yeah, thought maybe there was more to it.
HB would be nice, lets get him some reps. To big and to talented not to get reps somewhere.
DevILLDawg
- Meredosia, Illinois
I'll catch hate on this, but any chance there are scouts, people in his circle etc. Recommending Faegin to move to LB? With his injuries and lack of top end speed it's hard to envision him going anywhere but RD 6 or 7 as a RB.
You know he broke 21 mph at 250lbs right?
DevILLDawg
- Meredosia, Illinois
Look, Will Compton did 9 years as a LB and hes not the athlete Kaedin is. Running backs get cycled in and out indiscriminately with most not getting more than their 1st contract because paying RBs has been a bad move with the exception of a handful of backs.
Like it or not. He could have a longer and more sustainable career on the other side of the ball.
Yes, I'd love to see him run for 1000 yards for us but I dont think it would serve him in the long run. But I get that he was clocked running fast..
His top end speed is impressive, but he's extremely slow getting out of the backfield. He doesn't hit the hole quickly and has to make two moves to get back to the line of scrimmage. If he gets a full head of team, that top end speed is extremely impressive. This issue is the initial explosion, which after 1.5 years, really doesn't seem to be there. That could all change however. We never know.
The other poster's point is valid. At his size and speed, assuming he enjoys contact....linebacker makes all kinds of sense. If he wants to stay in the backfield, he needs to get significantly quicker getting started, which would probably entail taking some pounds off.
Last 2 seasons - 2 sacks
Is Feagin going to be able to play? I wasn’t hearing great things about his injury.
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