Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#777      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
BretMyBeachHouse said:
It's January 9th. This is an incredible workmanlike execution of an offseason construction plan. Filling in every whole with a high caliber player.

Now getting greedy. Is there room to ink a real difference maker still?
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This roster has enough talent and "difference makers"... now its all about retention and development and chemistry.

To answer your question, a tight end from Nebraska was brought up here. Don't know if that's much of an option at the moment.
 
#786      
Joel Goodson
in those handful of recruitments that we're going up against PSU, their fail last night could/should really help our case
 
#788      
EyeoftheIllini
Joel Goodson said:
in those handful of recruitments that we're going up against PSU, their fail last night could/should really help our case
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I’d lean more “certainly didn’t hurt our case.” All that loss did was add to the narrative that they can’t get over the hump and win a huge game. Illinois’s bowl win was a big win (especially for us) but not a huge win in the scope of college football.
 
#793      
aaeismacgychel
Hingle McCringleberry said:
That's a head scratcher. I wish the kid the best and I hope it is a better fit for him. That being said, we clearly upgraded the position.
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It's odd. Definitely thought he'd be going to a major program, but maybe he just wants a 100% guaranteed starting punter position before camp competitions? The only thing his girlfriend said about it other than definitively that he wasn’t coming back is he didn't feel appreciated. If I were to read between the lines, its possible he thought he should have been our starting punter this past year so he didn't want to stay, but also didn't want to possibly get into the same situation at another major school where the starting role is given to someone else?

Still weird though as in theory, had he stayed here, we might not go after the Purdue punter and then Declan would be the odds on favorite to be the starter on a team with CFP aspirations. So strange. Maybe he knew the Purdue punter was flirting with us and likely transferring and he didn't like that we were going to bring him on?
 
#794      
TheGMan
GrayGhost77 said:
I think you're vastly underrating what another year of skill development, familiarity with scheme, strength training, and overall maturity will do for this team. Next season should be special.
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No doubt we have definitely closed the gap, technically, based on all the things you mentioned. However, the talent gap between us and the upper echelon of college football (the remaining teams in the CFP was the barometer) was pretty huge.

Building an overhanging observation deck on one side of the Grand Canyon technically gets you closer to the other side, but probably not a good idea to try and jump to the other side from that deck.

EDIT: Which isn't to say that I am by any means disappointed in the strides that we have made. They are huge for us as a program; just being realistic that we have a LONG way to go to catch up to the talent level of those programs.
 
#797      
bluemountain
mhuml32 said:
It's amazing that the NIL apparatus is healthy enough to take a shot like this. Ignoring the random health luck, the 2025 Illinois football team is going to be the most talented version in a very long time.
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Probably since 2010?
 
#798      
Joel Goodson
illiniE said:
How does losing in the last minute of the national championship semifinal hurt their case in recruitment? Winning 2 games in the playoffs and being in that game has to be a huge win for the program.
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I don't know, maybe the fact that they blew the game?
 
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