Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#876      
7 Year Illini
I will admit that I thought the FamILLy was a lot corny when I first heard about it. That it was a stupid marketing John Groce type slogan.

Thankfully, BB has been building a culture, and the word fits the culture he is building. And the best evidence is what recruits and students are saying about it. And this is why I think it is so weird for long-time Illini fans to follow. We have never really built a culture about what Illini football means.
 
#877      
GatorMcKlusky
BretMyBeachHouse said:
It seems on retention we have a lot going for us.

1. Lots of buzz right now should be adding to our NIL pot.
2. Bret is in kind of a sweet spot. Perceived to be excellent but not an up and comer that won't be here in 3 years.
3. Were talented but not so overwhelming that kids are doubting they can get on the field.
4. We're talented at every spot. Great players are really only going to reach their potential on good to great teams.
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The "t-bar" incident is the recruiting gift that keeps on giving. Made Bret a nationwide media sensation, and young people like that sorta stuff.
 
#880      
TX Illiniwek
zentrails said:
IW Lovie IIRC, Beason, too I think but I don't remember him actually playing for us so maybe he shouldn't count?
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This a bit off topic, but that 2019 class was very interesting. It had IW, Beason, Seth Coleman, Shammond Cooper and Keith Randolph as its Top 5. If I remember right Shammond Cooper was pretty hyped coming out of TC in St. Louis. I seem to recall him also being a 4* but when I look back at 247 they have him at a 3* and only 88. To your point, though, Beason barely saw the field and ended up at Alabama A&M...he was our top recruit that year. Cooper barely saw the field and ended up at Akron. But that class also had Tarique Barnes, Casey Washington, Moses Okpala and, yes, Devon Witherspoon....who, according to 247, didn't even have a ranking coming out of high school. Oh...and it had Dalevon Campbell who, after a stop off at Nevada, ended up at South Carolina and was the dude who caught that long pass near the end of the 3rd quarter, got twisted around and fell...if he would have kept his feet he would have scored (they ended up scoring anyway.) That's also the year Chase Brown transferred in. Enough history....back to the good stuff happening NOW!!!
 
#882      
skyIdub
Genesis of Illinois Football under Bielema:

2021: roll over onto belly, crawl across the room

2022: First steps, yank down Christmas tree, eating solid foods

2023: Teething, refuse to eat spinach and broccoli

2024: Torturing the cat, playing with matches, climbing trees,

2025: Put on big boy pants, button shirt, punching other kids on playground

grown-lol.gif
 
#883      
ktal
TX Illiniwek said:
This a bit off topic, but that 2019 class was very interesting. It had IW, Beason, Seth Coleman, Shammond Cooper and Keith Randolph as its Top 5. If I remember right Shammond Cooper was pretty hyped coming out of TC in St. Louis. I seem to recall him also being a 4* but when I look back at 247 they have him at a 3* and only 88. To your point, though, Beason barely saw the field and ended up at Alabama A&M...he was our top recruit that year. Cooper barely saw the field and ended up at Akron. But that class also had Tarique Barnes, Casey Washington, Moses Okpala and, yes, Devon Witherspoon....who, according to 247, didn't even have a ranking coming out of high school. Oh...and it had Dalevon Campbell who, after a stop off at Nevada, ended up at South Carolina and was the dude who caught that long pass near the end of the 3rd quarter, got twisted around and fell...if he would have kept his feet he would have scored (they ended up scoring anyway.) That's also the year Chase Brown transferred in. Enough history....back to the good stuff happening NOW!!!
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If that class is accurate representation of how clueless rating's services are, they may as well not offer rankings. Would random choice do significantly worse?

These highly ranked 2026 athletes are correctly evaluated, as we know. Otherwise they wouldn't have heard from Bret. Knowing more are yet to announce just makes this off-season an entirely new experience. I'm already looking forward to next season AND the seasons after! That's not familiar ground within my Illini football fandom experience. Loving it!
 
#889      
Chuck Nuggets
mhuml32 said:
Some recruiting tidbits:


- Recruiting at Illinois has been so bad since early 2010's. Just now we are coming out of the wilderness. Just look at the wide difference to where things stood in 2021 compared to now.

View attachment 39294

- The average 2026 Illinois commit is the equivalent of Brayden Trimble, the best 2025 commit. Think about that for a minute.
- The 2026 class is averaging 11 P4 offers (besides Illinois). The 2021 class only had one player who even had 6 P4 offers (Pat Bryant).
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The P5 offers stat says everything. At first, I was just hoping you might see a Pitt or Minnesota offer alongside a bunch of MAC offers. Now we're regularly seeing Arkansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Mizzou sort of offers on every recruit, with a Michigan here and a Clemson there. Incredible progress.
 
#895      
logjam
Chuck Nuggets said:
We now have Devon Witherspoon *and* Quinyon Mitchell to sell to recruits. That's quite a pitch to any aspiring cornerback.
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Quinyon went to Toledo...but point taken we put DBs into the league...we're DBU...!
 
#897      
Chukwuwumba
#898      
the juiceman cometh
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