illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
- Status
NFL rotational back and next Chase Brown are not the same thing. De'Von Achane, for example, was drafted two rounds ahead of Chase in the same draft. He was the primary back for the Dolphins this year. But in 2022, in college, he had 150 fewer touches in 2022 and almost 600 fewer yards than Chase. It is very rare to have a guy who can carry the workload that Chase carried, and is good enough to justify having him carry that workload.
robertgoulet
IL Board Resident Crooner
- Austin, TX
I think "very rare" is down to just being able to stay healthy.
Last season Jeanty was the only back to surpass 350 plays from scrimmage (Chase had 355 in 2022). Nobody did it in 2023. Chase was the only one in 2022. Nobody did it in 2021. Nobody did it in 2020. Only Chuba Hubbard did it in 2019. Nobody did it in 2018. Nobody did it in 2017.
Apparently only three running backs have been able to stay healthy in the last 8 years.
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
Your point about Chase's workload are well taken.
Doesn't really change the original question as to who on the roster might be an NFL rotational guy.
Whoever can play special teams and pick up blitzes in pass pro....
But if I had to guess Faegin is the mostly likely candidate.
That wasn't the original question though. The original question was who is "our next Chase Brown caliber RB." To answer the later question of who would be an NFL rotational player on the current roster, probably nobody. If anyone, I'd say Laughery is probably the most likely, as kind of a change of pace back in the NFL but his inability to stay healthy and his deficiencies in pass protection make me think the odds are not very good.
On the other hand I don't think you need an NFL rotational guy to have a good running game. In 2022 USC had pretty much the rushing yards per game as us (they were 5 yards per game better). But it was very much a running back by committee, with two "primary" backs who combined for something in the ballpark of what Chase produced, and both of whom went undrafted and have never played an NFL game.
robertgoulet
IL Board Resident Crooner
- Austin, TX
I'm not disparaging him, he was a really good college RB but a large part of why he was really good (and not just good) was his crazy health which allowed him 350 snaps. Bret even mentioned that his workload was out of necessity. It wasn't exactly a deep RB room and the WR corps was wildly inconsistent so he needed to take 350 snaps and was, unbelievably, healthy enough to actually take them. That is what took him from "good" to "really good". If you look at his YPC he was right around 20th percentile of the Top 25/50 rushers that season; it screams "good, reliable and durable" like Holcombe more than "once in a decade+ talent" like Mendenhall. Brown's durability played a huge role in him getting drafted.
Ultimately, my point is less about Chase than it is about UI's ability to churn out RBs who get NFL carries. A really good college RB who gets carries in the NFL shouldn't happen once in a decade for a school like UI, especially under Bret. IMO the minimum expectation should be that Illinois churns out a running back at least every 3-4 yrs that gets carries in the NFL (Chase Brown), and a Mendenhall once in a decade+ (due to the change in RB values, we'll say 4th rd pick or better). Hell, Bret built the Wisconsin room from no names to Clay (UDFA) to Ball (7th rd) to White (4th Rd) to Gordon (1st Rd) one after the other. UI was set up to follow that pattern, IMO but HEALTH (Epstein to Brown to Feagin).
That's fair. The Lovie years weren't the best on this. To be fair to Bret, Chase was essentially our primary back from 2020-2022, so he has developed a good NFL back. Before that we had two years of Reggie Corbin, with other guys like Kendrick Foster, Dre Brown, and Mike Epstein (when healthy) mixed in. Yes, Reggie Corbin was not an NFL level RB, but I actually think he was a great college player and would love to have a guy like him on a Bret Bielema team. And before that we had Josh Ferguson, who actually did get some NFL carries. So if that's the standard, we're not doing horrible. Always room for improvement, and hopefully some of the RBs we bring in with this recruiting momentum will be high impact.
I'd take a Pierre Thomas any day of the week. Had a great "run" with the Saints.
Well yeah, of course. But as far as impact in the college game goes, he and Reggie are about equal. And that's only because Reggie didn't get opportunities in 2017 and basically lost that entire season.
Also, Pierre played on awful Illinois teams. We only won 2 Big Ten games during his time at Illinois (7-25 overall). So he was doing it all by himself essentially.
Yes the teams he was on were absolutely awful. As for "doing it by himself," eh, not really. He accounted for less than 50% of our rushing yards in 3 of his 4 seasons, and topped out at 166 plays from scrimmage (sophomore year for both). His Illini teams were the epitome of "running back by committee."
Must-get recruiting targets for each Big Ten program
Ohio State really needs to add a standout defensive lineman such as Deuce Geralds in its 2026 class.
JC Anderson.
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
FWLIW, I think this kid is far better than his ratings
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
interesting factoids:
another good one
another good one
217sports
- Springfield
Looking forward to the world of elite QB recruiting of getting them to commit, stay for a year, then enroll elsewhere and we recruit a separate, formerly highly ranked guy
that’s pretty much it
Nasir Rankin is taking an OV to Wisconsin May 29th-June 1st.
Still think we end up with him when all said and done….
Still think we end up with him when all said and done….
Last edited:
Any thoughts on how strong singleton committ is? Now that Matt Patricia!!!! Is the defensive coordinator of OSU??? Looooolll
not privy to any inside information, but from the outside looking in, I would think hiring him would make Singleton's commitment stronger. Patricia is a real %$&$^&%$ and incredibly arrogant for somebody who rode Belichick and Brady's coattails and then failed to convert that into any further success.
- Status