The consensus is that we have the better chance of landing him between the two.
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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Why not both?
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
looks like he is serious about blocking:
great sign
great sign
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Ah, the West Coast Offense. 621 yards anyone?I listened to it on the radio. Remember in particular Mike Martin's fumble. Still remains one of my all time favorite Illini football players.
The Buckeyes led the Big Ten in passing defense, giving up an average of just over 100 yards per game. But coming to town in game 9 was Illinois and their prolific passing attack. Mike White had taken over as head coach of the Illini after 3 disastrous years under former OSU player and Michigan assistant coach Gary Moeller. White had been national coach of the year in 1975 at California, and had served on the staff of the San Francisco 49ers for two years before taking the job at Illinois. He brought to the team a sophisticated passing attack led by junior college transfer Dave Wilson.
Wilson was a quarterback who threw the ball hard and with great accuracy. His skills were tailor-made for White's short passing game. Looking at the film of the OSU defense, and surveying his team's depleted corps of running backs, White decided he had no choice but to air it out against Ohio State. He told his players before the game to expect that they would throw 60-70 passes in the game. The way the game started, he would end up being forced to pass often in any event just to keep up with the OSU offense.
Todd Bell and the secondary were burned by Wilson.
Behind the passing of Schlichter, the Buckeyes scored early and often on their way to a 28-0 lead. But with just over a minute remaining in the first half, Wilson connected with receiver Greg Dentino for a 24-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 28-7 at halftime. But OSU was not about to let up in the second half.
Beginning the 3rd quarter with the ball, the Buckeyes moved quickly down the field and Schlichter hit receiver Doug Donley with a 26-yard TD pass to increase their lead to 35-7. At this point, White decided that running was futile and he decided to throw on every play. They got the ball back and moved down the field swiftly, scoring on a 38-yard pass from Wilson to tight end Lee Boeke to cut the lead to 35-14.
In those days, it was not expected that teams could come back from so large of a deficit, and so Ohio State attempted to kill the clock with the running game and played a variation of a "prevent" defense to try to keep Illinois from scoring quickly. Neither was very effective on this day. OSU's Murray fumbled on their next possession, and the Illini quickly took advantage with another passing TD to cut the lead to 35-21.
After a forced punt, Illinois once again moved down the field in only 7 plays to score another TD on a 13-yard pass. Now it was 35-28 and OSU fans were getting restless. Illinois forced a punt on the next possession, but Dentino fumbled it away and the Buckeyes were in business. They scored quickly to up the lead to 42-28, but Wilson and the Illini were far from finished. He led them on an 83-yard march that culminated in a 2-yard scoring pass to running back Greg Foster that made the score 42-35.
Ohio State finally got a long, time-consuming 72-yard drive for a touchdown when Spencer scored from the 2 to increase the lead to 49-35, but there was still almost 11 minutes remaining in the game. On their next possession, Wilson connected with receiver Mike Martin on a 62-yard pass, but Martin fumbled on the play and OSU cornerback Ray Ellis recovered to stop the drive. Wilson drove them down deep into OSU territory on the next possession, but Buckeye safety Vince Skillings intercepted him in the end zone to end that threat. The Illini scored one more touchdown with 11 seconds left in the game, but it was too little and too late as Ohio State held on for a 49-42 victory.
I re-watched this game on YouTube recently (highlights only). It was a thing of beauty, especially after 3 years of Gary Moeller.
Nasir is going to be a beast. He will for sure move up the rankings before the end of the season.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Previous Predictions
Nasir Rankin WR/DB
JC Anderson TE
King Liggins DL
Marlen Bright OT
Tucker Ashford DE
Almirian Thomas DB
Javari Barnett RB (Upgrade over Warner - will be a battle to keep him)
Tony Balanganayi DL (Upgrade over Smythe)
Owen Fors OG
Messiah Tilson DB
Kai Pritchard OT
Tony Williams LB (Replaced Late Bloomer Spot)
Parker Crim DE (Replaced Late Bloomer Spot)
AJ Marks DB
- Added Marks with Singleton's de-commitment.
- Unlikely now that Illinios added Pritchard AND Bright with Thomann already committed. Best case scenario is adding one of the two.
- Keeping Alston is going to be a battle all the way to signing day.
- Still concerned with the defensive back recruiting, but magnified with the Singleton loss.
- For above, would feel substantially better if the staff can get Tilson and Hankins. I would put the over/under at 0.5 between the two.
- Kinda surprised Fors is still waiting this out (or Illinois?). He hasn't seen a rash of offers. Riordan verbally committed to Iowa.
- Vala keeps rolling up offers and I wonder if the staff might have to decide soon how serious they are about him compared to the long-prioritized recruitments of Anderson and Sutter.
- This maps out to 23 prep commitments. I can't see the staff going beyond that, even 23 seems really high for a team with no pressure on the head coach. I'm assuming they will add at least a handful of transfers (likely more), so you are pushing into the low-30's quickly.
Nasir Rankin WR/DB
JC Anderson TE
King Liggins DL
Marlen Bright OT
Tucker Ashford DE
Almirian Thomas DB
Javari Barnett RB
(Upgrade over Warner - will be a battle to keep him)Tony Balanganayi DL
(Upgrade over Smythe)Owen Fors OG
Messiah Tilson DB
Kai Pritchard OT
Tony Williams LB
(Replaced Late Bloomer Spot)Parker Crim DE
(Replaced Late Bloomer Spot)AJ Marks DB
- Added Marks with Singleton's de-commitment.
- Unlikely now that Illinios added Pritchard AND Bright with Thomann already committed. Best case scenario is adding one of the two.
- Keeping Alston is going to be a battle all the way to signing day.
- Still concerned with the defensive back recruiting, but magnified with the Singleton loss.
- For above, would feel substantially better if the staff can get Tilson and Hankins. I would put the over/under at 0.5 between the two.
- Kinda surprised Fors is still waiting this out (or Illinois?). He hasn't seen a rash of offers. Riordan verbally committed to Iowa.
- Vala keeps rolling up offers and I wonder if the staff might have to decide soon how serious they are about him compared to the long-prioritized recruitments of Anderson and Sutter.
- This maps out to 23 prep commitments. I can't see the staff going beyond that, even 23 seems really high for a team with no pressure on the head coach. I'm assuming they will add at least a handful of transfers (likely more), so you are pushing into the low-30's quickly.
Four-Star CB Nick Hankins Jr. Includes Illinois Football on List of Five Finalists
Hankins, a class of 2026 Belleville (Illinois) West prospect, could help give the Illini another in-state recruiting foothold
www.si.com
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
Wheeler is rated ahead of Barnett on 247.
247sports.com
2026 Top Running Back Recruits
The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal observations, film evaluation and input from our network of scouts.
247sports.com
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
Wheeler is rated ahead of Barnett on 247.
2026 Top Running Back Recruits
The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal observations, film evaluation and input from our network of scouts.
I trust Bama more than 247
I do think that Wheeler is a VG back though
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
interesting ($):
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
should have refreshed before I posted, sorry
No he's not.Wheeler is rated ahead of Barnett on 247.
2026 Top Running Back Recruits
The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal observations, film evaluation and input from our network of scouts.
They have the same rating from 247's internal ratings - 85. The ranking difference is just a matter of how they are listed, which appears to be random. I haven't found any info that there is any kind of tiebreaker they use.
Barnett has a much higher composite rating - .8863 vs. .8417. Composite has Barnett as the #30 RB in the class, and has Wheeler as the #85 RB in the class. Their offer list seems to be consistent with their composite rankings.
makes me think they want to take 2+ TE's this class even if it's not both Anderson and Sutter. Makes sense to me. We like 2 TE sets, and none of our prep recruits prior to the '24 class are still on the team. Hollinger (24) only played 7 on 7 in HS, Farrell (25) is coming off a knee injury, and we were the lone P4 offer for Smith (25).
Not saying those guys won't work out, but if you can land 2 legit P4 TEs, you do it. Would greatly improve the long-term depth outlook.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
There is a need for more talent. Staff has used a former walk-on, a Colorado State transfer, and planning on a Chattanooga transfer this year for tight ends. So far it's been an abysmal return for TE prep recruiting for 10+ years besides Daniel Barker. I know folks get bent out of shape for judging players before they've had a chance to produce, which is fair, but even the TEs recruited under Bielema have been underwhelming.
I understand the chicken-or-the-egg frustration from the staff about the lack of productivity because of a slew of factors (injuries, Barker leaving, Illinois WRs being their most productive in a quarter century, quality preps wanting to see more production before committing). They've also gone all-in on TE preps this year like never before. It's going to sting if you can't get one of J.C. Anderson or Mack Sutter this year. The goal should be getting a combo of Anderson and Vala to eliminate excuses for a lack of in-house development.
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
all true, but I'd be remiss to not mention Tip Reimann bootstrapping himself from walk-on, to rotation, to scholarship, to starter, to drafted, to NFL (kind of the anti Luke Ford)
Agreed that should be the goal. I think we get Anderson and either Vala or Janda now. Janda is interesting. We were his first P4 offer two years ago, but haven't really heard much until now.
I wasn't sure if the only way the staff would take 2 would be if it was Anderson and Sutter, but it's looking like maybe they want 2 either way.
you pretty much need to try & get 2 tight ends EVERY year , knowing sometimes you won’t & sometimes one won’t pan out or you lose one to the portal
Illinir1
- Camdenton, MO
We know because we've been there.
Is the absence of in-state recruiting a problem for Wisconsin football?
Is the absence of in-state recruiting a problem for Wisconsin football?
That tells you how far college ball has come if Stanford is a top contender. I get that their NIL budget is likely massive, but when's the last time they had a relevant football season? It was 2015...
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