Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#526      
TheGMan
The Dying Illini said:
For what its worth Walters was superior to most at scheming up against run fits and attacking weaknesses on the opposing OL. Creating advantage for his defenses which ultimately led to his defenses success.

My largest contention with Henry is that *yes* the talent is not what it was with Walters or where it needs to be but he seemed to be consistently outcoached and did not make adjustments against *BETTER* teams.

Miss me with the *good games* against Wisconsin, NW, Rutgers and Maryland ... 3/4 finished in the bottom 5 of a 18 team league.

Walters regardless of talent on the opposing O frequently had an approach or quickly adjusted to what the game flow was.

This is what happens when the DC you bring in to scheme/call plays has REAL P4 experience doing that same job. Especially helpful when it was in the SEC.

Hiring a first time, never called plays DC at a P4 school trying to win with lesser talent requires someone with a better overall coaching resume.

Since 23' when Henry took over we have not only been out talented but out schemed frequently. The reason we won was Luke playing superman nearly every game and this year that Superman luck ran out many times.

Its wonderful we have upgraded the talent and I anticipate with a larger budget we continue those efforts in the portal. As @Mr. Tibbs said. Friends don't let friends drunk drive.

If they choose to keep Henry into '26 and the defense continues its current trends do not come back here bitching about what we already knew.

Ialways remember this quote from one of my coachs, "When someone tells and shows you who they are, believe them."

Aaron Henry has done both of those since 23' when we should have parted ways the first time.
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Attributing this quote to a coach is giving real Michael Scott vibes...

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#529      
Red77sng
I’m hoping we get 4 OL in the portal if Indiana can get a guy like Coogan I don’t see why BB can’t
 
#530      
IlliniWu
OskieWowWow said:
I don't know that Henderson will be able to handle Center responsibilities
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I know he's repped there so just an early rough draft. If not, I could see something like

LT Taylor
LG Matelau
C Tuerk
RG Henderson
RT Stewart

If you don't have Henderson starting at all as some believe, then who knows? Will be interesting to watch.
 
#531      
Mr. Tibbs
i’m curious to know if anyone has analyzed Cignetti et al recruiting of players since he got the IU job (or even the JMU job)

is he as lucky as he is good ?
did he coach then up ?
did he find diamonds in a coal mine ?

how has he found these guys that just blew our guys away and beat Oregon out there ?

what is the secret there?

it’s unprecedented. he doesn’t have a fatter wallet than most teams in the B1G or SEC, does he ?
 
#532      
IllinoisOKC
I have no idea but im guessing the staff will add a couple portal acquisitions, center and another tackle? But as the roster sits now, would it be..
OT- knapick and tyler mcmillan
G- hansen and matelau
C- tj mcmillan and no clue other options @center.
Just a guess
 
#533      
Mapman
OskieWowWow said:
Case in point, you can run a press-heavy scheme when you have Devon Witherspoon. You can't when you have 5'9" Torrie Cox. Not a slight on Cox
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Witherspoon took away half the field, didn’t he.

I just don’t know how to feel about the D (players and coordinator). Recognize the elite talent drop off, but then there were so many issues with wrong angles, wrong gaps, too many players not being able to shed blocks, corner blitz’s late and from a 10 + yard cushion, overall tentative play….can’t all be due to talent drop off.
 
#534      
Bbuck21
After reading all the posts discussing talent levels and coaching of the last few years, I have a sincere question for the folks on here more knowledgable than me (which is pretty much everybody). I was thinking about the 2024 and 2025 seasons and my general feeling about the team's overall performance. We had our bad moments in 2024 (loss to MN, requiring fire drill final possession to defeat a terrible Purdue team, ...) but generally I thought we were very solid, close to being a CFP team. When I viewed all the starters and coaches returning, I only saw the "down" DL and WR that would be signifcantly different. I didn't feel the DL was difficult to replace with equal talent. With the WR and TE additions, it felt like that was resolved. I just scanned the 2024 versus 2025 statistics. It is surprisingly similar. In fact there are some interesting stats that we were better than last year. Off/Def rushing numbers were worse, passing was better, TO ratio similar, less sacks in 2025. I'm not big on statistics unless something is so obvious. So, why did I never feel good about the 2025 version? I can't believe Xavier Scott alone could have been that significant. What am I missing? I don't mean to sound like a whiner, but how did the Illini seem so solid, especially by the end of 2024? I expected them to be better in 2025. Or am I jsut remembering 2024 as being much better than they really were?
 
#536      
OB positive
OskieWowWow said:
Case in point, you can run a press-heavy scheme when you have Devon Witherspoon. You can't when you have 5'9" Torrie Cox. Not a slight on Cox
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Well if you keep the quarterback running for his life and unsettled it really doesn't matter. He won't be throwing the ball accurately enough to take advantage. Soft pressure always leads to quarterbacks having big days against us. Even the below average ones.
 
#537      
MoCoMdIllini
(Not quoting the one above since it is right there)

There was all that and then the sense that even when everything worked to plan (and if memory serves me right, Maryland was that game), it just wasn't an exciting-looking defense.

The Northwestern second half looked different than the rest of the season.
 
#538      
Second place is 1st loser
Mapman said:
Witherspoon took away half the field, didn’t he.

I just don’t know how to feel about the D (players and coordinator). Recognize the elite talent drop off, but then there were so many issues with wrong angles, wrong gaps, too many players not being able to shed blocks, corner blitz’s late and from a 10 + yard cushion, overall tentative play….can’t all be due to talent drop off.
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A lot of what your referencing is the job of the positional coaches as well. Who is the LB's coach and who is the DB's coach? That's where you start.

The defense was held hostage because we had absolutely terrible CB play. The defense was schemed to protect them and that isn't an easy issue to cover. X being out was just an enormous loss. The drop off in talent was really bad. It looks like that was addressed with some high level guys coming in.

The LB's ability to be gap sound and make open field tackles was unacceptable. Too many times we couldn't get off the field because of tackles that should have been made behind the LOS ended up being a 5 yard gain.
 
#539      
derrick6
You'd think that play calling would adapt to the obvious OL problems.
 
#540      
Mr. Tibbs
MoCoMdIllini said:
(Not quoting the one above since it is right there)

There was all that and then the sense that even when everything worked to plan (and if memory serves me right, Maryland was that game), it just wasn't an exciting-looking defense.

The Northwestern second half looked different than the rest of the season.
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Tbh, I NEVER felt comfortable with our standard defense at any time during the season . in the NW Game , the only major difference was
a. their main RB was knocked out
b. turnovers

orherwise , it was SS , DD
 
#541      
therealmiket86
IllinoisOKC said:
I have no idea but im guessing the staff will add a couple portal acquisitions, center and another tackle? But as the roster sits now, would it be..
OT- knapick and tyler mcmillan
G- hansen and matelau
C- tj mcmillan and no clue other options @center.
Just a guess
Click to expand...

Tyler McMillan won’t be starting. He didn’t travel with the team last year
 
#543      
IllinoisOKC
therealmiket86 said:
Tyler McMillan won’t be starting. He didn’t travel with the team last year
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My mistake. Had it in my head he was competing for rt reps in the summer, might’ve been schuster i was thinking of. Needless to say, what a complete wiff on my part
 
#544      
Mr. Tibbs
fuddrules said:
Not surprising, I have no idea how he got an offer. I suppose he was OK in pass blocking.
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I have ZERO knowledge about his offer or recruitment

but know that sometimes offers are made to get your feet in the door in a school or conference for a lad 1 or 2 years down the line
 
#547      
therealmiket86
Second place is 1st loser said:
A lot of what your referencing is the job of the positional coaches as well. Who is the LB's coach and who is the DB's coach? That's where you start.

The defense was held hostage because we had absolutely terrible CB play. The defense was schemed to protect them and that isn't an easy issue to cover. X being out was just an enormous loss. The drop off in talent was really bad. It looks like that was addressed with some high level guys coming in.

The LB's ability to be gap sound and make open field tackles was unacceptable. Too many times we couldn't get off the field because of tackles that should have been made behind the LOS ended up being a 5 yard gain.
Click to expand...

I’ve said several times that we have to many unproven coaches on the defensive side. It doesn’t sound like we will be making many changes
 
#548      
stevej64
Mr. Tibbs said:
Tbh, I NEVER felt comfortable with our standard defense at any time during the season . in the NW Game , the only major difference was
a. their main RB was knocked out
b. turnovers

orherwise , it was SS , DD
Click to expand...

You just can’t stand there and get picked apart time after time. I understand the bend but don’t break concept but my god, at some point , change it up. Preferably before your down 2 or 3 scores.
 
#549      
Illinivek23
Second place is 1st loser said:
A lot of what your referencing is the job of the positional coaches as well. Who is the LB's coach and who is the DB's coach? That's where you start.

The defense was held hostage because we had absolutely terrible CB play. The defense was schemed to protect them and that isn't an easy issue to cover. X being out was just an enormous loss. The drop off in talent was really bad. It looks like that was addressed with some high level guys coming in.

The LB's ability to be gap sound and make open field tackles was unacceptable. Too many times we couldn't get off the field because of tackles that should have been made behind the LOS ended up being a 5 yard gain.
Click to expand...
Where do we expect Beerman to fit? Inside or outside? He will be a bigger LB and runs well.
 
#550      
logjam
Mr. Tibbs said:
I have ZERO knowledge about his offer or recruitment

but know that sometimes offers are made to get your feet in the door in a school or conference for a lad 1 or 2 years down the line
Click to expand...
Or a brother...or relative...or teammate...I'm done...
 
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