lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
The highest ranked recruiting class we’ve had in almost 20 years might help.
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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I now understand why the American education system is doing so poorly. lol. Who is teaching these kids stats nowadays?
All 10 playoff teams last season were in the top 25 of the portal rankings. We sit at like 40 or 50 depending on the site. Simply not good enough right now. I’m sure we’ll add bodies. But it’s not about adding bodies. They need difference makers. Which are much more expensive the later we go here.
All 10 playoff teams last season were in the top 25 of the portal rankings. We sit at like 40 or 50 depending on the site. Simply not good enough right now. I’m sure we’ll add bodies. But it’s not about adding bodies. They need difference makers. Which are much more expensive the later we go here.
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Good run defender in the middle with some ability to pressure the QB, I say give him all the money we had set aside for Tomiwa and see if it's enough
Kinda hard to evaluate this data without knowing what it is (Is this the whole roster? 2025 recruiting class? What am I looking at?), and without comparing to other programs. What if programs that did poorly also have similar ratios? Once I have the data set I should be looking at I think it'd be interesting to compare to programs like Arkansas and Mississippi St. Correlation =/= causation and without more info you can't really draw the conclusions you're drawing. I'm also going to point out that for the programs you selected as exemplars the average percentage of P4 transfers was 15% and ours was (is?) 15.7%. So the real difference is in high school commits vs non-p4 transfers, which would seem to make the large highly ranked prep class we brought in a good thing? And while yes, this means they losing a HS recruit like McCollum hurts that percentage for us, I guess losing non-P4 transfers like Bowick and Coenen is a good thing? Yet that completely contradicts your other argument? Was signing them bad and failing to retain them also bad?? Or would retaining them have been bad because too many non-P4 transfers = we suck??
This is a hilarious way to do things when you consider that the FPI rankings use recruiting rankings, including transfer portal rankings, as an input. So of course there is a correlation. The correlation is literally built into the model.
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
And that is awesome! No denying we remain a program on the upswing.
With the number of transfers out, the question is whether next year is a re-build or a re-load. The incoming freshman class will help a lot with the re-build and some toward the re-load. The transfers in will dictate whether or not we take a step back or a step forward, though.
Hate to take the negative side, but he wasn't the "top ranked JUCO recruit" unless I'm missing something. He was unranked per his 247 page.
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It's the entire 2025 roster. I did compare mid-tier programs to top end ones (taking 3 in each conference). The lower level the program... the more they rely on non-P4 talent generally. The HS class we brought in was a step in the right direction for sure. No argument from me there. The issue with that is... only helps if you retain them and that's a multiyear investment which will not help us this year. We are not retaining the way we have before, thus... shifting our model. If we are going to recruit lower-level prospects we sure as !!!! better retain them... because as you said on your prior post... it is cheaper, correct? The better you do at HS recruiting = the less you got to do in the portal. If you are recruiting lower-level players and losing them?? Double whammy of bad. Issue is, we are not replacing them with other P4 recruits right now. Only fliers, giving us less and less room for bad evals.
And why do you think it's built into the model?? BECAUSE THEY MATTER lol.... use any other site or metric you'd like. Literally any other one. It shows direct significant correlation between portal rankings and on-field success. 10 of the 10 P4 team in the playoff last year had a top 25 portal class. I am not sure how to make this more simple for you
And why do you think it's built into the model?? BECAUSE THEY MATTER lol.... use any other site or metric you'd like. Literally any other one. It shows direct significant correlation between portal rankings and on-field success. 10 of the 10 P4 team in the playoff last year had a top 25 portal class. I am not sure how to make this more simple for you
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ptgrd23
- orange county CA
My wish list
2 Edge rushers
2 Run stoppers interior lineman
Thought we had a couple rotation players in that category. Hated to lose:
McCollum run stopper to TAM - had be a bucket of money
Durajie run stopper to South Carolina - no idea why he left
Hood LB edge rusher to WV - was it money?
Welcome to uber portal
2 Edge rushers
2 Run stoppers interior lineman
Thought we had a couple rotation players in that category. Hated to lose:
McCollum run stopper to TAM - had be a bucket of money
Durajie run stopper to South Carolina - no idea why he left
Hood LB edge rusher to WV - was it money?
Welcome to uber portal
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
If only we had a Colorado St. connection or two.......
If we're filling a very big positional need in the defensive trenches with (relatively) unproven pieces from 2-10 Colorado State, I'd be a bit skeptical. We need TWO proven starters at DL to replace Tomiwa and Angelo.
I think the offense has a chance to be very good, particularly the passing attack. Definitely not as encouraging on the defensive side thus far.
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mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Don't make the joke, don't make the joke, don't make the joke...
All of these posts are pushing the envelope on unreliable narrators but seeing a graphic about a portal guy being considered by Tennessee Tech and Florida is high comedy.
It's just comical how people cheered and said we'd do so much better when we lost those two.
The defensive front was already going to be a weakness losing Jacas. Now let's just hope it's not a trainwreck because, in all honesty, I kind of like our team in the other areas: offense, the secondary if we potentially get X back.
I do think Kicker is another question mark.
I totally agree with you for what it’s worth. Huge fan of what we did on offense, i think we reloaded very well there, liked the move for the center, Perry and Platt are nice options, kept all the RBs and most of the OL. I think the defense secondary has some intriguing bodies back there as well. Kicker and TE need someone else as well.
Don’t need to rehash the rest. But I do find it amusing too that the narrative went from “we’re easily gonna replace those guys” to “our Hs commits weren’t cheap and we should trust the staff”. Much different vibes a few days apart.
We'll be more than OK on defense.
My bet is that we have some solid improvements next year once all is said and done.
My bet is that we have some solid improvements next year once all is said and done.
We are always going to score a touchdown then when we score a TD we just go for 2.... Cost savings!!!
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
Keona Davis won't be easy to get. I'm seeing a lot of interest for him already. Illinois better get the big bag out for him and lock it up quick. I'm getting the feeling he might be their #1 target from what i have been reading around. Really can't miss on this one if he is their top target.
He is a massive human and obviously we'll have a good scout from the CSU coach on staff, but he's not likely to make an impact next year for us given he didn't at CSU
Awesome! I remember getting introduced to him at the home win against Kansas 2 years ago. Hasn’t looked back since!
Feel like to start this season, the carries did not lend itself to the most talented personnel.
Obviously to end the year Valentine got majority of the reps, but we went in with the idea of:
1A Feagin
1B Laughery
#3 back Valentine
To start next season it needs to be:
1A Valentine
1B Laughery
#3 back Feagin
Laughery has never averaged below 5 yards per carry at Illinois, so I'm good with him getting a chunk of the dosage when healthy (which has always been an issue).
Feagin this year averaged a pretty disappointing 4.2 YPC. He's a very, very serviceable third back in case an injury happens, but that "pop" just hasn't been there since his freshman year (for whatever reason).
Really think he's at his best when we get him on the perimeter on those short receiving routes (a la Minnesota, USC).
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I hope Feagin is used more in the passing game this year. He’s a huge target and a big mismatch for defenses
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