Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#428      
IlliniCaboose
Can we just please take him off the field when we're up 4 touchdowns in the second half of a buy game?
 
#433      
logjam
Kobe Bryant GIF

Finish It On The Job GIF by T-Pain
 
#434      
BrownTown
Joel Goodson said:
I love the group of '27s that are visiting this weekend. huge battles, but that's what we want. approaching the default, as it should be
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Game changer in Brayden Parks. Kind of interior line talent that has always went to Notre Dame/Michigan vice the beloved.

For me:

Parks and Brown represent local blue chip players in positions we haven't been able to recruit well previously. Call it a State Of The Program "heat check" as to whether we have broke through
 
#435      
AirTran
ChiefGritty said:
Well, as returning starters you look at guys like Scott, Bailey and Clarke as upgrades on their previous selves (and they will be getting paid accordingly).

The problem is that I don't think we have anything as good as Dylan Rosiek or Gabe Jacas at LB or OLB, and while there may not have been a superstar individual performer among Durojaiye, Thompson, Neal, McCullom, Coenen, Hunt, Warren, etc on the DL, there was a ton of strength in depth there and it's all gone with pretty middling replacements so far.

If we were done we'd be screwed. But we aren't done.
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#436      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
I hope we have $$ left for some DLine/EDGE help. If we don’t, yeah it sucks, but I honestly can’t sit here and blame the staff for prioritizing Xavier Scott. Likely still the biggest help of all potential options.

Let’s hope he can stay healthy, and no more having him out there in an over game in the 4th quarter.
 
#437      
ChiefGritty
AirTran said:
Other than Thompson and McCullom - they weren't very good. I am not understanding this at all. We were ranked 56 nationally defensively last year. We won with offense and a relatively easy schedule. We gave up 126 yards a game rushing and 218 yards a game passing. We gave up 5.3 yards per play. How did we do against the good teams (Duke, Indiana, USC, Washington, Ohio State, Tennessee, Northwestern)? Not so good. If you want to have a eulogy for a group of players that clearly aren't that good and aren't comitted to this program, knock yourself out.
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SP+ has us as the #41 defense nationally. You are overstating it. And as always, I just really bristle at denigrating players on their way out the door, the way that's accepted as "positivity" around here is gross.

But I do think we need to separate this into two separate issues. Today, January 16, we are so short of bodies on the DL we might not even be able to play a game, let alone play well. But that problem WILL be solved, that's not a matter of conjecture, it is a guarantee that room (along with our empty seats at LB and maybe FS?) will be filled by SOMEBODY over the coming days and weeks. We will have a whole team, which we don't have now, and so that kind of makes a mockery of @TheChief4Life question about what the lineup is today. That's not a relevant thing to be worrying about.

But the second issue is whether those additions will, individually and collectively, be good enough. The guys we have lost, whatever you want to say about their performance, were pretty heralded. Upgrading that will not be easy or cheap, and so people are understandably angsty to see some kind of breakthrough in that interior DL position we can really hang our hat on. It would be nice to be hearing about some big-time visitor or something.
 
#438      
GrayGhost77
DERV64 said:
Martins licis, Rob Kearney, Thor, Eddie hall, the stoltman brothers, brian shaw all have eligibility. Im sure they could be pretty good defensive tackles
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Shaw played bball in college so don't think he has any NCAA eligibility left. Those other guys, yeah.
 
#440      
Chukwuwumba
ILLINIGRAD2014 said:
The portal closes today. So, from now on the market shrinks each day. A shot clock has been added. Will be interesting to see how players leverage the dwindling supply of big guys who can move. Teams overpay for talent on the lines, hopefully we saved up.
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With X decision, my optimist thinking is staff prioritized x/Bailey and other defensive players for retention. There could have been a last minute jump into portal-or last minute request for increased$. Now portal is closed, can allocate remaining $$ how they want.
 
#441      
illinoistradition
ILLINIGRAD2014 said:
The portal closes today. So, from now on the market shrinks each day. A shot clock has been added. Will be interesting to see how players leverage the dwindling supply of big guys who can move. Teams overpay for talent on the lines, hopefully we saved up.
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IU and Miami players have until I believe next Saturday to enter the portal. Not a huge thing but it will add some more players out there.
 
#442      
ILLINIGRAD2014
Chukwuwumba said:
With X decision, my optimist thinking is staff prioritized x/Bailey and other defensive players for retention. There could have been a last minute jump into portal-or last minute request for increased$. Now portal is closed, can allocate remaining $$ how they want.
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Appreciate that perspective. I could see them waiting on the war chest. But that is a risky move as most of the top end DL are already committed. Did we wait too long?? Cause if you scroll through the DL portal it's pretty baren right now.
 
#445      
ChiefGritty
squeezegame said:
is plan B Juco defensive lineman?
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illini0440 said:
no
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But don't forget about Jakwon Morris at CB, TJ Taylor at OT, and Maika Matelau at OG, three of the top 12 Juco recruits nationally, all of whom will be major factors for us next season. (We're really stacked at corner)

I feel like we ought to think of those guys, and Jucos generally, more on the "portal" side of things than the "recruit" side of things. They're older and have played more than, say, Conor Sullivan.
 
#447      
Birdus
aaeismacgychel said:
Huge job by Bret retaining Xavier, Clarke, and Bailey. While there has been a whole lot of sky is falling retention talk on here lately, Bret continues to impress with his ability to retain our top players year in and year out. It's pretty clear that the kids who come here love him, his vision of the program, and the team. And in this day and age in the portal era, when loyalty is often bought by the biggest paycheck, that is something special. We're pretty close to a full refresh at this point which for anyone older than 3 years old is pretty mindblowing. Getting 10 wins last year and beating South Carolina, getting 9 wins this year and beating Tennessee and USC, and on the verge of a full refresh honestly needs to put the "We are Illinois. Woe is us. Where's my cup?" narrative to bed. We're not there anymore and huge credit to Bret, the coaching staff, and Josh.

Considering all the holes we had going into this offseason, we're in pretty good shape. And yes, the quality DL supply is significantly lower than the demand, however, we do have recent success, a solid team we're building, immediate starter minutes, and we probably have enough cash to tender a competitively good offer, and we still have some time left. So I understand the nervousness, I do, but I still think there's optimism there.
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This is a great post! Thx!
 
#448      
ILLINIGRAD2014
illinoistradition said:
IU and Miami players have until I believe next Saturday to enter the portal. Not a huge thing but it will add some more players out there.
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If we are being real, not really. Might add 20ish players who we were more than likely not coming here anyway or were backups. The market is realistically set. Will only get more expensive each day we wait. I am sure the staff knows this, but they also were very confident in their DB room the last few years and that didn't materialize, so i am just hoping they are not overconfident on this as well.
 
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