I think what Bret is selling is Aaron Henry. He did not make a change at DC. Instead, he very clearly thinks it's the talent given how okay they were letting all these former rotational guys walk. Bret said at the end of last season that they needed to figure out who can play (calling out his players). He has treated Henry with kids gloves since he got here and people are not buying it anymore. Unless they land some major targets, they are going to have to sell this ragtag group to the fans come August.
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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Does he do a retrospective to see how accurate he's been? I love the guy, just don't get a chance to read his stuff very often..
To be fair we're 225 days from the season starting. No one really knows how it will be so every move is a fan Rorschach test.
My hope for the defense being better is how much of a difference X and a healthy Matthew Bailey makes on this defense. The defense held a talented Duke offense that won the ACC to 19 points. Losing X was the start of the issues last year. We still have holes to fill no doubt, but I think the secondary will be considerably better with those two healthy and Juice having another year of experience and the JC transfer will be an upgrade over what we had last year.
As we've all said we still need an Edge rusher and starting caliber DT to really feel good about next year
As we've all said we still need an Edge rusher and starting caliber DT to really feel good about next year
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
keeping our starters in during garbage time was mucho grande no bueno. I certainly hope the DC and head coach have learned from that debacle
and, yes, agree that we should be stoked about our secondary
The weird thing is that it's actually the other way around. The main concern that I have seen, and subscribe to, is that we don't have a good DL right now. These recruits we've been grabbing do not wow anyone. It's a legit concern. That's it.
No one has said "The DL sucks... and BB is a terrible coach... and this team is going winless next year... etc etc..."
But, for some reason, the "the DL is a concern" mantra has been twisted into "the sky is falling" by the "we will ignore the concerns" crowd. NOT the other way around. There are concerns that should not be ignored. I don't think the coaching staff is ignoring them. I don't think others that share the concern have said the coaching staff is ignoring them. But they are concerns.
That should not be downplayed.
Well, the first thing I would want to see is that we parted company with those who helped achieve bottom half B1G defensive rankings. I would say the players that transferred out contributed more the poor defense in the past 2 years than the players that are returning. As for those recruited and those finally getting their chance to play, how successful we will be on defense has yet to be determined. However, on the whole what I have seen in the off - season in terms of whom is returning and whom is leaving, leads me to believe we will be better defensively next year.
I like the idea but after watching the film of our new q.b., I don't think we will need to do this.
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
on the same page with discussions about possible IU transfers and replies of "want"Imagine reading in 2015 about a recruit describing his interest in Illinois because it's a "winning program"
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
imagine conflating "sky is falling" with concern/specific criticism
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
/s
what's the frequency, Kenneth?
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
one of those was *slightly* over the top sarcasm. next time I'll go bigger
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I do fine it amusing though that the "insiders" around here have been quiet. Whenever the players first portaled there was a prevailing narrative that we would land upgrades. 4 DL commits later and we have yet to see a no doubt upgrade (Janki i know is a solid player but is not more proven than Tomi). The narrative then shifted to the guys we landed are very similar to the guys we lost. Backing down the initial claim and lowering expectations. The irony of those statements is that there was a lot of chatter on here saying the guys we lost were part of the larger issue and we should be okay losing them. Only for us now to validate the current players by saying they are similar talent wise to our outgoing players (the very issue we said the beginning was the problem).
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I'm honestly not clear which one?
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Wow! A Dan Rather happenstance. Well done!
This is way too logical for this board.
You did miss it. They are here on this board as well as the JW's act as such on 247. They are the mouthpiece for the staff, at least what they want to get out
Illinois athletics, as a whole, is in a very good place but it still doesn't mean they don't want to sell it. BB is a good football coach but is also a great salesman. A big part of his job is selling. Selling the admin, players, family, fans, media, etc...
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Oh my point was to be totally fair!
One day we are “we’re a football school again” and “Tyler Underwood is an offensive genius”, next day we’re “Fire AH” and “I never want to see Ben Humrichous play basketball ever again!”…..simultaneously!
And depending on the circumstances we are almost always right in the moment!
Also, I see a uterus?
There's been widespread agreement that the DL is an area of concern and that's completely valid.
But let's not pretend there haven't been any "sky is falling" posts based on things like transfer portal rankings and predominance of G5 transfers. There have posts criticizing even the G5 transfers that have good numbers. There have been histrionic fits thrown over kickers. There have been lamentations over the loss of 16.7 receiving yards a game.
Not by any means the majority of posters or even a large minority, but to pretend it doesn't exist is disingenuous. And hey, people are entitled to these opinions, and others are entitled to respond to or comment on them.
0440 and Indy?
Still in play
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