Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

#51      
NashvILLe05
therealmiket86 said:
We’ve had a lot of success but we’ve also gotten embarrassed a lot in the last 2 years. Indiana, Wisconsin and Washington were all brutal losses. We had 2 weeks to game plan for Washington and had one of the worst game plans in modern history.
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Agreed and it’s no fun hearing about it living in SEC country.

On top of those 2 games, I know the OSU game wasn’t all on the D, but the utter helplessness of our defense on that 3rd quarter drive (when we were only down 7) was so painful to watch…made for a long 6 hour drive back to Nashville. We just never had answers in big moments.
 
#54      
therealmiket86
Fly Illini Fly! said:
2024: Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan, South Carolina were all T25 wins (ranked when the game was played).

2025: USC was a ranked win. Tennessee in Nashville was a pretty big deal as well.
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How many of those teams finished in the top 25? In 2024 Kansas was 5-7, Nebraska 7-6, Michigan 8-5.
 
#55      
IlliniWu
therealmiket86 said:
The 19 wins is nice but what marque win do we have over the last 2 years?
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I think there's plenty but definitely needed another few.

Namely either OSU, Wisconsin and/or Washington last year (Probably weren't beating Indiana),

Purdue and Michigan State in 2022 (They probably weren't letting them beat Michigan)

In '24 obviously it was the (Minnesota?) loss.

Need those types of games in the future to keep elevating.
 
#58      
therealmiket86
IlliniWu said:
I think there's plenty but definitely needed another few.

Namely either OSU, Wisconsin and/or Washington last year (Probably weren't beating Indiana),

Purdue and Michigan State in 2022 (They probably weren't letting them beat Michigan)

In '24 obviously it was the (Minnesota?) loss.

Need those types of games in the future to keep elevating.
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Losing 3 straight and not winning the big10 west in 2022 was another chance to elevate the program.

BB has done a very good job but we have missed a few opportunities. Not being bowl eligible in 2023 is another time we fumbled the bag. Having Ahen as the dc also really hurt the program
 
#59      
lstewart53x3
therealmiket86 said:
The 19 wins is nice but what marque win do we have over the last 2 years?
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This a great question for an Ohio St board. This is Illinois football. Our talent composite ranking was in the 60s last year. 17th in the B1G. Northwestern had more talent on paper. Every B1G, SEC, ACC, B12 win was a marquee win.
 
#60      
TX Illiniwek
therealmiket86 said:
How many of those teams finished in the top 25? In 2024 Kansas was 5-7, Nebraska 7-6, Michigan 8-5.
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What matters is where they were when we played them. Two things....1.) Maybe the loss to the Illini was the negative turning point for their season, and 2.) When we played IU last year we were in the Top 10, and IU got credit for a "Top 10 Win". As lstewart53x3 references, we are not Ohio State....the wins everyone has identified here are legit marquee wins for Illinois.
 
#61      
therealmiket86
lstewart53x3 said:
This a great question for an Ohio St board. This is Illinois football. Our talent composite ranking was in the 60s last year. 17th in the B1G. Northwestern had more talent on paper. Every B1G, SEC, ACC, B12 win was a marquee win.
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Ok but if you want the payroll to be in the top team stuff like that will have to happen first. Money isn’t going to pouring in when you are satisfied with just beating any p4 team.
 
#62      
bluemountain
NashvILLe05 said:
I agree. Keeping A-Hen as DC and not upgrading really hurt. Perhaps some donors are questioning why BB couldn’t seal the deal with Partridge. Hauck may turn out to be a great pivot but thus far hasn’t helped create excitement with recruits.

If the big money donors have questions about your judgment and ability to lock down talent both on the field and the sidelines, it’s going to be tough to raise competitive funds.

I’m one of those grateful for the success of the past 2 years even if we slightly regress. At the same time, more than a few folks think BB wasted a generational QB talent and whiffed on a CFP due to a relationship…and it doesn’t feel entirely wrong.
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Wow...I can't say I agree with this. I love Luke, but it's not often a "generational talent" goes undrafted. Given our talent level vs our competition, the fact we won 19 games the past 2 seasons is pretty amazing. We were by no means a CFP playoff caliber team
 
#63      
lstewart53x3
therealmiket86 said:
Ok but if you want the payroll to be in the top team stuff like that will have to happen first. Money isn’t going to pouring in when you are satisfied with just beating any p4 team.
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Well, we aren’t going to win more than 19 games in two years with just 4 draft picks on the roster (Auburn won 10 games in the past 2 years with 8 draft picks and Florida won 12 with 12), so if that’s the attitude the fan base / donors have, we’ll just never be any better than we are now.
 
#64      
therealmiket86
lstewart53x3 said:
Well, we aren’t going to win more than 19 games in two years with just 4 draft picks on the roster (Auburn won 10 games in the past 2 years with 8 draft picks and Florida won 12 with 12), so if that’s the attitude the fan base / donors have, we’ll just never be any better than we are now.
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Indiana only had 2 players drafted in 2025 and they still made the playoffs.
 
#66      
NashvILLe05
bluemountain said:
Wow...I can't say I agree with this. I love Luke, but it's not often a "generational talent" goes undrafted. Given our talent level vs our competition, the fact we won 19 games the past 2 seasons is pretty amazing. We were by no means a CFP playoff caliber team
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Generational QB talent at Illinois is different than top tier NFL talent. It’s just the reality and one that we hopefully change. Luke is the best QB since Kittner and Luke’s story is still being written. Hoping he gives his doubters the finger by his performance in the league, assuming he gets a legit shot.
 
#67      
ChiefGritty
NashvILLe05 said:
I’m one of those grateful for the success of the past 2 years even if we slightly regress. At the same time, more than a few folks think BB wasted a generational QB talent and whiffed on a CFP due to a relationship…and it doesn’t feel entirely wrong.
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The idea that we "wasted" anything the last two years is complete insanity and just really sad, I really struggle to get into the head space of having done anything but savored the experience. Was I mad after Minny '24 and Wisky '25? Of course I was, but how can the focus be that and not stuff like the Football Gods shining upon us in the absolute miracle of the MS 100th anniversary game? How is that not everything this sport is about to people?

The only feeling I have for fans who have marched in zombie-like obedience to the new "CFP is the only thing that counts" mandate is pity.

And Aaron Henry's reputation seems likely to recover in his absence, let's put a pin in this until October-November. We were not a bad defensive team under his leadership.
 
#69      
Scoregasm
illini0440 said:
Just when I thought it was time to hop back into the football side of things….nope. Think I’ll stay away for a longer.
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Awkward The Simpsons GIF
 
#72      
mhuml32
therealmiket86 said:
Money wouldn’t be taken from basketball. More donations came in after the final 4. That money was donated for basketball. When football gets to the next level of success bigger donations will start coming in
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Ultimately it's the donor's motivation and decision-making, but a couple issues with the framing here:

(a) Illinois football was awful. Not just power conference awful, but would have been an average team (or worse) in many G6 conferences. For decades. It's tough to describe how many levels the football program has improved since Bielema took over. Two of the three best Illinois football seasons of the 21st century were the past two seasons.
(b) To argue it just needs to be the "next level" before the bigger donations start coming in sounds like a Nigerian prince e-mail scam. The chance of becoming an 11-win type of program when you aren't Texas, Georgia, Ohio State, etc. is insanely difficult and is likely an impossible target. Saying, "call us when you get there" while also ignoring the massive amount of capital that is a prerequisite to reach that threshold in the first place.
(c) Again, this ends up back where we started: The system is designed for donors having to keep up with 15% YOY increase in contributions just to keep pace with the others. If the donor's are lacking in motivation, or want to give more and have to choose between a much-improved football program or a F4 basketball program, or the program is hitting their capacity max, then you start to see the cracks. That's why I'm not blaming @therealmiket86 for his take because it's likely true for some donors, but my argument is if folks saw Lovie win a total of 17 games, and Bielema took that program and won 19 games in just the past two years, and they still are not willing to give (or give more), then an extra win or two isn't changing their motivation.
 
#74      
therealmiket86
mhuml32 said:
Ultimately it's the donor's motivation and decision-making, but a couple issues with the framing here:

(a) Illinois football was awful. Not just power conference awful, but would have been an average team (or worse) in many G6 conferences. For decades. It's tough to describe how many levels the football program has improved since Bielema took over. Two of the three best Illinois football seasons of the 21st century were the past two seasons.
(b) To argue it just needs to be the "next level" before the bigger donations start coming in sounds like a Nigerian prince e-mail scam. The chance of becoming an 11-win type of program when you aren't Texas, Georgia, Ohio State, etc. is insanely difficult and is likely an impossible target. Saying, "call us when you get there" while also ignoring the massive amount of capital that is a prerequisite to reach that threshold in the first place.
(c) Again, this ends up back where we started: The system is designed for donors having to keep up with 15% YOY increase in contributions just to keep pace with the others. If the donor's are lacking in motivation, or want to give more and have to choose between a much-improved football program or a F4 basketball program, or the program is hitting their capacity max, then you start to see the cracks. That's why I'm not blaming @therealmiket86 for his take because it's likely true for some donors, but my argument is if folks saw Lovie win a total of 17 games, and Bielema took that program and won 19 games in just the past two years, and they still are not willing to give (or give more), then an extra win or two isn't changing their motivation.
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The payroll for this year’s team will be middle of the pack for the BIG. We definitely aren’t a poverty program. A problem with prep recruiting is Josh was confident that nil would be regulated with the clearinghouse. It has actually gotten worse. Schools are making offers that they’ll never pay out.
 
#75      
NashvILLe05
As a reminder, this all started with an insider post around NIL funds. He’s stated on here before he’s more tied in on the donor side than other insiders. We’re trying to understand the donors’ logic around donating to our NIL or not…which leads to guessing, bloviating, and b*tching…but I haven’t seen anyone deny the progress we’ve made under BB and he’s 100% our guy.

Give us a break. We’re months away from seeing the football or basketball teams again. What else are we going to do? 😎

GIF by Giphy QA
 
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