I'm seeing disappointment in our NIL budget, not our coach.
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
- Status
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
Maybe not if you are applying 'generational talent' to the entire football landscape, no. But in Illinois football history, Luke Altmyer was absolutely a generational talent. Best QB in 10-20 years (since Juice / Nate era) and best 3-year Illinois QB ever.
And he is the primary reason we won those 19 games. All credit to Bret and Barry for finding him, getting him, and retaining him of course.
217sports
- Springfield
Josh will make sure that the football team has what it needs from revenue sharing. We are going to be middle of the big ten when it comes to funding, Bret is thinking long term (5/5, portal) with the use of those funds right now which has led to the class we have now. We're not poor
We are a 2nd tier big ten team. Those are good wins but not marque wins. My biggest problem is we’ve been boat raced the last several times we’ve played teams like that. Hands down Indiana is the better team but we came in unprepared and got embarrassed.
We are a middle of the pack payroll wise. People are acting like this is a poverty program. For where we are at as a program it doesn’t make a ton of sense to spend crazy on prep recruits.
I don't get the sense we spent crazy on the portal either though. Obviously houser was the big one but I can't imagine the Colorado State or FCS guys cost a lot.
Bringing back guys like X, juice and Matt Bailey isn’t cheap. They are spending money on retention. It’s not like guys like Dixon, Henderson..etc are taking pay cuts to come back
Also those guys cost a lot more than you think. Obviously a guy like Sullivan from wsu doesn’t cost much.
Of course you apply generational across the college football landscape.
If you're applying it just to illinois than Luke's generational talent did indeed produce generational results for illinois.
Ok, you're making the unicorn example. People do that constantly with Wagler. Any recruit we get ranked outside of the top 100 that is downplayed, someone will bring this past year up.
The likelihood of an Indiana situation occurring again is wildly unlikely, as is the likelihood of turning a three star recruit into a lottery pick as a freshman.
For every Indiana, there are 50 teams like Minnesota that will be stuck there.
For ever Wagler, there are 100 players like Brandon Lee that transfer after a year.
Bret has done everything possible with the resources he's been given. Ultimately, it's like pulling teeth to sell out a football game. Heck, it's like pulling teeth to get the students there. We have a stadium that seats only 60,000 people and don't get the support you fill it consistently.
If the men's basketball team is playing the local community college's B team.....fans will show up.
Werner hinted that Christian Martin they spent on to get, I don’t think that was cheap.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
I know I've already spoke my peace about his Colorado State performance but.....gulp
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
No you don’t. You apply it to whatever criteria you choose to make your point.
If he is the best QB in a generation, he is generational. For Illinois or otherwise. Don’t see why this is controversial.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
The retention under Bielema has been excellent, much better than other, similar programs. This offseason was the first time they didn't keep everyone they wanted and there has been some fan anxiety. It's not going away, you can only hope that the retention resistance under Bielema stays higher than expected and the program can push it to blue blood levels if/when they are on the precipice of a special season like 2025.
I don't have disappointment in the NIL budget. That's partially because I have no clue of the actual number. That said, I do have questions about the budget (don't we all!), but mostly about choices. The outcomes in prep recruiting have been miserable for 2027, but great in 2026 - what choices are impacting that difference? Is Lopati muuuuch better than the staff realized in the winter or did they miscalculate the QB prep market costs? Are the coaching staff changes having this much of a negative impact on recruiting or is this just noise?
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
2028 | NORTH FORNEY | 6’4 225 | TE | 3.4 GPA
Dallas, TX
The original point someone made was that he was a generational talent that was wasted. As an Illini generational talent he clearly wasn't wasted. I think the original poster was claiming he was an overall generational talent, thereby 19 wins over two seasons was below what should be expected.
His PFF grades were brutal at 2-10 colorado State. Just shows the state of the current market.
You guys can’t comprehend that it’ll take more than beating Purdue and Rutgers for more money to start getting donated to the program. BB has raised the bar the goal isn’t to go 6-6 anymore
The difference between the basketball board and this one is wild. Over there people are saying anything less then a national championship is a down. Over here people are just happy with a p4 win
It is very possible to hold two things to be true true at the same time.
You can be appreciative of the success we've had the last few years AND concerned about our relative money/ talent acquisition compared to our peers going forward.
You can be appreciative of the success we've had the last few years AND concerned about our relative money/ talent acquisition compared to our peers going forward.
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
Houston area LB who I'm expecting we'll land:
Or did the market for his talent take yet another big jump, continuing a relentless trend?
Maybe our staff was wise not to overspend for a freshman. Letting him go also sends a powerful message to Boyd, maybe strengthening the relationship. Commitment cuts both ways and helped us to retain Luke. Are we converging on our QB solution for ‘27 and beyond?
Ahem. That’s starting LT, thank you.
- Status