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Micah Riley Ducker is scheduled to announce his commitment tonight. Could be a big day for the Illini.
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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Deleted member 747817
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My bad, its scheduled for the 7th
Wisconsin for Brown.. gross.
Joel Goodson
- dawgville
Rats. Leonhard is a stud of a coach.
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Why’s that? Just cuz it’s BB? Or is there some other anecdote I’m forgetting?
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
Looking forward to winning these battles in the future, after we establish a solid D and track record. But sucks nonetheless...
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Bielema in general + the staff making Brown such a priority and Wisconsin still getting him. Also feels like precedent for Wisconsin as I can't think of the last time they got a commitment from a kid in Illinois outside of the (mostly north) Chicago suburbs or ESL.
Probably Dooley from Rochester would have been the last, but that was about 15 years ago
I don't see the improvement from Lovie Smith years. I do see more emphasis on instate recruiting. Smith with transfers was landing solid classes, coaching/schemes didn't seem to be there consistently.
I trust that Beilema recruits to his system and will eventually upgrade his recruiting here. Has done a solid job of keeping players and recruiting as a new coach.
I'm impressed that he's getting solid on board already without even coaching a game. He's already recieved commitments from 3 guys who would be our 2nd highest recruit in 2021 behind wisecarver
To be fair, this should be the easiest year of recruiting for BB for at least the next 4. Next year the new coach glow and enthusiasm will be replaced by on field performance while still having 2-3 years before his system and athletes are fully in place. I think BB knows this and is trying to build a relationship in the area and develop his NJ pipeline that he had back at Wiscy. Years 2 and 3 might be a little lean.
illini80
- Forgottonia
I think so far it compares favorably with Lovies first class. However, Lovie never had follow thru and didn’t have the proven staff BB has. I believe Beilema has a trajectory that will be much more sustainable. The ties to Illinois schools will pay off more as time passes. Some of the top kids for next year have been off the board since before BB got here. That’s how i see it anyway.
The other thing I see is BB has a clear plan. I didn't see it with Lovie, or maybe his only plan was to cash in on the transfer market. I can tell BB is making a power running spread on offense seen by all the giant road grading OL he is bringing in. Defense is a little harder to tell, but I am guessing from pressers we are going to try and hide coverages and blitz to make up for our lack of talent and depth on the defensive side.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Echoing a previous comment but this class does align favorably to Lovie's first class. Bielema has done a better job of targeting some kids and securing earlier commitments than Lovie. That said, Smalling + K. Green + Boyd + C. Green were a step above any of the current commits. Current rankings imply that Bielema's current class has a ranking individual player ranking than the '17 class. That separation might be a mirage with 247 constantly bumping up more and more player rankings every year.
Regardless, getting classes like the 2017 or current 2022 class are the goals. That 2017 class is looking like a really solid class in retrospect (Smalling + Green + Carney + Hayes + Bennett Williams + Hobbs + Gay + Pate + Roundtree + Palczewski + Lowe + Epstein + Dorsey + Adams + Phillips is a lot of important contributors in one class).
I’m not the smartest when it comes to comparing classes, but it seems to me that if some of us think the level of this class is comparable to Lovie’s first class, but he’s done it with in-state recruits, that’s a win for BB. Am I wrong?
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Lovie's first class had a lot of Illinois guys: Green, Smalling, Smith, Oladipo, Palczewski, Lowe, Mondesir, Knight, Pihlstrom, and Thomas all were Illinois preps.
If anything is just raises interesting questions on why Lovie and staff decided to abandon the state in subsequent classes, considering the 2017 was easily their best. Probably too many factors to accurately unpack.
altenberger22
- South Carolina
I actually consider this a bad thing. I'm looking for a record of 9-4 and high quality Bowl Games by Years 3 & 4.
Further, I expect our recruiting classes to get better and better each subsequent season. And it goes without saying that the coaching needs to be better --- along with much improved alumni and HS coaching relationships.
Deleted member 747671
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Love getting Badie on board. Sucks we couldn't reel in Brown. He's one player that could've taken a decent class to a very good class.
I wonder if it's just easier to get the offensive guys on board. Like it's not hard to picture a Bielema/Petersen offense. With defense, the prospects aren't quite sure exactly what it's going to look like. Yes Walters has been a DC for awhile, so have Bielema, Buh, and Kane. I just feel like maybe there's a more clear picture of the offense vs the defense. A player like Brown knows exactly what he's getting in a Wisconsin defense, he'd have to have a ton of faith and trust in Illinois.
I wonder if it's just easier to get the offensive guys on board. Like it's not hard to picture a Bielema/Petersen offense. With defense, the prospects aren't quite sure exactly what it's going to look like. Yes Walters has been a DC for awhile, so have Bielema, Buh, and Kane. I just feel like maybe there's a more clear picture of the offense vs the defense. A player like Brown knows exactly what he's getting in a Wisconsin defense, he'd have to have a ton of faith and trust in Illinois.
Lovie just kind of abandon recruiting altogether. That’s pretty much the main problem.
illini80
- Forgottonia
Just a reminder that BB was not known at Wisconsin for pulling in high ranking recruiting classes. He was known for winning. 9-4 is a high bar for Illinois football at least on a consistent basis.
altenberger22
- South Carolina
High bar perhaps........but I'm looking to finally leap over that bar --- particularly because similar (and even worse) schools have, during my lifetime, risen from the ashes and turned themselves into extremely respectable national programs, if not perennial powers. I think BB is the guy to finally do it in Champaign. I believe he has the "entire package" and will deliver for us. Here are a few of the model programs:
1. Clemson
2. Wisconsin
3. Iowa
4. Oregon
5. Michigan State
6. Cincinnati
7. Northwestern
8. Boise State
Clemson doesn't belong on this list; they have historically been a strong program (albeit not as strong as they are right now). The others are good benchmarks though; we can probably add a few others such as OK State, Kansas State and Mizzou to the list.
I don't think there is any question Illinois has been the most under-achieving P5 football program over the past couple decades
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