Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#601      
Does anyone know the story on Washington? Wake coach indicated an academic issue that wasn't his fault but it seems odd that that impacts his Wake eligibility but not his Illinois eligibility.
I haven't heard. However, two very different academic institutions:

WF - Elite Liberal Arts school
ILL - Very good state school (with elite Accounting and Engineering programs)
 
#602      
I believe it was more along the lines of credits at Illinois for his major wasnt transfering to wake or something like that. (Dont quote me on that but I believe thats what I’ve read.) Needless to say hes very much needed and im glad hes back.

I do not know anything about Washington's specific academic situation but this would track if there is a concern regarding his progress-towards-degree.

Link for those wanting a deep dive: Progress Towards Degree
 
#603      
I do not know anything about Washington's specific academic situation but this would track if there is a concern regarding his progress-towards-degree.

Link for those wanting a deep dive: Progress Towards Degree
Im glad he's back
there is likely more to the story than anyone would know, but who cares.

he's back,
he's eligible
and he will likely be getting lots of playing time with us
 
#605      
Anyone know anything about Kaden Feagin, 2023 athlete? Saw on Twitter he is going to take unofficial on July 30 after visiting in June. Has offers from Iowa and Rutgers too. 247 has him as 3-star and #4 in Illinois (from Arthur).
 
#606      
Anyone know anything about Kaden Feagin, 2023 athlete? Saw on Twitter he is going to take unofficial on July 30 after visiting in June. Has offers from Iowa and Rutgers too. 247 has him as 3-star and #4 in Illinois (from Arthur).

Werner's podcast mentioned that Feagin will be one of the top priorities for Bielema's staff in 2023 and will be a good assessment for their in-state recruiting. Need to find a way to break the cycle and get one of these guys each year. 2023 class has a number of guys in more hospitable locations (related to past recruiting success for Illinois football) than the past couple of classes.
 
#607      
I believe his dad, Steven, recruited out of Florida played running back for Mike White. Nice player, bad person.
 
#610      
Right in the mode of Elton and Delton . . .
Feagin was convicted of rape and sentenced to prison. Elton and Delton ate some free pizza and apparently wore (kept?) jackets because it was cold and they were foolish enough to visit C-U in January without jackets. They certainly didn’t do anything to get lumped in with Feagin.
 
#612      
More 247 data diving for Bielema's first recruiting class comparative to Lovie's recruiting history at Illinois. Leaving out 2021 since BB finished Lovie's class. 2022 recruiting rankings as current as of 7/18/21. 247's AVG score is based on quality instead of quantity. Was going to blow this out by looking at comparative numbers of P5 offers per class but it was going to take up more time than I can provide.

Lovie Smith's Recruiting Classes
2017 - 46th ranked class / 28 commits / .8371 247 AVG / 9 top-1000 recruits / 10th ranked B1G class
2018 - 54th ranked class / 27 commits / .8381 / 7 top-1000 recruits / 12th ranked B1G class
2019 - 53rd ranked class / 16 commits / .8622 / 7 top-1000 recruits / 13th ranked B1G class
2020 - 88th ranked class / 14 commits / .8490 / 5 top-1000 recruits / 14th ranked B1G class


Bret Bielema's Recruiting Class
2022 - 36th ranked class / 15 commits / .8459 / 5 top-1000 recruits / 8th ranked B1G class


Tough for this to be an excellent comparison because the class isn't finished buuuut a couple observations.

- I really have a hard time believing that Bielema's # of top-1000 recruits is going to go down. Lower ranked guys could drop off but Laughery had plenty of P5 offers. I don't see it happening. On the other end, guys like Anderson + Whitenack + Hollins are really close to #1000. Also, coaching staff is likely going to commit some serious time at higher and higher ranked guys now that most of the class is into place. Two current commits going into the top-1000 and two future commits being top-1000. Is 9 enough? Does that number need to be 11-12 to feel better about this first class? We won't know for another 4+ years.
- 8th ranked B1G would be the best since 2015. Seven years. Could really use an average B1G class to start off his coaching staff's tenure. 8th ranked class is when you can start envisioning .500 in-conference seasons with decent player development.
- Looking more at Lovie's recruiting classes makes me respect his earlier work to build a better floor from roster talent. He changed directions in later years that brought in higher quality talent but less prep recruits while leaning on college transfers. It helped fill some roster gaps but also lead to him losing more and more steam on the traditional recruiting trail. Mixing that with a pessimistic future based on poor on-field performance lead to his downfall.
I understand the rankings will change, but Lovie's worst class is equal to Bielema's first, even if the national and B1G rankings for Bielema are better (looking at AVG grade and top-1000 recruits). All of Lovie's classs were pretty much equal to or better than Bielema's (so far). You can see a downward trend in Lovie's class. Still, Bielema is coming into a much better situation than Lovie did. Lovie may not have worked out, but he left the program in better shape than he found it.
 
#613      
Lovie may not have worked out, but he left the program in better shape than he found it.
I do hope, at the end of the day, people understand that. Lovie came into a terrible situation, did not have the tools (desire?) to survive at this level, yet still left the program in a better spot.

However, is this a praise of Lovie? Or yet another indictment of how bad Beckman/Cubit were?
 
#614      
I follow football recruiting much more casually than basketball, partly bc I think BB can be completely changed by 1-2 “elite” ;) players where FB you obviously still need good players but you can have strengths at certain schemes and such.
That said, my casual impression was that we were getting some very good players, including some that we wouldn’t not have even been in on a year ago.
 
#615      
Not to mention the inroads to Illinois that Lovie seemed to completely dismiss. To me, that was his biggest down fall. Well, to me and about a million others that have said the same thing.
 
#618      
I understand the rankings will change, but Lovie's worst class is equal to Bielema's first, even if the national and B1G rankings for Bielema are better (looking at AVG grade and top-1000 recruits). All of Lovie's classs were pretty much equal to or better than Bielema's (so far). You can see a downward trend in Lovie's class. Still, Bielema is coming into a much better situation than Lovie did. Lovie may not have worked out, but he left the program in better shape than he found it.
Well, we are universally projected to be the worst team in the Big 10 this year, behind even Rutgers, so I'm not really convinced we are any better off than we were pre-Lovie.
 
#619      
Well, we are universally projected to be the worst team in the Big 10 this year, behind even Rutgers, so I'm not really convinced we are any better off than we were pre-Lovie.
The only reason we are better off is because of Whitman. We finished 6th in Lovie's first season and 7th in his last season. Through all of that we've improved our facilities to be top 10 in the nation, that's about the only reason we are now better off.
 
#620      
Well, we are universally projected to be the worst team in the Big 10 this year, behind even Rutgers, so I'm not really convinced we are any better off than we were pre-Lovie.
Im not suggesting that we are going to be A LOT BETTER than last year, but we could be. The preseason rankings that come out two-three months before the season starts are seldom that accurate top to bottom.

Will we be in the bottom 4-5 in the league ? thats more likely than in the middle 4-5.
But no one predicted we would be that good in 2001 or 2007 either, and the press writes what they think they know, which is not much really .
 
#621      
The only reason we are better off is because of Whitman. We finished 6th in Lovie's first season and 7th in his last season. Through all of that we've improved our facilities to be top 10 in the nation, that's about the only reason we are now better off.
Lovie was a big name that brought some attention to the program. The program was a complete dumpster fire when Lovie took the job. I don't believe it is now. I'm pretty optimistic about Illinois. Some of the pieces that are still in place were probably attractive to Bielema in his decision to take the job. Absolutely no doubt that Whitman decided that it was long past time to invest in the program. He deserves credit for that, and the improvements to Ubben. Keep in mind that Whitman hired Lovie, even extended his contract...Groce too. So, if you're going to give credit solely to Whitman, it only goes to reason that you blame him for the status that was Illinois football and basketball. I know the Lovie haters in the forum can't give the man any credit. I get that. I will always believe that Lovie is a man of integrity that did good things for the program.
 
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#622      
Lovie was a big name that brought some attention to the program. The program was a complete dumpster fire when Lovie took the job. I don't believe it is now. I'm pretty optimistic about Illinois. Some of the pieces that are still in place were probably attractive to Bielema in his decision to take the job. Absolutely no doubt that Whitman decided that it was long past time to invest in the program. He deserves credit for that, and the improvements to Ubben. Keep in mind that Whitman hired Lovie, even extended his contract...Groce too. So, if you're going to give credit solely to Whitman, it only goes to reason that you blame him for the status that was Illinois football and basketball. I know the Lovie haters in the forum can't give the man any credit. I get that. I will always believe that Lovie is a man of integrity that did good things for the program.
The extension had no guaranteed money and Lovie was fired before he coached any of those extension years. It was used a way to lure recruits that might have been apprehensive about joining a staff that will likely be completely overhauled in a few years if Lovie didn't get it together quickly.

I appreciate Lovie for navigating the Beckman scandal and giving the Illinois name a bit more integrity, but we have never (recent memory) been more of a laughing stock amongst the B1G competitively than we are right now.
 
#623      
The extension had no guaranteed money and Lovie was fired before he coached any of those extension years. It was used a way to lure recruits that might have been apprehensive about joining a staff that will likely be completely overhauled in a few years if Lovie didn't get it together quickly.

I appreciate Lovie for navigating the Beckman scandal and giving the Illinois name a bit more integrity, but we have never (recent memory) been more of a laughing stock amongst the B1G competitively than we are right now.
Glad to have BB and his talented staff working alongside JW to right this ship! Long overdue!
 
#624      
The extension had no guaranteed money and Lovie was fired before he coached any of those extension years. It was used a way to lure recruits that might have been apprehensive about joining a staff that will likely be completely overhauled in a few years if Lovie didn't get it together quickly.

I appreciate Lovie for navigating the Beckman scandal and giving the Illinois name a bit more integrity, but we have never (recent memory) been more of a laughing stock amongst the B1G competitively than we are right now.
Short memory? The team has been mostly terrible for 30 years. I was a kid during White and Mackovic, so it's kind of the way I see Illinois' rightful place. But, recent memory, they have been mostly worse before Lovie.
 
#625      
Short memory? The team has been mostly terrible for 30 years. I was a kid during White and Mackovic, so it's kind of the way I see Illinois' rightful place. But, recent memory, they have been mostly worse before Lovie.
No one is saying we are a good program. But seriously, how often have we been ranked dead last in the B1G preseason 2 years straight. It's probably been some time. Maybe early Zook, late Turner. But this is pretty abysmal even for us.
 
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