Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#207      
So if he goes 5 - 7 or worse, what happens? Gets put on a hot seat for 1 -2 years?

Bret is no where near the hot seat …

The new Big Ten hurts our ceiling a little bit for sure … It’s a different job than the one he originally took …

6-6 is the expectation here … Bret knows that …

He has really done well rebuilding his staff after transition … He pulled the plug on Petersen right away … Most guys wouldn’t have done that … He made the change with Fenelus right away as well … He is the best coach we’ve had in a long time …

And he’s done very well in state … IMO … Now we need to lock down Mt Zion boys and I’ll be even happier … But he’s recruited well … My knock has always been … Spoon, Quan, Syd … To the league and we can’t recruit DB ??? A Hen shut me up today … We need more kids like Brooks …

Our offense will be very, very good next year … Best OL Bret has had … Adding Franklin to the WR room is a BIG add … Luke with another year in the system … We’ve got an absolute stable in the backfield … TE might be our weakest spot but Rusk is serviceable at a minimum … They are high on Boyer if he can stay healthy …
 
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#208      
No way. Clearly our best coach since Mackovic.......by a large margin. And we're still seeing signs of improvement. Long leash.
Before you write off the best coach we’ve had in generations, how will you land a better one? Not just different, but more effective.
 
#210      
Bret is no where near the hot seat …

The new Big Ten hurts our ceiling a little bit for sure … It’s a different job than the one he originally took …

6-6 is the expectation here … Bret knows that …

He has really done well rebuilding his staff after transition … He pulled the plug on Petersen right away … Most guys wouldn’t have done that … He made the change with Fenelus right away as well … He is the best coach we’ve had in a long time …

And he’s done very well in state … IMO … Now we need to lock down Mt Zion boys and I’ll be even happier … But he’s recruited well … My knock has always been … Spoon, Quan, Syd … To the league and we can’t recruit DB ??? A Hen shut me up today … We need more kids like Brooks …

Our offense will be very, very good next year … Best OL Bret has had … Adding Franklin to the WR room is a BIG add … Luke with another year in the system … We’ve got an absolute stable in the backfield … TE might be our weakest spot but Rusk is serviceable at a minimum … They are high on Boyer if he can stay healthy …
Can you clarify on the OL situation? Still not sold on our situation at RT after all the issues last year and from what I saw, Priestly/Henderson have ways to go in pass pro. I also like Kreutz; he's pretty good at making the line calls, but being undersized at C is a hard problem to solve, limits what you can do schematically
 
#211      
Brooks for Nicholson, Tobe, and McCantos is a fun hypothetical trade. Brooks is undoubtedly an upgrade. He’s the most trustworthy secondary piece on the roster, health and performance wise. Would love another cornerback with experience and some risk (knowing that getting someone better than that isn’t practical). Just not sure another CB is possible with the staff targeting a couple interior defensive line players and Franklin at WR.

Great get by the staff.
 
#212      
No way. Clearly our best coach since Mackovic.......by a large margin. And we're still seeing signs of improvement. Long leash.
He's not on the hot seat, but signs of improvement? We went way backwards last year. Yes a lot of that can be attributed to Walters leaving along with multiple NFL guys but there were some embarrassing losses.
Again, not saying Bret should be anywhere near the hot seat necessarily, but signs of improvement I'm not too sure about. If anything, 2022 is looking worse with how many NFL players were on that team but they only went 8-5.
 
#213      
Can you clarify on the OL situation? Still not sold on our situation at RT after all the issues last year and from what I saw, Priestly/Henderson have ways to go in pass pro. I also like Kreutz; he's pretty good at making the line calls, but being undersized at C is a hard problem to solve, limits what you can do schematically

Priestly is going to surprise some people … I think he’s a really solid starter … Penalties will be cut down … Plus Zy is 100% healthy …

Bret and Bart feel like have an extremely solid group of 8 guys that can start … Last year … They told me they had 4 …

JC Davis could’ve got picked this year … I mean that dude screams NFL … Elite LT …

Kreutz just is the ultimate TSD guy … Never have to worry about that dude not giving 100% and he’s a natural leader … Same thing with Gesky …

Henderson is going to be our LT next year … Unless we go land an elite one in the portal … And giving him another year of development will be massive for him …

Wigenton would start on a lot of teams in this league and he won’t start for us … Tells me we’re in a pretty dang good spot …
 
#214      
Brooks for Nicholson, Tobe, and McCantos is a fun hypothetical trade. Brooks is undoubtedly an upgrade. He’s the most trustworthy secondary piece on the roster, health and performance wise. Would love another cornerback with experience and some risk (knowing that getting someone better than that isn’t practical). Just not sure another CB is possible with the staff targeting a couple interior defensive line players and Franklin at WR.

Great get by the staff.

They’d take another DB if it was the right fit …

The target number of adds was 4 and they got 1 official today and 2 more they’ve told me are locks … But they’ll add 5 if they feel like that 5th add can lead to winning football games …
 
#215      
Wow! Miracles can indeed happen! This is one hell of a player and he cancelled his trips to USC and Michigan to commit here? That's just unbelievable. This did really happen, right? I mean we haven't chained him to a radiator under Memorial Stadium and hacked his socials, correct? I'm in shock. Overjoyed, but in absolute shock. Did not think we could get someone this good. He's instantly the best defensive player on our roster. Amazing get.
 
#216      
Wow! Miracles can indeed happen! This is one hell of a player and he cancelled his trips to USC and Michigan to commit here? That's just unbelievable. This did really happen, right? I mean we haven't chained him to a radiator under Memorial Stadium and hacked his socials, correct? I'm in shock. Overjoyed, but in absolute shock. Did not think we could get someone this good. He's instantly the best defensive player on our roster. Amazing get.
Illinois Football GIF by Fighting Illini Athletics
 
#217      
Priestly is going to surprise some people … I think he’s a really solid starter … Penalties will be cut down … Plus Zy is 100% healthy …

Bret and Bart feel like have an extremely solid group of 8 guys that can start … Last year … They told me they had 4 …

JC Davis could’ve got picked this year … I mean that dude screams NFL … Elite LT …

Kreutz just is the ultimate TSD guy … Never have to worry about that dude not giving 100% and he’s a natural leader … Same thing with Gesky …

Henderson is going to be our LT next year … Unless we go land an elite one in the portal … And giving him another year of development will be massive for him …

Wigenton would start on a lot of teams in this league and he won’t start for us … Tells me we’re in a pretty dang good spot …
You mention 7 by name, who is #8? Schuster?
 
#219      
If (or maybe even "when") we land Franklin, our offense is set imo. Think we're set at pretty much every spot. This O should be able to carry us tbh. If the O isn't good this year, three things we'll be looking at: injuries, Luke, or/and Barry.

Think our O is set. We need 2 more at DL and 1 more at CB imo.
 
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#220      
No way. Clearly our best coach since Mackovic.......by a large margin. And we're still seeing signs of improvement. Long leash.
I often see the comment " best coach since Mackovic". Not sure Mackovic was that good. He greatly benefitted by inheriting players left to him by the untimely release of White (which was a NCAA witch hunt imo). Bolted to Texas where he had all the advantages and fell flat on his face.
 
#221      
Bret is no where near the hot seat …

The new Big Ten hurts our ceiling a little bit for sure … It’s a different job than the one he originally took …

6-6 is the expectation here … Bret knows that …

He has really done well rebuilding his staff after transition … He pulled the plug on Petersen right away … Most guys wouldn’t have done that … He made the change with Fenelus right away as well … He is the best coach we’ve had in a long time …

And he’s done very well in state … IMO … Now we need to lock down Mt Zion boys and I’ll be even happier … But he’s recruited well … My knock has always been … Spoon, Quan, Syd … To the league and we can’t recruit DB ??? A Hen shut me up today … We need more kids like Brooks …

Our offense will be very, very good next year … Best OL Bret has had … Adding Franklin to the WR room is a BIG add … Luke with another year in the system … We’ve got an absolute stable in the backfield … TE might be our weakest spot but Rusk is serviceable at a minimum … They are high on Boyer if he can stay healthy …
On the A Hen note: he has undoubtedly coached those men to be nfl players. But he did not identify them from the high school ranks. Excited to see what he does with his recruits he identified and recruited. Seems he was given quite a few diamonds in the rough from Lovies excavating. We are all anxious to see if he can mold his recruits in the same manner. I have faith he can. It just hasn't been proven yet. If he can put another 3 star kid in the league he has got to start getting the recognition he deserves.
 
#222      
Seeing some optimism here again. Amazing how only a few recruits changes the overall outlook.

Anyone have an idea of how altmeyer is REALLY coming along? Looked uncomfortable at times last year. Probably for a few reasons (o line? incomplete grasp of offense? Not sure). If he improves, obviously that bodes really well, as it appears some other pieces are falling into place.
 
#223      
Bret is no where near the hot seat …

The new Big Ten hurts our ceiling a little bit for sure … It’s a different job than the one he originally took …

6-6 is the expectation here … Bret knows that …

He has really done well rebuilding his staff after transition … He pulled the plug on Petersen right away … Most guys wouldn’t have done that … He made the change with Fenelus right away as well … He is the best coach we’ve had in a long time …

And he’s done very well in state … IMO … Now we need to lock down Mt Zion boys and I’ll be even happier … But he’s recruited well … My knock has always been … Spoon, Quan, Syd … To the league and we can’t recruit DB ??? A Hen shut me up today … We need more kids like Brooks …

Our offense will be very, very good next year … Best OL Bret has had … Adding Franklin to the WR room is a BIG add … Luke with another year in the system … We’ve got an absolute stable in the backfield … TE might be our weakest spot but Rusk is serviceable at a minimum … They are high on Boyer if he can stay healthy …
This is a great update. Thx Indy!
 
#224      
I often see the comment " best coach since Mackovic". Not sure Mackovic was that good. He greatly benefitted by inheriting players left to him by the untimely release of White (which was a NCAA witch hunt imo). Bolted to Texas where he had all the advantages and fell flat on his face.
Mackovic was a really good coach. The knock on him was that he couldn't recruit, but he brought in some serious talent in his 4 years - if he had stuck around he would have won another big 10 title or two in the early 90's
 
#225      
If we do get Franklin and the DT from FAMU, i really like what we have going into next year. Of course we all wish we could get more and have a complete roster, but that's not going to happen for any school. I was really concerned the last few weeks, but if we can finish strong with these transfers, i will be fine with our team going into next season.
 
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