I think Alstott is still a Purdue commit unless you're seeing something I don't

 

Thought I saw him decommit.

Lovie gets another commitment in Bennett Williams. A 3* CB from Cali. First recruit to get from Cali since 2003. Lovie and staff continue to do work on the recruiting trail in his first real recruiting class.

Lovie gets another commitment in Bennett Williams. A 3* CB from Cali. First recruit to get from Cali since 2003. Lovie and staff continue to do work on the recruiting trail in his first real recruiting class.

 

 

Lovie will be fine. They'll never be Ohio State or Michigan but there's no reason they can't be Iowa.

Lovie will be fine. They'll never be Ohio State or Michigan but there's no reason they can't be Iowa.

 

Honestly, that is all I'm asking for. Consistently around 7-9 wins with the occasional great season of 10-11 and I'll be perfectly content.

 

Looks like Illinois just landed another commitment too. Nate McNeal (Director of relations) is hinting at another one after Williams.

Lovie gets another commitment in Bennett Williams. A 3* CB from Cali. First recruit to get from Cali since 2003. Lovie and staff continue to do work on the recruiting trail in his first real recruiting class.

 

 

It was a foregone conclusion but Ricky Smalling is a huge get. That kid is a stud. Too bad they couldn't put Jeff Thomas next to him.

Honestly, that is all I'm asking for. Consistently around 7-9 wins with the occasional great season of 10-11 and I'll be perfectly content.

 

Looks like Illinois just landed another commitment too. Nate McNeal (Director of relations) is hinting at another one after Williams.

I dont see why they cant. Recruiting has been awful and its not because of the school, its because of the wrong targets.

I dont see why they cant. Recruiting has been awful and its not because of the school, its because of the wrong targets.

 

Well that and Beckman just being an unmitigated disaster in all facets. Zook recruited a ton of talent to Illinois until the disastrous 2009 season.

It was a foregone conclusion but Ricky Smalling is a huge get. That kid is a stud. Too bad they couldn't put Jeff Thomas next to him.

 

I think with Lovie he will play on Sunday's as a CB/return man

 

 

No clue how Harbaugh pulled in Solomon after he decommitted last year. I'll take it.

I love signing day. So hard to focus at work. It was pretty much all signed and sealed for the Buckeyes before today, but still a couple guys could still sign. Monster class either way.

I love signing day on the other end. It is so cool seeing kids that would have never had a chance at college get the chance to go because of football.

I love signing day on the other end. It is so cool seeing kids that would have never had a chance at college get the chance to go because of football.

 

and put the education to good use.

 

 

Rumors that Illinois might pry Bobby Roundtree away from a heavy Indiana lean.

Rumors that Illinois might pry Bobby Roundtree away from a heavy Indiana lean.

 

Illinois lands Roundtree. Wow.

Illinois lands Roundtree. Wow.

I was a little worried there that Lovie made him a personal priority and wasn't prying him from Indiana but man Lovie and staff have been almost perfect thus far recruiting wise.

 

We've lost out on Thomas, Roberson and a few others but for the most part we've hit on all of our priorities.

I was a little worried there that Lovie made him a personal priority and wasn't prying him from Indiana but man Lovie and staff have been almost perfect thus far recruiting wise.

 

We've lost out on Thomas, Roberson and a few others but for the most part we've hit on all of our priorities.

 

 

I heard Jeff Thomas couldn't get in there. Which is strange because he was eligible at Missouri

I heard Jeff Thomas couldn't get in there. Which is strange because he was eligible at Missouri

Test scores were fine, but GPA was a major concern. Like all A's were needed to have a chance, and sounds like Illinois did everything they could to get the right support around him but it wasn't enough.

 

And a lot of that is on Thomas, he skipped a TON of classes/days.

 

I do hope he gets in at Miami, kid is going to be a stud.

I love signing day on the other end. It is so cool seeing kids that would have never had a chance at college get the chance to go because of football.

Illinois signed a kid named Larry Boyd, and he had a little blurb awhile back on getting to go to college and it was so cool to see, you kind of lose it in the football hype and everything but these are kids getting great opportunities academically and can be not just life changing but generation changing.

Well that and Beckman just being an unmitigated disaster in all facets. Zook recruited a ton of talent to Illinois until the disastrous 2009 season.

True, but even outside of some of the elite recruits Zook got, Illinois just hasnt made the correct targets a priority IMO. There are players in Ohio that are going to Mac schools or even kentucky that I think teams like illinois could land and they would be stars in the big ten. Beckman totally didnt even try.

True, but even outside of some of the elite recruits Zook got, Illinois just hasnt made the correct targets a priority IMO. There are players in Ohio that are going to Mac schools or even kentucky that I think teams like illinois could land and they would be stars in the big ten. Beckman totally didnt even try.

Lovie has the money and smarts to have a dedicated recruiting staff, we never had a database of recruits (or it was very limited) and most of the data collection was done by the assistants. Now we have personnel doing the dirty work and coaches doing the evals, just a way better setup than before. It allows us to find those guys, recruits like Nate Hobbs that we just got, and then we have the HC to seal the deal.

Lovie has the money and smarts to have a dedicated recruiting staff, we never had a database of recruits (or it was very limited) and most of the data collection was done by the assistants. Now we have personnel doing the dirty work and coaches doing the evals, just a way better setup than before. It allows us to find those guys, recruits like Nate Hobbs that we just got, and then we have the HC to seal the deal.

 

Gives me so much hope for the future under Lovie. Whitman has done a great job, now just needs to hire a competent basketball coach

True, but even outside of some of the elite recruits Zook got, Illinois just hasnt made the correct targets a priority IMO. There are players in Ohio that are going to Mac schools or even kentucky that I think teams like illinois could land and they would be stars in the big ten. Beckman totally didnt even try.

 

Beckman was garbage. I have no idea what his recruiting strategy was. Zook actually landed a lot of really good under the radar guys from Ohio and elsewhere. Jon Asamoah, Tavon Wilson, Whitney Mercilus, etc. Talent evaluation and recruiting was not a problem for Zook from 2006-2009. After that it became one because the 2009 team was a disaster and then they replaced basically the whole coaching staff and they didn't really have good recruiters on staff. Illinois had at least 8 win talent from 2007-2012 and had one season where they won more than 6 games in the regular season because the coaching was terrible.

Lovie has the money and smarts to have a dedicated recruiting staff, we never had a database of recruits (or it was very limited) and most of the data collection was done by the assistants. Now we have personnel doing the dirty work and coaches doing the evals, just a way better setup than before. It allows us to find those guys, recruits like Nate Hobbs that we just got, and then we have the HC to seal the deal.

See thats asinine to me. How did nobody think of having a dedicated recruiting staff? Bama has like 20 people that do JUST that. Illinois has a lot of room for improvement in the evaluation process and I think thats the start of the return of the program.

See thats asinine to me. How did nobody think of having a dedicated recruiting staff? Bama has like 20 people that do JUST that. Illinois has a lot of room for improvement in the evaluation process and I think thats the start of the return of the program.

2 reasons why that happened:

1) Beckman had no idea how to run a big boy program. He didn't have this vision, I personally think he knew he was in over his head from day 1.

2) The assistant budget was not nearly as big as it is now, Whitman not only provided vision but budget allowing the vision to become reality. Illinois dedicated itself to be close to the top of the Big Ten for it's assistant/staff pool. That should be a sound investment. Mike Thomas (former AD) did a lot of good things for the Athletic department, he modernized it, got rid of a lot of donor-only mentality, came up with good facility designs, etc. But he didn't have the personality or vision to sell to top coaches. Whitman so far seems to have it, we shall see when replacing Groce just how much he does outside of football but he's earned a lot of trust thus far.

Best class of all time for my boys today, that avg star rating is incredible.