Illinois Football Thread

[FirstTimer]

Just signed a 4 star out of Peoria. Beat the Squawks for this kid, too. I guess Lovie can't recruit.

Who said Lovie can't recruit? Still waiting on this.........

 

[FirstTimer]

And 4 star DE from Miami, Owen Carney, gives IL a Christmas commitment. Lovie and his staff are laying a solid foundation for getting a late start.

Carney is a 3 star with every single service except rivals.

 

[FirstTimer]

Guys I would love to see Lovie end the class with:

Louis Dorsey
Jeff Thomas...kid is a head case though and it will be tough to qualify him and keep him eligible. Bama and Mizzou have recently backed off.
Alex Palczewski

I would think Lovie and his staff will try to close this class with at least five more guys. Maybe as many as eight. I could see them taking as few as four or five if Smith and Co feels confident on '18 targets and want to load up on a better scouted class.

I don't think it would be wise or prudent to just take a bunch of guys to "fill a class" so to speak...and I don't think Lovie will do this...Get the quality guys you can, worry about filling the class next year.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Guys I would love to see Lovie end the class with:

Louis Dorsey
Jeff Thomas...kid is a head case though and it will be tough to qualify him and keep him eligible. Bama and Mizzou have recently backed off.
Alex Palczewski

I would think Lovie and his staff will try to close this class with at least five more guys. Maybe as many as eight. I could see them taking as few as four or five if Smith and Co feels confident on '18 targets and want to load up on a better scouted class.

I don't think it would be wise or prudent to just take a bunch of guys to "fill a class" so to speak...and I don't think Lovie will do this...Get the quality guys you can, worry about filling the class next year.

Bama and Mizzou have backed off of Thomas, the UA Game MVP? Where are you seeing this information?

 

[Parade_Rain]

Carney is a 3 star with every single service except rivals.

So he's a 4 star on the most legitimate service. Thanks.

 

[FirstTimer]

So he's a 4 star on the most legitimate service. Thanks.

:aj:

 

[FirstTimer]

Bama and Mizzou have backed off of Thomas, the UA Game MVP? Where are you seeing this information?

Have you followed this kids recruitment at all?!

He literally can't declare a Top 3 right now because Illinois is the only school still seriously pursuing him until he gets his grades in line.

He's a strong gray shirt option as his grades are really poor. Last I had heard Oregon might be sniffing around a bit and so has Tenn and Kentucky.

IIRC he has some visits planned to Louisville, Tenn, and The U.

Really reclusive kid. Grades are a MAJOR problem though. Illinois would be a decent option because they dont have to oversign to get him and could stash him at a JuCo to see if his grades ever come up.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Have you followed this kids recruitment at all?!

He literally can't declare a Top 3 right now because Illinois is the only school still seriously pursuing him until he gets his grades in line.

LOL. Is that why Oregon, Tennessee and Miami are wasting official visits on him?

 

[FirstTimer]

LOL. Is that why Oregon, Tennessee and Miami are wasting official visits on him?

Yes..because those schools can gray shirt him...........You act as though kids paying to come take OV's in January is a big deal. After the dead period schools invite droves of kids to campus. ND, whose recruiting is dead in the water right now, is racking up OV's for January right now. Hell, one kid is visiting ND simply because he wants to visit a school outside the state of Florida and ND has zero real chance with him.

Do you ever follow recruiting or understand it?

 

[Parade_Rain]

Yes..because those schools can gray shirt him...........You act as though kids paying to come take OV's in January is a big deal. After the dead period schools invite droves of kids to campus. ND, whose recruiting is dead in the water right now, is racking up OV's for January right now. Hell, one kid is visiting ND simply because he wants to visit a school outside the state of Florida and ND has zero real chance with him.

Do you ever follow recruiting or understand it?

LOL. I couldn't care less about a deflection of some kid visiting ND.

 

[FirstTimer]

LOL. I couldn't care less about a deflection of some kid visiting ND.

Do you understand recruiting?

Seriously?

You're acting as though a kid taking an OV in January is a big deal. About 300-400 recruits nationwide are taking OV's in January once the dead period lifts.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Do you understand recruiting?

Are you this stupid?

You're acting as though a kid taking an OV in January is a big deal. About 300-400 recruits nationwide are taking OV's in January once the dead period lifts.

Thomas was UA All-America Game MVP. Thomas is signing LOI Feb 1. To any school that doesn't have a full 2017 team (plus a couple of oversigns), the visits mean something.

 

[FirstTimer]

To any school that doesn't have a full 2017 team (plus a couple of oversigns), the visits mean something.

I never said the visits don't "mean anything". I said that schools have kids for OV's all the time that they don't have a significant chance of signing or may not even take an LOI from b/c the offer isn't committable. Jesus, do I have to start running through stories of kids who verbally "commit" to teams but it's moot because they wouldn't qualify academically?

You keep quoting his UA game performance as though it boosted his GPA in some way. His talent was never the issue. Him being able to qualify is. Some schools are backing off because of the qualification problems. Others are still interested or starting to poke around a bit.

If Lovie gets this kid to Illinois and actually on the field it's a really nice get...but right now the kid doesn't have a ton of options either. He can't even name a Top 3 because he doesn't have enough committable offers from top programs.

 

[Parade_Rain]

...You keep quoting his UA game performance as though it boosted his GPA in some way. ...

No. I haven't done that in any way. This is just another of your clown posts. You can keep talking about grades, but you haven't provided links to ANY evidence that you are right. His GPA supposedly isn't great. If Smith didn't have a chance of getting him into UIUC, they would have stopped recruiting him. If his recruiting cooled off because of his grades, as you claim, that information should be easily verifiable by providing links.

And as for offers being "non-committable", I see 17 official offers listed.

http://247sports.com/Recruitment/Jeff-Thomas-37342/RecruitInterests

 

[FirstTimer]

This is just another of your clown posts. You can keep talking about grades, but you haven't provided links to ANY evidence that you are right.

Per a report:

"..Some wonder whether this is due to an improved academic situation(In regards to getting Oregon and Tenn into the mix). Sources tell me that most are unclear on whether he will qualify, though he at least has a (very?) slim chance to do so."...."But for a talent like this, teams are willing to roll the dice -- especially when they can oversign and possibly sign-and-place Thomas at a junior college. For most who are recruiting him, Thomas is worth gambling one of those spots"..."While Thomas -- who likely will announce his decision on Signing Day -- has big academic concerns, he would be a statement commitment for Lovie. He would be worth the wait if he must go to junior college for a while."

And as for offers being "non-committable", I see 17 official offers listed.

http://247sports.com/Recruitment/Jeff-Thomas-37342/RecruitInterests

Do you seriously not follow recruiting?

Why is un-committable in quotes? The more you talk the more you show you have no clue what the hell you are talking about...

On top of all this...your link proved me right.

Yesterday I tell you Bama and Mizzou have backed off...You piss and moan and wonder what I'm talking about.....link you provide has the interest as "cool"..hence them backing off and Thomas directly saying they are out of the mix

Good work.

As to your idiocy about Lovie would stop recruiting him if he couldn't get him qualified...that's pretty dumb seeing as Lovie could and is absolutely still recruiting him with qualification problems but can get around that for the short term by getting him to a JuCo and continuing to work the solution.

How are you wrong about EVERYTHING you type?

 

[Parade_Rain]

No shit, sherlock. There's a clearinghouse issue. Don't know whether it's specifically grade related or class related. You can't even provide a link. Did you make up said report? They could sign and place at the CC where they just got the QB from, if it came to that, but they aren't going to keep pursuing a guy who doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting admitted. Since Illinois could sign and stash and any other school could do that, too, you haven't explained why a school would back off of him. He has 17 Power 5 offers. 17. You know why Bama backed off specifically? It doesn't appear that you do.

 

[FirstTimer]

Don't know whether it's specifically grade related

It's grades.

.

You can't even provide a link.

Because it's behind a paywall ya buffoon.

Did you make up said report?

No.

They could sign and place at the CC where they just got the QB from, if it came to that, but they aren't going to keep pursuing a guy who doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting admitted.

Schools do this all the time.

Welcome to following college football.

Since Illinois could sign and stash and any other school could do that, too, you haven't explained why a school would back off of him. He has 17 Power 5 offers. 17. You know why Bama backed off specifically? It doesn't appear that you do.

I told you repeatedly why Bama etc backed off. Grades. Again...I refer you back to committable offers.

Schools are backing off because they have better options that can actual commit and qualify. Illinois really doesn't, plus they have the room in the class without over signing.

I've covered this.

Are you not reading?

Pretty straight forward.

 

[FirstTimer]

Also, over the weekend 4* commitment DT Kendrick Green picked up an offer from Notre Dame.

I'm not even sure ND will get him on campus so at this point nothing to really be worried about.

ND's defensive staff is really influx. Would be tough to flip Green. ND got a new DC(Mike Elko) and DL coach(Keith Gilmore) will be on the way out the door in a matter of days as part of some staff change over and re-shuffling. Gilmore should be replaced by Mike Elston, the current ND LB's coach. But Elston does have experience on the DL before with players like Lynch, Tuitt, Nix, etc.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Green is going to go to Illinois and next year his HS QB will sign, Coran Taylor. Call me Nostradamus.

 

[FirstTimer]

Illinois chasing an Arizona commit, DE Jalen Harris, pretty hard. Arizona, Washington, and ND all pursuing as well/trying to hold his commitment. He has officials schedules with Illinois, Washington, and ND.