Illinois Fighting Illini (you'll see)

[BB73]

The difference between Zook's staff and Turner's staff is more than just "much better" - it's Jessica Alba versus Kathy Bates.

Night. and. day.

I guess the "night and day" comparison is for anybody who doesn't know Kathy Bates?

For those who don't, she's the one from the movie "Misery", that is now in the DirecTV commercials with clips from that movie of James Caan laid up. Try not to confuse her with Jessica Alba.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

Excellent perspective.

If Zook can grab the 5-8 top tier Illinois prospects every year and grab a few out of Ohio, he is hurting Michigan and ND also. That forces the Blue to rely even more on national prospects...and that is a crap shoot.

I can see Michigan State making strides over the next few years and possibly even Minnesota.

ive been thinking the same thing about state. i just wonder that if in 5 years maybe msu is the best program in mechigan...

anyone elses tangent thoughts?

 

[Taosman]

MSU has been in a funk for years! And I'm not sold on Dantonio as a head coach. He wasn't at Cincinnati long enough to get a read. Will he stay?

 

[SNIPER26]

ive been thinking the same thing about state. i just wonder that if in 5 years maybe msu is the best program in mechigan...

anyone elses tangent thoughts?

I don't know, not just because I'm a Michigan fan. Rodriguez, off the field issues aside, has proven he can win with the limited resources at WVU. What's to stop him from winning with the broader appeal of Michigan? Look, say what you want about UM, but in my opinion they will continue to pull in some talent because, well, they are Michigan. I realize ND said the same thing, but I consider RR a better coach than CW.

Besides, what has Dantonio proven so far other than that he's a good defensive coordinator? According to his wikipedia file, he's 24-22 as a HC. That's not exactly setting the world on fire.

Anyways, this is Illinois' thread.

 

[Napoleonbuck]

It will be interesting to see how Dick Rod coaches when he faces real competition. If he chokes against a scrub opponent like Pitt with a national championship on the line, you have to wonder how he'll perform against Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Penn State with something on the line.

 

[SNIPER26]

It will be interesting to see how Dick Rod coaches when he faces real competition. If he chokes against a scrub opponent like Pitt with a national championship on the line, you have to wonder how he'll perform against Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Penn State with something on the line.

Rod's had some good wins before.

Anyways, again, this is the Illinois thread. I'm still on the fence as to whether Zook can coach all this talent. He laid out the big pieces for the Florida 06 NC, but why wasn't he coaching them?

 

[sandgk]

I'm still on the fence as to whether Zook can coach all this talent. He laid out the big pieces for the Florida 06 NC, but why wasn't he coaching them?

I think he was spending too much time on the porch steps of frat houses - shooting the breeze with disaffected UF students and fans.

 

[BuckTwenty]

Regardless about how well Zook is recruiting, how bad Turner & Tepper recruited in the past, and that ESPN rated two of your past players in their top five greatest college football players ever, that part about Illinois about to become DL, DB, WR, and OL U (with a shot at RB and TE U) is absolutely hysterical. I think you guys would have to put on one hell of a historical argument to just be in the top 2 or 3 in the Big Ten at each position, let alone the nation. Are all of your fans drinking that kool-aid, or is that coming from one fan that just jumped on the bandwagon?

 

[BUCKYLE]

Rod's had some good wins before.

Anyways, again, this is the Illinois thread. I'm still on the fence as to whether Zook can coach all this talent. He laid out the big pieces for the Florida 06 NC, but why wasn't he coaching them?

You don't want to be the guy who follows the legend. You want to be the guy who follows that guy.

 

[OrangeRoughy]

Anyways, again, this is the Illinois thread. I'm still on the fence as to whether Zook can coach all this talent. He laid out the big pieces for the Florida 06 NC, but why wasn't he coaching them?

From my point of view, it's mostly because he never got the chance. He was fired 2.5 seasons in.

Spurrier was offered an NFL head coaching gig seemingly every year from 1995-2002, and yet he didn't jump until 2002. Why 2002? Because he knew the cupboard was getting bare. Zook came in Grossman's final season, but there were no top flight QBs in the queue. He recruited Chris Leak and handed him the keys as a true frosh because he had no other options. And Leak had to hand off to Ran Cathron - there were no Fred Taylors left in the stable. Wide Receiver? Spurrier left Zook with the following WRs: Dallas Baker, Vernell Brown, Kelvin Kight, Carlos Perez, Reggie Vickers, and OJ Small. Who? Exactly.

Zook played his freshmen recruits all over the field in 2003 and 2004 - the same players that won a National Title as juniors and seniors. And as those recruits were just beginning to see the field... they fired him. Could Zook have led them to the 2006 National Title? Maybe. His disturbing record at Florida against unranked, losing-season teams from Mississippi certainly didn't suggest that he was headed for a National Title. But he never got the chance to coach his recruits as upperclassmen, which every coach deserves.

This is why, after he was hired, that I claimed that the 2009 season is the first season we Illini fans can truly begin to evaluate Ron Zook. Let him build what he's trying to build, and then evaluate the results at that time.

So far, I like what I see.

 

[OrangeRoughy]

Regardless about how well Zook is recruiting, how bad Turner & Tepper recruited in the past, and that ESPN rated two of your past players in their top five greatest college football players ever, that part about Illinois about to become DL, DB, WR, and OL U (with a shot at RB and TE U) is absolutely hysterical. I think you guys would have to put on one hell of a historical argument to just be in the top 2 or 3 in the Big Ten at each position, let alone the nation. Are all of your fans drinking that kool-aid, or is that coming from one fan that just jumped on the bandwagon?

Your first mistake was pulling a quote from the Illinois Scout board, what with their text message-speak and their free-flowing Koolaid (there isn't a 2009 prospect we've offered that isn't a "5-star lock when Rivals and Scout update their rankings"). Your second mistake was dismissing it completely.

While we're not "every position U" as the child suggests, we have seen some fantastic recruiting at WR and DL. I don't think it's outlandish at all to say that we'll have 3 WRs and 3 DLs drafted in the next 4 years. And that's after 2 wide receivers and zero defensive linemen drafted in the last 10 years. You're about to see a significant improvement. Here's the statistics:

Illinois wide receivers the day Ron Zook took over:
Jody Ellis (**)
Frank Lenti (**)
Dejuan Warren (***)
Kyle Hudson (**)
Franklin Payne (***)
Jacob Willis (walk-on)

Wide Receivers Ron Zook has recruited:
Arrelious Benn (*****)
Jarred Fayson (*****)
Jeff Cumberland (****)
Chris James (****)
Marques Wilkins (****)
Cordale Scott (****)
A.J. Jenkins (****)

Illinois defensive linemen on the day Ron Zook took over:
Charles Myles (**)
Ryan Matha (**)
Josh Norris (**)
Adam Wilk (**)
Xavier Fulton (***)
Derek Walker (**)
David Lindquist (**)
Chris Norwell (***)

Defensive linemen Ron Zook has recruited:
Doug Pilcher (***)
Jerry Brown (***)
Josh Brent (****)
Martez Wilson (*****) (now at OLB)
Darrell Ballew (***)
D'Angelo McCray (****)
Corey Liuget (****)
Reggie Ellis (****)

Koolaid aside, this will not be your father's Illinois team in a few years.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

I don't think anyone here is questioning the very notable improvement in recruiting and talent-level on the Illinois team, nor dismissing the fact that the Zooker seems prepped to turn Illinois into a perennial B10 contender; rather the issue seems to be the assertion that a couple years of very good recruiting would qualify any program to be "Anything U".

Dismissing the Illini as "WR U" based on 3 years of recruits is not intended as a slight against the very talented recruits and/or players, but rather a statement that it takes more than a couple years of recruiting to develop a program that is well-known for placing players into the NFL.

And in regards to have 3 WR or DL drafted in the next 4 years, that is certainly nothing at which to scoff, particularly in comparison with the Illini's recent draft history, but for the sake of perspective, not only has OSU had (at least) 6 receivers taken in the draft over the last 4 drafts, but 4 of those have been in the 1st round. Placing 3 guys that play the same position into the draft over a 4-year period, while notable, does not make said school the primary or leading producer of talent at that particular position.

All that being said, it's great having outsider perspectives on such topics. :cheers:

 

[matcar]

For me, I'd be happy to have Illinois back as a conference power so I'm glad the Zooker is building a quality team. There are a couple recruiting battles that I definitely wish tOSU had won, but other than that, if Zook steals some recruits from ND and TSUN and builds a better team...I'm all for it.

 

[flybuckeye]

I'm suprised nobody has brought up the much used argument of "stars don't mean anything, look at Hawk, Jenkins, Barton, JL, Robiskie, etc." Or the flip side, mentioning the 4 and 5 stars that didn't pan out because of grades, injuries, performance, etc.

 

[BB73]

For me, I'd be happy to have Illinois back as a conference power so I'm glad the Zooker is building a quality team. There are a couple recruiting battles that I definitely wish tOSU had won, but other than that, if Zook steals some recruits from ND and TSUN and builds a better team...I'm all for it.

Yep, and I'll be pulling like hell for them against Mizzou, whoever wins that game brings some prestige (and strength of schedule) to their conference.