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Illinois Fighting Illini (you'll see)

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OrangeRoughy;1188816; said:
Tiny nit-pick here, but it wasn't Zook who took the three years of eligibility from Walter in order to snag his brother - it was Ron Turner. Turner recruited Walter in '04 and had a verbal from Rashard in '05 when he was fired. Zook held onto Rashard's verbal (I was sweatin' that one), but had nothing to do with Walter - Walt had already completed his redshirt season when Zook arrived. Zook simply honored the last 3 years of his scholarship and then showed him the door.
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Sorry, my mistake. Didn't mean to unduly impugn the Zooker like that. Either way, I do kind of feel for Walter - got to suck to live in the shadow of your little brother. Thanks for the info.

OrangeRoughy;1188816; said:
I'm seeing a different trajectory for Bielema. Sure, his defense looked great in 2006, but here's the list of the teams they beat in '06: Bowling Green, Western Illinois, San Diego State, Buffalo, Indiana, Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, Penn State, Minnesota, and Iowa. Exactly two teams with winning records: Penn State (9-4) and Purdue (8-6). The 11 mighty foes they vanquished that fall with their superior brand of American football? A combined 54-82.
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Don't forget that they beat Arkansas that year. They held Darren McFadden to less than 100 yards rushing in that game, too. In '07 they lost their top two tacklers (and defensive captains) from '06 and had a slew of injuries. I'm not saying he's God's gift to defensive schemers, but the dude had some chops when it comes to defensive game planning. Yeah, Illinois cut up Wisky pretty good last year, but don't forget that Illinois was a pretty solid team (probably easy to forget - doesn't happen often...I kid, I kid) that beat a few good teams last year (including Ohio State). It's not like Wisconsin losing to Illinois last year was some kind of huge upset, Illinois went to the freaking Rose Bowl.

So I guess we'll just have to disagree on that one. In any event, I really think you've got Illinois' ascent nailed: if Zook can keep bringing in recruits, they should be a competitive team for quite some time. I think they're going to eventually peak and find that, without either better game day coaching or improved ability to develop very raw recruits, they may not be able to break through. I honestly have no idea how long it will be before that becomes an issue, though. I say this only because there are a huge number of teams with elite talent, but not many that consistently stay on top and utilize that talent (USC, OSU, LSU, maybe Texas and Georgia - Florida is almost there, but needs more on defense to balance out Timmy's ridiculousity). Talent alone doesn't make you a dynastic-type team; it requires consistent great coaching, too.
 
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eobuck;1191594; said:
He just regurgitates what JeffJ says on Rivals. Funny thing is, JeffJ has a hard enough time predicting who Illinois will get, let alone claiming to know all that is going on with OSU.
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That lopo character is a douchebag of the highest order. He trolls the premium boards for info and then passes it off on the illini free boards in a pathetic attempt to look like he's the "all-knowing" lord of the free boards. It's really quite humorous.

I really look for him to copy Nevada's " X Recruit =====[strike]Buckeye[/strike] Illini" routine soon.
 
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Tha Kid in scout forum;1197305; said:
There are at least 8 NFL 1st rounders (Different classes) on this team right now, and that number will grow with the emergence of some and as the freshman class develops. People will just find anything to complain about. Illinois isn't anywhere near behind.
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Our old friend ThaKid with another gem on scout. I head over there once a day when I need a good laugh.

Who are these 8 players he's talking about? I can see Benn, Wilson and Vontae Davis as potential/likely 1st rounders. Who the hell else?
 
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