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- Thread starter osugrad21
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jimotis4heisman
Banned
didnt he have a brother on the team? wasnt the issue something about that?
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jimotis4heisman
Banned
he graduated and has enrolled at ill state, he will play football there
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MONTbigBuck
Heisman
BuckeyeNation27;1184718; said:
It's going to be hard for me to guess whether you are being sarcastic or not? Them fans love their Zooker.
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OCBucksFan
I won a math debate
jwinslow;1184972; said:
Not fair, I had totally bought that the evil doers were attacking and we had a hero defending us. Now you've totally burst my bubble, elitist mod.
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OrangeRoughy
Junior
shetuck;1178737; said:
I'm saying that we peak in 2009, but that the fall is not too far after that. DickRod will have Michigan back up and running by 2010, so we'll drop to at least 3rd. But with JoePa on his way out, Bielema not recruiting at the level of Alverez, Ferentz losing all of his skill players to the police blotter, and Tiller recruiting to the level of Ron Turner the past few years (leaving his coach-in-waiting with an empty cupboard), now is the perfect time for Illinois to ascend to the "consistently 3rd, constantly a thorn in the Big Two" throne. I'm more concerned with Dantonio and Brewster and their recruiting prowess than I am with Ferentz and Bielema's systems.
If you're saying you're going to peak, I'd ask you, "How long before you hit the trough again?" (sorry for all the horse innuendo...)
I don't think hit the trough again in the next 10 years. Or at least not as long as Zook is here. He still has a long way to go with in-game coaching decisions, but the talent he's bringing in should take us to consistent bowl games, something no Illinois coach has ever been able to do. Lest we forget, Illinois football has been to three (3!) bowl games in the last 14 years. From 2003 to 2006 we won eight (8!) games TOTAL. Ohio State has been to 15 bowl games the last 16 years. Illinois has been to 15 bowl games in the history of the program.
As I said earlier in this thread, if Zook wins 7 games a year in Gainesville, they run him out of town. If he wins 7 games a year in Champaign, we'll build him a statue. To even speak of finishing consistently 3rd in the Big Ten is beyond my wildest dreams.
More. At least for the next 5-7 years. The stars couldn't be aligning more perfectly for our rise. If you look at the eleven teams in the Big Ten, I would categorize them like this:
Getting Better: Ohio State, Illinois, MSU
In 5 years will probably be right where they have been the last 5 years: Indiana, Minnesota
Getting Worse: Iowa, Purdue, Michigan, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Penn State
What's that? You wouldn't put Wisconsin in that last group? 5-7 in 2009. You heard it here.
Anyway, the point is that it couldn't be more perfect for us. We are rising at the exact time that one of the Big Two is in a freefall, upstarts like Iowa and Purdue are falling back to the pack, and JoePa's in his sunset. That makes our moderate rise meteoric.
Our recruiting is at it's highest point since we were pulling Butkus and Nitschke out of Chicago in the late 50s/early 60s. The $150 million renovation to our stadium will be complete in August, finally providing us with much-needed luxury box revenue. We had 3 sellouts last year, more than the 2000-2006 seasons combined. We'll most likely go to 4 bowl games in 4 years, which would be equal to the number of bowl games from 1992-2006. See that picture next to my name? That's a full Memorial Stadium, rocking and rolling during our first victory over a top-5 team since 1989. Which was followed by another one, on the road, 6 weeks later.
If you can't feel the momentum of Illinois football, then I can't help you.
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jimotis4heisman
Banned
ill success boils down to gaining the lions share of chicagoland recruits. imo
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OrangeRoughy
Junior
jimotis4heisman;1184776; said:
Bingo. Well, that and the meddling Mendenhall mama.
Ron Turner recruited Walter Mendenhall in order to have a chance at his younger, 5-star brother. It worked. Walter redshirted, so both were freshman in 2005.
Mendenhall's mom would ask for meetings with Zook to discuss her son's playing time - first Rashard playing behind Pierre Thomas as a freshman and sophomore, then Walter playing behind Dufrene as Rashard's backup last year. There was even the rumor that Mrs. Mendenhall requested at the end of the 2006 season that both her boys be given starting roles (Walter at FB, Rahsard at TB, with Walter as Rashard's top backup) or else she would have them both transfer to Cincinnati. Zook said no thanks, and supposedly approved the paperwork for the transfer. Walter talked Rashard out of it.
Then last year happens, and Rashard is BTPOY and a 1st round pick, and everything is positive all season long. In the spring, Zook tells Walter that he's probably 3rd on the depth chart (in reality he'd be 5th at tailback this fall) and that it would be best if he took his degree and didn't come back for a 5th season. The Mendenhalls take it as a slap in the face, Walter transfers to I-AA Illinois State (so he can play his last year of eligibility), and the Mendenhall family swears off the U of I.
It sucks how it ended, but I think Zook handled it correctly. He honored Walter's 4-year scholarship (given by Turner to entice his brother to Champaign) and, upon graduating, told him his redshirt year would need to be played elsewhere if he expected to see the field. The Mendenhalls took great offense to this, but that's just their heightened opinion of Walter talking. He'll be the backup to Geno Blow at ISU this fall, and Mama Mendenhall will probably jump all over Head Coach Denver Johnson for not playing her son.
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Nobody knows these kids better than their parents. I don't understand why coaches don't listen to them more.
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TheIronColonel
Hall of Fame
As far as Walter Mendenhall is concerned, I kind of think he got the shaft. Sure, the Zooker gave him 4 years of a scholarship, but he also took 3 years of eligibility from the kid in order to snag his brother. I guess it depends on which way you look at it, but I've always disliked the politicking of life. Recruiting someone you know you won't play in order to get his brother is kind of shitty in my opinion.
OR, I appreciate your analysis - I agree 99%. That 1% disagreement is on Wisconsin - Bielema is the real deal. Have you seen how good his defenses have been? Look over the numbers SMQ has related to his defenses and how they've panned out. The guy really has his shit sorted out. They've also recruited a number of very solid players - guys like John Clay. They may never grab flashy recruits, but they're not going away. They're going to be trying to get in the cat-bird seat for a few years yet.
OR, I appreciate your analysis - I agree 99%. That 1% disagreement is on Wisconsin - Bielema is the real deal. Have you seen how good his defenses have been? Look over the numbers SMQ has related to his defenses and how they've panned out. The guy really has his shit sorted out. They've also recruited a number of very solid players - guys like John Clay. They may never grab flashy recruits, but they're not going away. They're going to be trying to get in the cat-bird seat for a few years yet.
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OrangeRoughy
Junior
TheIronColonel;1186483; 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.
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.
That D was exposed last year (6th in the Big 10 in rush D, 7th in pass D) once they had to, you know, actually play a ranked team. They'll be pretty good this coming year with all those returning starters, but in 2009, look out below.
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