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Recruiting around the Big Ten

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DaveyBoy;2357872; said:
these recruits aren't choosing a school for its major necessarily. They are pretty good players that have a decent chance at the NFL. They will go where they can get noticed and become better players.

Iowa and Illinois aren't looking too good in this department
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Uh, if you're a "pretty good" player at Illinois, you'll get noticed just about as much as you will at Ohio State/Michigan/Ped State. In fact, I'd say a solid player would get noticed a bit more at Illinois (B1G) than at Louisville (Big East). Think how much more publicity Teddy Bridgewater would be getting at Illinois than he's getting at Louisville. You asked if we'd play for Kentucky or Louisville rather than boring Iowa and Illinois, and that was my answer. I'd also like to think that even the really good players would want a good degree in case the NFL doesn't pan out (if they even get drafted at all).
 
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Honor&Glory;2357875; said:
To be fair, UK has routinely sold out their home games for a very long time. While basketball still stirs the drink, the UK fan base in Lexington does a good job of supporting anything and everything UK. I went to a UC/UK football game in the early 90's in Lexington and was stunned by the fan support. I thought they only cared about hoops down that way, too.
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Idk if using a UC-UK game is a good example since Cincinnati is practically northern Kentucky. I've also went to games in Lexington, sec conference games against Georgia and louisiana st, and neither were sold out. And people were leaving before halftime because the beatings were so bad. I think people only went to the game as an excuse to drink a lot on Saturday during the day, not much attention is usually paid to the game.
And Mili made a great point, bridgewater would be stuffed down americAs throat if he was at a big 10 school, even if it was a perennially mediocre one(I.e juice Williams, drew Brees, etc)
 
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MililaniBuckeye;2357883; said:
Uh, if you're a "pretty good" player at Illinois, you'll get noticed just about as much as you will at Ohio State/Michigan/Ped State. In fact, I'd say a solid player would get noticed a bit more at Illinois (B1G) than at Louisville (Big East). Think how much more publicity Teddy Bridgewater would be getting at Illinois than he's getting at Louisville. You asked if we'd play for Kentucky or Louisville rather than boring Iowa and Illinois, and that was my answer. I'd also like to think that even the really good players would want a good degree in case the NFL doesn't pan out (if they even get drafted at all).
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IIRC, an unimpressive Illinois team that got clobbered by OSU in 1995 had two of the top 3 picks in the draft. Simeon Rice and Kevin Hardy. Talent will get noticed.
 
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Think how much more publicity Teddy Bridgewater would be getting at Illinois than he's getting at Louisville.
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Ok. Not only not much, but I'd argue he'd be getting significantly less on a bad Illinois team vs a very good Louisville team for a great coach in Charlie Strong and a title contender.

Scouts would still find him, but publicity? Much less on Tim Beckman's squad.
 
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Coach Meyer has alluded to this (and then publicly backed away from it because it was politically incorrect), but coaches at mediocre B1G progams are getting outworked by coaches at mediocre programs in other conferences.

Winning helps too - but it's not like Louisville was setting the world on fire under Kragthorpe before they went out and got Charlie Strong and started pulling in guys like Bridgewater pretty much right away.

I think Kentucky is enjoying momentum right now that they can't sustain. They are trading on borrowed prestige from both their conference affiliation and their coach's last name. Another season of getting their teeth kicked in will make the shine wear off.
 
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It's quite ironic how mark stoops has been able to bring excitement to a classic basketball school... Just like his brother did at Arizona. And after a few years in the PAC 10, he fell back to earth abruptly and was fired. He at least was in the PAC 10, little brother, mark doesn't have the pleasure of playing any cupcakes in the sec, and his decline may be a little more steep
 
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jwinslow;2357958; said:
Ok. Not only not much, but I'd argue he'd be getting significantly less on a bad Illinois team vs a very good Louisville team for a great coach in Charlie Strong and a title contender.

Scouts would still find him, but publicity? Much less on Tim Beckman's squad.
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Illinois would get publicity fast with a kid like Bridgewater, vice a Nathan Scheelhaase, running the show. I'll admit it's a chicken/egg thing (top kids may not come if you're not winning, and you may not win without top kids), but top talent on any team in the B1G (even on Indiana or Minnesota) simply because of who they play against.
 
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pnuts34;2357873; said:
Cities are very nice, yes. But any city or college town can provide a college kid with a good time(I.e. Lincoln, NE, Norman, OK and manhattan, Ks)
And pretty much any major school can get you to the nfl, ESPECIALLY big 10 schools. Idk a comparison but I'm sure most lower tier big 10 schools have put just as many guys in the nfl as uk and Louisville
And let's not forget that Illinois and Iowa were also the favors of the month pretty recently, and I'm sure both can reach somewhat success before uk does again, and Louisville better do everything it can to hold on to strong. Yes he signed a new contract, but that can still be broken for the nfl or a bigger school
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No...Just no!:)
 
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DaveyBoy;2357843; said:
just imagine if you were a recruit from Ohio that wasn't recruited by OSU or Michigan. Wouldn't you too be interested in playing for Kentucky or Louisville rather than boring Iowa & Illinois and scandal-ridden PSU ?

MSU is truly disappointing as I thought they had clearly moved into a status of the best BT recruiting destination not Ann Arbor or Columbus.

I'm also surprised Maryland and Rutgers haven't done more in Ohio.
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Well, here's my take I suppose: Illinois, Iowa, Penn State (variable due to sanctions), and Michigan State all provide a world-class education and tremendous football experiences to get into the NFL. Kentucky doesn't have any track record of doing that and Louisville doesn't have MUCH track record. College towns vs. cities are up and down to me; you can have a fun 4 years at almost any major college location.

If I am a second-tier Ohio player maybe I look at Iowa football and compare it to Kentucky football and I don't see one as sexier than the other other but I KNOW that Kentucky has no track record of winning or producing much in the way of NFL talent (but then again Stoops is an unknown, which maybe is sexy? I dunno)...

Iowa also has a really good education whereas Kentucky doesn't. But I'm not a recruit and if I were I might have different priorities anyways than typical recruits have. I just think that the Iowa (and MSU, Nebraska, Penn St., and Illinois) coaching staff is losing that battle too much and they all should be embarrassed.

I've also never understood how Illinois doesn't produce a better football product being so close to Chicago and a great school.
 
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Diego-Bucks;2358345; said:
Well, here's my take I suppose: Illinois, Iowa, Penn State (variable due to sanctions), and Michigan State all provide a world-class education and tremendous football experiences to get into the NFL. Kentucky doesn't have any track record of doing that and Louisville doesn't have MUCH track record. College towns vs. cities are up and down to me; you can have a fun 4 years at almost any major college location.

If I am a second-tier Ohio player maybe I look at Iowa football and compare it to Kentucky football and I don't see one as sexier than the other other but I KNOW that Kentucky has no track record of winning or producing much in the way of NFL talent (but then again Stoops is an unknown, which maybe is sexy? I dunno)...

Iowa also has a really good education whereas Kentucky doesn't. But I'm not a recruit and if I were I might have different priorities anyways than typical recruits have. I just think that the Iowa (and MSU, Nebraska, Penn St., and Illinois) coaching staff is losing that battle too much and they all should be embarrassed.

I've also never understood how Illinois doesn't produce a better football product being so close to Chicago and a great school.
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Chicago to Champaign is a 2-hour drive, so a tangible connection with Chicago - beyond being in the same state - can't really be made by UI. This is where Northwestern has succeeded in branding itself as "Chicago's Big Ten Team" - even though it's a considerable train ride into the actual downtown from Evanston, it sure beats the hell out of riding in a car for two hours through the middle of Illinois.

The stadium is nice. I took a road trip down there a few years ago and it was impressive, even mid-renovation.

Champaign itself is just blah. It's a pretty gray, depressing town with little to no redeemable qualities. There aren't a ton of bars but there is a big Greek scene. Popped collars and apathy tend to reign amongst students and fans alike down there, and driving through Kankakee makes me want to strangle a hipster.
 
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