Illinois get 5Star QB Commit?
- Thread starter charcat
- Start date
I haven’t watched any film, but 5’10” 160. That’s real small for a 5 star QB. He must be electric.
My thoughts from another thread:
I also think Williams is a tremendous athlete that would be extremely successful as an "offensive athlete" and returner, but have serious doubts about his ability to play QB in the B1G given his stature, playing style, and arm talent. Seldom do you see him making the throws he will have to make at the P5 level, as he's mostly chucking the ball up to wideouts who are simply bigger, stronger, and faster than the kids trying to cover them. He doesn't have to fit the ball into windows, drive the ball downfield over the middle, shape throws, or do many of the other things he will be expected to do regularly as a P5 QB.
They’re theoretically our rival, plus not exactly a ton of news coming out of Evanston at the moment.
I consider Illinois our big in-state rival. If they sign a five star (!) then I think it can be talked about here. Heck even teams like Alabama only sign a handful of those.
But maybe that's just me.
Does anyone really think that he's 5-10? Also with all of those rower 5 offers, why would he choose the sinking illini? Maybe that high school coach got a $500,000 contract, along with a bonus to share. Might "car-gate" make a reappearance down Rantoul way?
He’s a big get for the Illini, but I also don’t get the signing. The Illini have blown butt chunks for several years now, and even this signing won’t help them in the short term. Yea, the guy looks like a great athlete, but as gocatsgo says, he’ll need to work on his throwing skills before he becomes a true dual threat. And we saw first-hand when we played the Illini this past season what happens when you have a dynamic athlete at QB who is also a raw passer—you don’t move the ball well. The Illini have brought in some impressive signings for a program that’s been trash for a while, but like any program it’ll take several years for those freshman to develop and start to make an impact, by which time Lovie will be gone. I don’t see the Illini doing better than like 2-10 or 3-9 this season, and I don’t see them retaining Lovie beyond the 2019 season. Strange situation.
Because Illinois is one of the few places to tell him he can play QB. And his high school coach being there sure didn’t hurt.
I just don't see how this kid plays QB in any P5 program unless he grows 3 inches, puts on 40 pounds and develops some semblance of an arm. My guess is that the Illini will bait and switch this kid.
You can only hire so many high school coaches as assistants. Not the best way to build a program.
I am more concerned about our own recruiting class. F*&k the Illini.
With where the Fighting Lovie’s were, I think this was a good hire. They need talent, Vince Lombardi couldn’t win with the roster they have. Lovie hasn’t been able to recruit, so he needed a guy to do it for him.
Holy smokes, I guess I should have should more careful about invoking the name of Vince next time I am trying to make a point that hiring the HS coach was all about bringing in talent. Something they didn’t have up until this point.
They will probably put hm in a two qb rotation with the other qb being more of a standard pocket passer... then their message board will have something to argue about for years and years and years.
You just described Johnny Manziel’s career at Texas A&M.
So he'll maybe get them a couple of guys from his area. That won't mean a thing anywhere outside of Mo.
I really hope the illini haven't stooped that low. I prefer the No-one else will let him play QB narrative with a little of the coach is like an uncle to a kid that needs some support mixed in.
I don't care for the illini but the money scandals are the thing that will drive me away from college sports.
I suspect your narrative is the more likely one. The Fighting Lovie’s getting better players in their program and still losing to NU makes it that much better. We have pretty much dominated them the last quarter of a century but they still think it the dark ages.
I'm not an expert like others here, and I have neither the time nor the inclination to watch the whole video, but he made some nice throws in the early part of the video, often hitting the receiver in near-full stride. You all may not have recognized it since you haven't seen it in a while (yes sarcasm)
Enough of the sour purple grapes. The kid is talented, albeit small.
It’s not sour grapes. There’s a reason he had 60-some offers, but only one or two as a QB.
Then transferring. There seems to be a lot of that happening at St.Louis Big Ten school.
Sour grapes? I am all for the Illini crawling out of the cellar, however a 5-10 160 pound quarterback in the B1G makes me a bit skeptical. He's an athlete, not a QB, at this stage.
There is absolutely no way in hell that we cut Lovie loose before he has five seasons here. People can't have it both ways: why would a program that has sucked for so long (as you guys love to point out) not give a high profile coach like Lovie sufficient time to remake the roster, get a full chance to implement his system, try to change the culture and give him assurance the whole time that the administration knows this is a massive rebuild and that he will have all the time he needs? Anyone with half a brain (which does not include all of our fans, LOL) knew that it would be at LEAST three years before we saw hardly any progress. Again, you guys love pointing out how much we have sucked ... and we have. So, obviously, any rebuild was going to take time.
Also, willycat is a riot, LOL.
I think the better question is whether Lovie really has the stomach to see it through. It's an admirable attempt at a "moneyball"-type rebuild project, but there are going to be at least a couple more years of VERY ugly on-field results.
I agree that Lovie is not leaving unless Lovie decides to leave. Unlike many in this board, I think hiring the HS coach was a very good move. Illinois needs players, Lovie needs recruiters. The 2 recruits this year are very strong players. Williams will cause problems even if playing QB. He will be in the field right away.
What I don’t like is the revolving door of transfers. No way I am buying the storyline that they were legitimately beat out by Freshman. Something is rotten in Denmark. There will be reputational hits at some point that go beyond W-L. Now that Lovie has hired recruiters, does he have a staff to develop them?
Some fair points here, but dynamic athletes can make an offense in themselves as a mobile QB if they are *that* good.
Someone mentioned Manziel below. Lamar Jackson at Louisville also comes to mind, though he is bigger and by now a more developed thrower (he wasn't much of one his freshman year as I recall). RG3 before all the injuries possibly too, though he was helped significantly by the Art Briles offensive system. And closer to home Kain Colter - who was quite effective as a QB despite not having a strong arm.
So I don't know whether this guy will be successful (my guess is more than likely not, unless his arm develops), and the lack of talent around him at U of I will be a huge challenge, but it's not unprecedented for a dynamic athlete to carry an offense on their back in college football.
How was Colters arm on tape before his injury? (Not trying to turn this into a debate about him on the field in a NU uniform, just wanna know how strong his arm before he hurt it in HS)
