Recruits from the state of Illinois

[Purple Pile Driver]

We have got at least 4 commits from the state of Illinois in each of the last 5 classes. I know Illinois is not the end all be all for us, but I think it is good for us being "Chicago's team" to land a few each year to perk up local interest. So, who are the prime targets and who do we have a realistic shot at? Tuf Borland seems to be the prime target and he'd be a great fit being a Chicago area kid at LB. Wisky and OSU appear to be the favorites, but Fitz seems to be much more personally involved in this one than normal. Very similar pattern to his buddy Westphal from the same school. Julian Love would look good in Purple, but ND is lurking. Emmanuel Ragumba the WR from Naperville is my pick for most likely to be a Cat.

There are also 2 QB's of interest. Steven Frank from Oswego and Matt Little from Evanston. Little has already verballed to Western Michigan, so a flip would be necessary. There are 3 highly rated players in our backyard that we are sniffing around, but something has held up the offer. Naquan Jones, Thomas Shaffer and Daniel Joseph are all a stones throw away and are attracting a lot of attention. Sean Foster is a giant and fits our need for OL. I am thinking he must be a hard Iowa lean or we would be all over him. Barrington Wade is a kid out of Skokie that will pick up some interest. Sees us right in on this one.

If we make an offer to Brendan O'hara from Providence Catholic, I think he jumps on it. He is this years Yates, NU is the offer he wants. Tyler Witt comes from JCA and could fill a need. Paddy Devlin was featured here, but I don't know a lot about him. I am suspecting a few will be hitting the camp circuit to improve their position and a few will jump up the interest board.

Maybe the recruiting gurus, Corbi, GCG, Coral, etc have a few I missed.

Odds say we will get 4 from Illinois, early predictions?

 

[gocatsgo2003]

1) A marketing scheme is never EVER going to dictate recruiting strategy. Take the good players regardless of their hometown.

2) There are plenty of interesting local prospects, but not so many "easy" offers. As I said elsewhere, Borland seems destined to end up at a "name" school (in no small part due to his familial ties and the Core 6 influence) and Julian Love seems destined for ND if they offer (publicly stated he's followed the school for his whole life, plus the catholic school influence).

Ragumba needs to prove he can run well enough to compete at the BCS level (ran in the 4.7s and 4.8s on the camp circuit last year), Frank and Little are probably on our go-to/camp list because neither shows ideal athleticism for a spread QB on junior tape, Naquan Jones doesn't seem to have interest in NU (and isn't likely to qualify academically if his self-reported academic information is accurate), I'm actually kind of surprised Foster has blown up the way he has (he plays pretty stiff/high and doesn't have a ton of growth potential -- very narrow shoulders for a big dude), Barrington Wade is probably a schematic fit question (bigger, downhill runner vs. spread, scatback type), Brendan O'Hara will probably have to come to camp to prove he can move well enough to play BCS football, Tyler Witt is probably another camp guy to answer questions about lateral movement/quickness and pass blocking (because you hardly ever see that on tape for a JCA lineman), Paddy Devlin is a bigtime project at QB and would have to answer speed/explosiveness questions as a WR (he tends to roll into his speed and cuts).

Schaffer and Joseph are the guys I can't really explain. Both seem like big, projectable athletes who could play on either side of the ball. My only guess is that we have some questions with their transcripts because both are international students... maybe we want TOEFL scores? Dunno.

 

[Turk]

When did you start using language akin to texts?

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Ur going 2 have 2 try harder 2 b a decent troll.

Do you even know what TOEFL stands for?

 

[Turk]

Dunno lol
wasnt referring to that

 

[rwhitney014]

Turk's On ECat's Floor Laughing?

 

[Hungry Jack]

Turk's Online Efforts Fail Logic

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Wasn't suggesting we take them only because they are local kids. However, if JJ keeps building on last season where he was our biggest threat and either Thorson or Alviti blossom into a top tier B1G QB then I think that will stir interest. Local players seeing success at NU can't hurt. This time of year is dead as a door nail, trying to stir up some discussion on prospects some might have seen. Nagel, Green, Vitale, Yates, and ALB this year. JJ, Thorson, Westphal, and Hance in 2014. Alviti, Harris, Lancaster, King, Fuessel in 2013. I suspect we will get a handful from IL in 2016. Too early to get a real read, but what the hey, might as well start thinking about who we will pursue right here in our backyard.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Originally posted by Purple Pile Driver:
Wasn't suggesting we take them only because they are local kids. However, if JJ keeps building on last season where he was our biggest threat and either Thorson or Alviti blossom into a top tier B1G QB then I think that will stir interest. Local players seeing success at NU can't hurt. This time of year is dead as a door nail, trying to stir up some discussion on prospects some might have seen. Nagel, Green, Vitale, Yates, and ALB this year. JJ, Thorson, Westphal, and Hance in 2014. Alviti, Harris, Lancaster, King, Fuessel in 2013. I suspect we will get a handful from IL in 2016. Too early to get a real read, but what the hey, might as well start thinking about who we will pursue right here in our backyard.

It's no secret that our recruiting starts and ends in Chicago. Each and every coach has an assigned area in Chicago and the suburbs. If there's a kid who the coaches like as a player and qualifies academically, you can rest assured that they know about him.