Thompson/Henning package deal?fLo

[tenwest]

WR Jadon Thompson committed to Illinois yesterday. We were led to believe he and RB AJ Henning were considering playing together at college. That being said, Illinois also got a commitment from 4* RB Reggie Love recently. I’m wondering if this is still a package deal? Lovie seems to be off to a hot start for his 2020 class.

 

[1ndyBoiler]

Illinois has been setting up for a very, very nice class. Hopefully we are still making a big push, but I've got a feeling Henning will head towards the SEC now that the big dogs are calling

 

[pboiler18]

Illinois has been setting up for a very, very nice class. Hopefully we are still making a big push, but I've got a feeling Henning will head towards the SEC now that the big dogs are calling

I feel this way too a bit. It was the perfect storm for Lovie this year....bad team with tons of opportunities for young and good talent to come in and contribute. Combine that with a banner crop of kids in state and the level of recruits that competing schools in division(Purdue, Nebraska) have already signed at those positions in previous classes....it looked like they were destined to win some of these battles this year.

I think Henning might have committed to us early but there's a lot of talent incoming with Bell, Wright, Rice and Sheffield all in one class. He's good but with Moore, Bell and Wright there were likely not a ton of opportunities for Henning and others to contribute early for us. I can't fault a kid for going to a 'non big name' school to get quality PT. It's why we cleaned up this year!

 

[1ndyBoiler]

I feel this way too a bit. It was the perfect storm for Lovie this year....bad team with tons of opportunities for young and good talent to come in and contribute. Combine that with a banner crop of kids in state and the level of recruits that competing schools in division(Purdue, Nebraska) have already signed at those positions in previous classes....it looked like they were destined to win some of these battles this year.

I think Henning might have committed to us early but there's a lot of talent incoming with Bell, Wright, Rice and Sheffield all in one class. He's good but with Moore, Bell and Wright there were likely not a ton of opportunities for Henning and others to contribute early for us. I can't fault a kid for going to a 'non big name' school to get quality PT. It's why we cleaned up this year!

He's an absolute stud. I've got no doubt he'll see the field early - the question is how much will he see. Being "the guy" might be more enticing than being "one of the guys".

We're in a weird middle ground where he can't be "the guy" here instantly, but we also aren't a powerhouse team yet. We're kind of the odd man out on both pitches.

 

[KentuckyBoiler]

I feel this way too a bit. It was the perfect storm for Lovie this year....bad team with tons of opportunities for young and good talent to come in and contribute. Combine that with a banner crop of kids in state and the level of recruits that competing schools in division(Purdue, Nebraska) have already signed at those positions in previous classes....it looked like they were destined to win some of these battles this year.

I think Henning might have committed to us early but there's a lot of talent incoming with Bell, Wright, Rice and Sheffield all in one class. He's good but with Moore, Bell and Wright there were likely not a ton of opportunities for Henning and others to contribute early for us. I can't fault a kid for going to a 'non big name' school to get quality PT. It's why we cleaned up this year!

Henning is a RB, so Moore, Bell, Wright have nothing to do with him.

 

[Bippus33]

I`ll take "Odd Man Out" for now over being the bottom feeder and never gaining ground from where we were.... hopefully 2020 fortunes can flip us to an even more powerful recruiting position.

 

[nat100]

Henning is a RB, so Moore, Bell, Wright have nothing to do with him.

He is similar to Wandale Robinson. He is being recruited as a WR.

 

[Chi-Boiler]

Rivals lists him as a APB. 247 lists him as an WR.

 

[KentuckyBoiler]

He is similar to Wandale Robinson. He is being recruited as a WR.

Thanks, I thought we were recruiting him as a RB

 

[Wolegib]

All articles out of Nebraska say Robinson will be a featured player at RB who will also be used as a receiver. I would believe if Nebraska were to add an elite WR, Robinson would become more of a featured RB. Basically they plan to get him the ball and let him go with it.

 

[pboiler18]

Henning is a RB, so Moore, Bell, Wright have nothing to do with him.

He'll be a slot WR in college. That's what most of the SEC is interested in him for.

At the end of the day....don't be surprised to see Rondale Moore get touches for us at RB in the near future....especially if our run game falters early in the year. Gets our best playmaker the ball, makes him the safety valve for a non-mobile QB (Read...more touches) and gets talented guys like Rice and Sheffield on the field sooner too.

 

[StickPurdue]

Illinois is still going to be bad and it is very possible these commits realize Smith could be gone and decommit. Definitely not know for offense, but they got some good recruits for that side of the ball right now.

 

[nat100]

Illinois is still going to be bad and it is very possible these commits realize Smith could be gone and decommit. Definitely not know for offense, but they got some good recruits for that side of the ball right now.

Lovie's buyout might be cost prohibitive. He may be there for a year or two beyond 2019.

 

[Chi-Boiler]

Lovie just got an extension. Not sure why, but he did.

 

[nat100]

Lovie just got an extension. Not sure why, but he did.

They couldnt afford his buyout and he only had 3 years left. Token extension for recruiting.

 

[Chi-Boiler]

Doesn't sound like a smart way of doing things when you suck. Did they lower the buyout at least? That happened with Malzahn didn't it? Otherwise it's circular and they'll be at this same point in 2 years.

 

[1ndyBoiler]

I think Illinois has shown they are all in on Lovie. With recruiting momentum like this, they'd be crazy not to see where this goes. It's a long term plan, not a short term band-aid. Very similar to us a few years ago.

 

[nat100]

Doesn't sound like a smart way of doing things when you suck. Did they lower the buyout at least? That happened with Malzahn didn't it? Otherwise it's circular and they'll be at this same point in 2 years.

Its bad business to have a head coach with less than 3 years on their contract. It hurts recruiting.

Buyouts didnt change much. Illinois didnt have any leverage.

 

[Wolegib]

still not a real smart decision. the problem is they will still be bad, and 1-4 great recruits are not going to change things.

 

[nat100]

still not a real smart decision. the problem is they will still be bad, and 1-4 great recruits are not going to change things.

If it costs you nothing in buyout and you werent going to fire him this year anyway, it has to be done for recruiting.

 

[Wolegib]

If it costs you nothing in buyout and you werent going to fire him this year anyway, it has to be done for recruiting.

I guess. on the other hand, if they continue to lose, I can see all of these recruits decommitting before signing day if they get better offers. So the extension really won't help recruiting much, and they're stuck with paying the coach for more years. I can understand the reasoning for the extension. I just think it's the wrong move to make. I'm not a huge fan of the 10+ year guaranteed baseball contracts either, but it's their money, not mine.

 

[1ndyBoiler]

still not a real smart decision. the problem is they will still be bad, and 1-4 great recruits are not going to change things.

you don't become a good team overnight. It builds from 1-4+ great recruits. David Bell admitted he was somewhat low on Purdue until watching Rondale in the Northwestern game. Great players and great recruits lead to other great recruits if you can build.

He inherited a horrible team and is building it up. It's a process. I also imagine these recruits aren't necessarily expecting Illinois to do great things this year. They know what they signed up for.

 

[nat100]

you don't become a good team overnight. It builds from 1-4+ great recruits. David Bell admitted he was somewhat low on Purdue until watching Rondale in the Northwestern game. Great players and great recruits lead to other great recruits if you can build.

He inherited a horrible team and is building it up. It's a process. I also imagine these recruits aren't necessarily expecting Illinois to do great things this year. They know what they signed up for.

He is entering his fourth year. He should have started yielding results last year. Losing by 63 to Iowa was a bad look.

 

[Purduemoe]

If Illinois isn’t improved this year my guess is Lovie is gone, contract extension be damned. Hopefully for these kids that isn’t the case. I’ve never understood Illinois’s appeal, but my guess is their fans don’t see ours either.

 

[Wolegib]

If Illinois isn’t improved this year my guess is Lovie is gone, contract extension be damned. Hopefully for these kids that isn’t the case. I’ve never understood Illinois’s appeal, but my guess is their fans don’t see ours either.

another player who recently transferred to Illinois was 4/5* TE Ford who played for Georgia last year.

the appeal of Illinois? Most elite athletes expect to contribute anywhere they go and they want to play for a winner. it's a cycle. To attract elite athletes, you usually have to win. and to win, you usually need elite athletes.

 

[SKYDOG]

Lovie just got an extension. Not sure why, but he did.

That's great news for all the teams in the conference. Lol!

 

[GenevaSteve]

Illinois has gotten worse, not better during his tenure. Two years ago they were young, last year they were bad and young again, this year they no doubt will be young yet again. Nice start for recruiting but how many H.S. coaches can he hire to get a high ranked player? I'm guessing that plan is about done.

 

[BoilerFYF]

Illinois has been setting up for a very, very nice class. Hopefully we are still making a big push, but I've got a feeling Henning will head towards the SEC now that the big dogs are calling

You have to look at recruiting as a whole. We are still dealing with deficiencies from the first class Brohm put together on the fly and those classes previous. If the 18 and 19 class followed up similar classes in 17 and 16, who knows how good we could be. We sure as hell wouldn’t be sitting around wondering who is gonna play guard.

Think of Thompson and rice against us. Whoever the QB is is going to have heat coming off the edge and I really don’t see the Illinois QB being the kind who is going to beat us with nickel and dime hot routes.

When they put together a class like ours and then two more, I’ll worry about what they can be

 

[1ndyBoiler]

read an article about henning and he did not mention Purdue at all. I’d say this ship has sailed.

 

[Bullwhip Griffith]

Not too worried about wide receiver recruiting. Last year at this point we were hoping for Eli Pancol, Bryce Kirtz and Craig Young.

We ended up with David Bell, Milton Wright, Mershawn Rice and TJ Shellfield.

Staff will always find new targets

 

[Wolegib]

I just found it odd the RB was considered more as a WR than RB .

We're loaded at WR and still have a bunch of other elite WRs that want to come here, so no big loss.