A little refresher on the Illini

H

homerHAWKeye777

Well-Known Member
Key anticipated personnel losses from last year:
Juice (QB) - starter
Benn (WR) - starter
Hoomanawanui (TE) - starter
Asamoah (OT) - starter
Block (C) - starter
Pilcher (DE) - starter
Hicks (CB) - starter
Duvalt (WR) - starter
Cumberland (WR) - top backup WR
Hardeman (S) - starter [career ending injury]

"Surprise" personnel losses SINCE last year:
Lewis (starting OT) - ACL
Aikens (starting S) - booted due to criminal behavior
Brent (starting DT) - grades
Edwards (starter and/or top backup at S) - left team
Graham (top backup TE) - left team
Scott (backup WR, highly touted recruit) - left team
Charest (top backup QB) - left team


Synopsis -

In addition to all the personnel losses, they squad also contended with MASSIVE turnover with the assistant coaches too. We're talking about all new coordinators, new QB and TE coaches, plus 2 other new guys on the staff. That's a BIG change!

Another word is that it sounds like the coordinators are throwing A TON at the Illinois squad. Whenever you're teaching new schemes and you throw too much at your guys ... that can often be a recipe for disaster. Of course, the coordinators are both VERY proven at their respective spots ... and they're proven teachers. So I'm actually inclined to believe that they know what they're doing. However, on the flip side, they probably also know that they only have 2 years to turn around the program "or else" ... so that also only gives them a limited amount of time to establish their respective systems.

Two of the few "rays of light" to offset some of the attrition is that the Illini get Martez Wilson and Miami Thomas back.

Anyhow, I look for the loss of Brent at DT and the all the losses at safety to end up really hurting the Illini D. When you consider that the D should be in pretty bad shape AND that the O is forced to start a RS FR ... DO NOT expect the Illini to have a winning season in 2010. The bigger question is whether or not the performance of the squad will be good enough for the assistant coaches to finish up their 2-year contracts.
 
I think the Illini have palyed below thier talent level at most times with Ron Zook in charge. But I think there is a good chance the new OC and Dc get more out of the talent. If- a big word- IF Ron Zook stays out of the OC and DC's way they can improve alot whether they do is another thing though.
 
thawks1 said:
I think the Illini have palyed below thier talent level at most times with Ron Zook in charge. But I think there is a good chance the new OC and Dc get more out of the talent. If- a big word- IF Ron Zook stays out of the OC and DC's way they can improve alot whether they do is another thing though.
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I agree with that. I expect Illinois to be an improved football team in both execution and strategy. I think they could be a surprise team in the Big Ten a year after being the team that fell far below expectations. I could see them being a game or two above .500. Of course, I could also see it be a disaster - Zooker's in charge.
 
I'm cheering for the Zooker to get at least 7 wins+bowl win, same with RR. I'd hate for them to get fired and take the chance of the schools hiring a coach lol.
 
zppr17j said:
I'm cheering for the Zooker to get at least 7 wins+bowl win, same with RR. I'd hate for them to get fired and take the chance of the schools hiring a coach lol.
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I'm cheering for Zook's Illini team to get 3 or 4 wins ... but have the appearance that they have made strides. Then, I want to see them just scrape by in 2011 with 6 wins ... and have it not be transparent how much they've improved by. That way, the administration there will still not have a clear decision in front of them. Keep him ... or give him the boot?

Having Zook there in a constant state of "hot seatedness" is a good thing. He'll still land his fair share of recruits ... but he won't have enough tangible success on the field to have much luck with his hard recruiting sell. That way Iowa can continue to have luck landing great recruits out of Illinois.
 
hawkeyescott said:
HawkeyeDenis said:
Doesn't matter we don't play them. So they are a non-entity
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They aren't a non-entity, Iowa and Illinois go after a lot of the same kids in Illinois and it makes recruiting Illinois a lot easier for Iowa if they are 11-2 and Illinois is 4-8.
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I honestly believe that you're both correct.

For the casual fan who primarily pays attention to what influences the here and now ... all that really of interest are those factors that immediately impact the performance of the Hawks during the given season.

However, for the FANATICS, even more things are of interest. Recruiting is of particular interest because it impacts what sort of team we can expect for the future. Furthermore, the state of the Illini program also impacts the reputation of the Big 10 as a whole. The state of the Illini program also informs us as to whether they're capable of defeating teams that stand in our way too.
 
OUCH .... the Illini just lost another starting safety for the season. This time it was to injury. Too bad for the young man ... he was a kid we recruited pretty hard too (Sanni).
 
That sucks about Sanni. I remember watching film on him while we were recruiting him. Seemed like a good kid. Hopefully he recovers fully.
 
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