"Man, you're REALLY a slave to recruiting rankings, aren't you?" is something I've heard maybe 150 times in my online life. If there's a sport, there are recruiting rankings, and if there are rankings, I can tell you which teams will be good. Coaching
I've been kind of... saving this? As I've discussed way too much, a project at work (which wrapped up May 4th) took all of my time this spring. So the breakdown of the football signing class was put on hold. This week, I had this little minor surgery
I recorded a podcast this week with an Ohio State site - they're previewing the other 13 Big Ten teams this summer and started with Illinois - and one of their questions was if I thought we'd ever change the name "Fighting Illini". It's a pet topic for
I've been doing these on an off through the spring. I have a few minutes to sit down and write some words, so I go back to a "pick a 90's player" tweet I sent out in January and write up another guy. Today's guy: Jerry Hester. My first Jerry Hester
There were only (maybe) 15,000 of us there. It was a cold Saturday in November, and that was a team that had only won two Big Ten games in three years, so I get it. But I often find myself wishing this game had a place in Illini lore. It was probably
I wrote a post last November, right before the season started, as part of the basketball preview, listing "What It's Supposed To Look Like". As in, once Underwood gets this thing rolling, here's what each of the next four seasons should look like. I
It feels like I've been doing this all spring. I write something, someone puts something interesting in the comments, and I want to follow up on that. So this is another "Part II" post where I do just that. Here's the comment that prompted my research
Since we're only 20 months from the 2020's, I think it's safe to say that we'll look back at the 2010's like my dad looked at the 1970's - nothing happened for the Illini for an entire decade. In the 2010's we've been to three bowls and won two NCAA
I think this is the sixth year we've done this: the Cardinals give me four tickets and four giveaways for Illini Night, and we hold a contest to see who wins 'em. This year, it's not just Illini Night, it's Braggin' Rights night. Orange and Blue vs.
You know my dream: Illinois wins a lot of football games with players from St. Louis. I was born and bred in the Metro East, a pocket of 700,000 people in the St. Louis area who live on the Illinois side of the river. We're unique in our Illini fandom
Here's the thing when you overhaul your skill positions: you have to bring in ATH after ATH. Maybe they're corners, maybe they're wide receivers, maybe they're safeties, but you need to recruit ATH upon ATH upon ATH. That's what Lovie has been doing
That seems to be the main question. "I get it, this was a gut-job for both programs, and Year Two for football was about playing all the freshmen and Year Two for basketball will be about playing all the freshmen. So when will we win?" Great question
I've been reading some of the State Of The Program posts on The All American (The Athletic's college football site - if you don't subscribe... you should subscribe). I figured they won't do one for Illinois (who would care?), so maybe I should write
Just your normal 17 hour day today. I have about 45 minutes before I crash, so I asked for a Pick My Post on Twitter. Lots of good responses, but I chose this one. If I could move my college years to any span of years in the Illini timeline, what would
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