The 90 Illini #40: Hank Beatty

Now that we're in the top-40, I'll be adding "previous 90 Illini rankings" for each player. We're reaching the spot where it's mostly upperclassmen now, so many of these guys will have been ranked in The 90 Illini 2-3-4 times. Seth Coleman has five previous rankings. Ezekiel Holmes has six.

But as I add that, let me just note... they never follow a consistent "a little bit lower each year" path. Some do, I guess, but Beatty, for example, went from 78th in 2022 (and then he played in 12 games) to 34th last year (and then he didn't play as much as we all thought he would) to 40th this year. He was originally higher than 40th on this list, but as I noted recently, the addition of Zakhari Franklin in June pushed every receiver besides Pat Bryant down 6 or 7 spots on my list.

That's a fascinating thing (for me, at least). An opportunity presents itself to bring in a receiver who already has an 10-reception game in Memorial Stadium. But you can't do that without ruffling some "I was expecting more targets this fall" feathers. Especially now when players can transfer and be immediately eligible next season.

None of this has anything to do with Hank Beatty. At least I don't think it does. I'm just noting that every receiver besides Bryant lost targets when Franklin was added in June. And that's why Beatty dropped from 33rd or so to...