Give us some intel on Ron Zook and his recruiting practices as you remember them? All of a sudden a couple of formerly solid ND prospects have done an about face and verballed or will verbal to Illinois of all places. The reason they gave whas that Notre Dame lacked racial diversity. And apparently the bleeding may not have ended yet.. Now these particularly athletes could play anywhere so why Illinois? Any comment about Zook's tactics at UF?
Who else besides Benn did Notre Dame offer ? ND wasn't the only school Zook snatched Benn from. The list of offers to this kid was impressive to say the least. How did Zook wrestle this kid away from schools like FSU, Miami, USC, MD? He couldn't have played the race card against these schools. I think more likely than anything, Zook probably guaranteed this kid was going start as a freshman, something none of the others could guarantee. You have a link to what these kids said about ND. It’s interesting to see what recruiting tactics this guy uses, since he does pull off some surprises. Zook doesn't have a lot of carrots to offer. I'm curious how does he do it. He has a few guys from the DC area, some of whom I’m sure are academically borderline and it looks to me like some of them are recruits that other programs wouldn't touch.
AJNJ, Have you heard of Locksley his recruiting coordinator? He is supposedly dialed in big time to the black schools in DC and surrounding areas. Schools that nobody else would recruit, he's been recruiting for years. The coaches know and trust him and now that he's at Illinois they are pointing their kids that direction. Terry
Besides Benn, there is Martez Wilson and Robert Hughes. Benn was considered an Irish lock for months. Wilson was at the ND banquet and sounded like he was leaning toward ND. Hughes has been considered a strong ND lean for months as well. At least two these three would be starting for ND as freshmen so playing time is not an issue. All three are top shelf players who have been courted by all the big schools. Illinois is not exactly in that category and is coming off a 2-9(?) season. Benn takes a cursory visit there and immediately commits. Wilson goes there last week and immediately cancels Weis' in home visit. Now it is rumored that Hughes may head there as well. These three could play anywhere they want. All of a sudden racial diversity is an issue... who is planting that notion in their heads?
Issiah "Juice" Williams is the Pied Piper for these kids...they all want to play with the Juice!!! No Irish player has a cool nickname, other than the Shark but he's a big white boy and won't be there next year anyhow.
Zook was a master recruiter. Maybe he promises to back them up in any fraternity fight they may get into. :lol: :lol:
Martez Wilson and Robert Hughes both scored a 17 on their ACT. That's the equivalent of an 810-830 SAT. How would these guys even pass their classes at Notre Dame?
Well maybe ND is lowering standards because Wilson had a ND offer and Hughes does as well. The scuttlebutt on Hughes is that ND is still in the picture. Unless things have changed Charlie can't offer until admissions has passed on the kid. For example the kid we just got out of Tenn, Golden Tate, was being recruited by ND but he did not have an offical offer till he got a satisfactory test score. When he got that, he got the offical and he verbaled right away.
What I can say positive about Zook is that he is a tireless and effective recruiter. If he had only been a good game day coach he would probably still be at Florida and very successful. However he did a good job of getting them there, but not as good of a job coaching them.
That's what I hear also Terry. That kid has been all over the board this year and I think he may have worn out his welcome in Gainesville. I wish him luck in Illinois.
This came off a Notre Dame site. It seems well researched and certainly verifiable. ... We've Seen Zook's Destiny: ...and it ain't pretty. Illinois is in good position to land three of the nation's top football prospects within the next 10 days, a Christmas present that would give coach Ron Zook one of the top 20 recruiting classes in the country. - Chicago Sun-Times By bringing in high profile recruits and having highly ranked classes, Zook essentially tied the knot in the hangman's noose. Zook is a mediocre coach. He surrounded himself with mediocre assistants. By bringing in top ranked classes, he raised expectations to levels that he couldn't reach. The only problem is there are no Illinois fans to hype up. Has anyone ever met an Illinois football fan? I live in Chicago and have never met one. This is Memorial Stadium when the NUMBER 1 ranked team in the NATION came to town. There are scores of empty seats. That was the fullest the stadium was all year. Here are the attendance numbers for Memorial Stadium last year: 45,444 Eastern Illinois W 42-17 40,657 Syracuse L 31-21 43,066 Iowa L 24-7 43,006 Indiana L 34-32 34,328 Ohio L 20-17 53,351 Ohio State L 17-10 44,266 Purdue L 42-31 That is absolutely brutal. The stadium capacity is 69,249 meaning on average Memorial Stadium was at 62% capacity. Illinois was 2-10 with 50% of the wins coming against 1-AA competition. At least they finished strong losing 7 straight. And they fired it up in conference with a stellar 1-7 record. Omaha puts it in perspective for us at NDNation: Zook is one of the worst coaches in Division I-A football and very likely the worst one in a BCS conference. The year before Zook came to UF, the Gators were 10-2 and +360 on points. Zook's first year they were 8-5 and + 57 on points. In other words, UF was 303 points WORSE Zook's first year. The magnitude of Zook's effect is hard to express adequately. It eclipses even Davie's first year performance where ND went from +226 Holtz's last year to + 17 Davie's first year. No coach who has had this kind of first year, negative impact has ever been successful. Ever. In Turner's last year, Illinois was 3-8 and -83 on points. Zook his first year was 2-9 and -248. This year they were 2-10 and -86. So Zook can't coach, Illinois has no fan base, and they are 11-47 in the last 5 years(that's a .190 winning percentage.) What are these recruits thinking?
Will not be shocked when the NCAA starts snooping around there. Yeah it is amazing how these kids decide to go there. Then again, money does a lot of talking.