Tracing the Illini's trouble - the Class of 2007
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Where are they now?
Rivals.com ranked the 2007 Illinois class No. 20 nationally, the highest ranking for a Ron Zook class during his time in Champaign-Urbana. Here are the players who signed with the Illini that season:
PLAYER POS. RIVALS.COM STARS COMMENT
Daryle Ballew DL 3 Backup looking for first career tackle
Arrelious Benn WR 5 Injury knocked out All-America candidate early in Missouri game
Josh Brent DT 4 Two-year starter has five tackles in first two games
Nate Bussey ATH 3 Backup linebacker moved this season from safety
Jack Cornell OL 3 Backup guard originally made commitment to Michigan State
Daniel Dufrene RB 3 Junior college transfer just went over 1,000 rushing yards for his career
Brian Gamble DB 3 Playing for Division II Ashland, where he is sixth on the team with 18 tackles
Mike Garrity OL 3 Backup facing aggravated battery charges after May incident
Phil Haig QB 3 Late signee spent a season with the team before moving to baseball full time
Deries Hodge RB 2 One of three players on the list who never made it to campus; his issue was academics
Mark Jackson OL 3 School issues forced his departure before the start of the 2008 season
Steve Matas DE 3 Mentor (Ohio) product never made it to the Illinois campus because of personal reasons
D'Angelo McCray DT 4 Going to school at Coffeyville (Kan.), hoping to return to I-A in 2010
Anthony Morris WR 4 Rumors of former Thornton star making it to the Illinois campus never became reality
Troy Pollard RB 3 Backup part of five-player rotation being used at tailback
Darius Purcell DB 2 Former Chicago Hubbard standout left team, tried to return during recent Camp Rantoul
Erique Robertson LB 3 Kicked off team in early 2008 after arrest for unlawful discharge of a firearm
Ian Thomas LB 2 Lack of recruiting stars haven't bothered current starter, team's leading tackler
Miami Thomas DB 3 Promise of freshman season has been wiped away by consecutive seasons lost to torn ACLs
Craig Wilson OL 4 Backup tackle originally signed in 2006 but spent a season at prep school
Martez Wilson LB 5 Converted to middle before this season, he's out for the year with a neck injury
I bet you'd have similar stories at most BCS schools -- some kids never make it, some kids flame out and depart, some stick around four year and make an impact and some are stars. Not all of the High Schools stars become stars in college, but most of the college stars were also stars in high school. So you take the best guys you can and coach 'em up.
This does go to show you the value of the high school rankings -- interesting while their in high school, and absolutely meaningless once they step foot on campus (if they DO step foot on campus).
Looked at another way, Zook's best recruiting class was roughly Top 20. I don't think many folks would argue strongly that he's a Top 20 coach from an X's and O's standpoint, but maybe he's close. So that would mean from a talent and coaching standpoint, we should be about Top 20. That's usually good for about 4th in the Big Ten and a minor bowl game. And that's about what we can reasonably expect.
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