Boom Shakalaka!

Great time to be an Illini football fan...

*Illini football pick up two blue-chip commitments add a 2025 JC defensive back.

-Bret Bielema's program continues to add to their talented 2026 recruiting class...

Last week….Four-star Chicago Morgan Park slot receiver Nasir Rankin commits to Illinois....one of the top five in-state prospects...has a scholarship offer from Brad Underwood's hoops program.....plans to play both sports....listed at 5-foot-11, 185-pounds.....doesn't look that big on tape......human highlight film...better version of former Illini receiver Isaiah Williams....has Williams quicks in and out of his cuts...Williams more quick than fast....Rankin both quick and fast...wants to be the next Travis Hunter play both sides of the ball....ummm....shitting on the camp fire I know……with a thin build/scrawny lower body....one of those players likely to pick your spots to get him the ball/keep him healthy....10-12 touches a game cause Hunter played in the Big 12 they don't play much defense/few big hits....Big Ten totally different 220-pound safeties that will take your head off….pick your spots and keep him healthy.....no doubt a great PR win for Illini football with this commitment.

Hour before Rankin committed…..King Liggins defensive tackle Chicago Brother Rice picks the Illini…Listed at 6-foot-4, 280-pounds....looks more like 6-foot-1 with long arms (reported 80-inch wing span)...Illini beat the B1G schools they should on in-state talent....Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota among others...love him....Liggins has enough quick twitch to be a one-gap/strong enough lower body to two-gap at defensive tackle....reminds of former Illini Akeem Spence....bull-strong that does nothing but make plays...three-year starter/All-Big Ten potential type of player.

Donovan Turner Long Beach (Cal) City College committed Bielema’s program…..Illini saw his 2024 film offered late...6-foot-1, 190-pounder has two years of eligibility remaining/expected in Champaign this summer....Former Long Beach Poly High School prep spent two years at UMass...transferred back to LBCC last fall...was committed to Delaware State (new Hornets head coach DeSean Jackson a Poly alum...former Illini d-line coach Tom Sims now on the Delaware State staff)....like this pickup....on film 6-foot-1 Turner played both man cover corner (trail technique) and free safety...thought free safety his best position...should be a valuable depth piece for the Illini secondary either spot this fall…..last Illini player from Long Beach City College? Antonio Steele outstanding linebacker on the 2008 Rose Bowl team.

*This and that...

-DIA announced that football season tickets sold out first time in over 20 years...'The U of I board of trustees is discussing the possibility of purchasing a Wi-Fi system for Memorial Stadium.....The $10 million project would work to improve the fan experience by giving internet access to people throughout the venue and the tailgating area in Grange Grove. The system would also support stadium operations including tickets, concessions and security.’ (Courtesy WCIA Champaign)....this has been in the works for awhile....except will pass the BOT implemented ASAP.

-Just ridiculous….by my count Purdue football will have 70 new scholarship players when they open pre-season camp later this year……three positions repping in spring/summer/fall camp most important….quarterback/offensive line/defensive backfield….last two groups that have to work the most/best together….college football going to continue to get shittier and shittier for programs that turn over coaching staff/personnel season to season cause no one had the balls to clean up the portal early on….now it’s too late.

-Illini hoops offered a scholarship to 6-foot-6 2027 East Peoria (Ill.) High School wing Quinton Kitt….last Red Raiders prep that played football or hoops for the Illini? 1987 football recruiting class/future Illini All-American guard Tim Simpson last could find from there….Mark Vershaw hoops player mid-90’s from Bluetown thought to be a future Illini…both his parents ILL. grads/grew up going to games in CU…decided he didn’t want to play with the Manual crew…went to Madison…helped Dick Bennett’s Badgers to a 2000 Final Four.

*Former Illini football recruiting coordinator Randy Rodgers turned 78 last week..

-Rodgers one of the most successful recruiters recent Illini history (1988-1991) turned 78 last week….Background when John Mackovic hired him to replace Larry Petroff…….’Rodgers, a 40-year-old Illinois graduate, returned to Champaign by way of Evansville, Ind., where he was coordinator for promotional programs for Bristol-Myers. Before that, he was head football coach at Evansville, posting an 18-31-3 mark in his five-year tenure…..Rodgers played football for the Illini from 1965-68 and was an All-Big Ten academic team selection in 1968. In 1969, he received the George Huff Award, which goes to athletes earning letters and maintaining a B average or better for two consecutive years.’ (Courtesy UPI)

Rodgers top five ‘finds’ recruits he helped sign with the Illini before he left for Austin when Mackovic took the University of Texas job.

1. Kevin Hardy linebacker-Out of Evansville (Ind.) Harrison High School recruiting class of 1991…In CU became the Butkus award winner/All-American/top three NFL first round draft pick/Illini Hall of Famer….family moved from Maryland to Evansville….favored basketball gave football a shot once family moved….Rodgers found Hardy at a high school camp before the future Illini’s sophomore year….Illini first to offer a scholarship and he paid back that loyalty with an early commitment.

2. Ken Dilger tight end-Prep quarterback from Mariah Hills (Ind.) Heritage Hills High School in southern Indiana….classic story Illini had one last scholarship to give class of 1989….told Dilger, Youngstown (Ohio) running back Clint Lynch…first one to campus for their official visit gets the ride…..both came thru treacherous weather with Lynch ultimately first to arrive getting the scholarship….Dilger sat out the next fall before enrolling at Illinois winter semester 1990…switched to tight end….All-Big Ten player/2nd round NFL pick by the Colts/long NFL career followed.

3. Ken Blackman tackle-Signed as a tight end out of Abilene (Texas) Wylie High School recruiting class of 1991…Rodgers from Monmouth, Illinois….Blackman had spent his childhood in Monmouth before family moved to Texas….Rodgers tipped off about the young man by his hometown buddies….Illini beat out hometown Abilene Christian, New Mexico and Northern Arizona for Blackman…..started at tight end…moved to defensive tackle…then left tackle three-year starter…All-Big Ten mention…3rd round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals…started 31 games in the NFL at guard.

4. Mikki Johnson nose guard-Recruited as a tight end out of Galesburg (Ill.) High School another recruiting class of 1991….Galesburg close to Rodger’s Monmouth hometown….Illini had taken a couple of walk-on’s from Johnson’s school late 80’s…..Silver Streak coaches told Rodgers early on about ‘watch this kid Johnson’….Mackovic’s staff and Western Illinois first to offer….after a big senior season….Mizzou, Iowa, and Nebraska came calling…too late….all Illini….moved to nose guard….going to be an NFL player till one of those fuckin’ Hawkeye o-lineman cut blocked Johnson in the 1994 Illini win….after a couple of bad knee surgeries…never the same player….last I heard Johnson firefighter in the CU area.

5. James Pesek guard-Rodgers found Pesek at Carmel (Ind.) High School after his high school coach met the Illini recruiting coordinator coaches clinic…..Talked him into walking on 1989…..three-year letterman at guard….during his Illini career started 24 games/All-Big Ten mention…..see a pattern?…..Pesek another great example of how well Mackovic’s staff evaluated/developed a player…..two other’s Rodgers ‘discovered’ became solid Illini players tight end David Olson (Freeport 1989 recruiting class), Jason Edwards defensive tackle (recruited as a tight out of Evansville Memorial High School class of 1991)….Rodgers while in Champaign first to offer Evansville Bosse’s superstar running back Mack Jacobs….Jacobs signed with Tepper’s Illini….never qualified.

After Mackovic/staff got fired at Texas…..Rodgers stayed in the Lone Star State running a recruiting service….last I heard he was still living in Austin ‘retired’.

Have written this before…1990 in Madison Illini vs. Badgers…then you could literally lean over and touch the players on visiting bench…watching the Illini warm up when Rodgers sat down in front of where I was standing….had the bag phone was calling recruits from the sidelines before game…could read his list calling prospects like Darnay Scott wide receiver (St. Louis/San Diego State), Jason Stanicek quarterback (Rich East/UNC), Marvell Scott fullback (Wheaton/Illinois/Delaware), and John Horn tackle (Joliet Catholic/Illinois)….loved seeing his list…15 years later sitting in the Illini football offices getting the staff’s full recruiting list….had told me that 1990 sidelines…would have laughed…said, ‘you are crazy’ to think that could happen….it did.