November 4 was reported 'Illinois DB Marquez Beason has entered the transfer portal. Beason ranked as the No. 99 overall recruit in the 2019 class. He's one of the highest-rated recruits ever to sign with the Illini.@247SportsPortal'
For some reason, loved following basketball/football recruiting from an early age...growing had a paper route delivering the Quad City Times in the AM....main motivation for getting up early to throw newspapers?…..make some money to buy records, Joe Terranova's football pre-season recruiting book/signing pamphlet, Bob Gibbon's basketball recruiting guide...always so excited when they came in the mail, check to see which top recruits listed the Fighting Illini as a school they were interested in....Beason's transfer got me to thinking about the highly touted recruits that chose Illinois football but never for one reason or another worked out....below is a list of a few of them that come to mind......am sure those reading have their own list of those recruits so excited for when they signed with the Fighting Illini......later this month will write about the 'diamonds in the rough' football recruits that few paid attention to that became 'all time' Illini greats in Champaign.
1. Eric Jefferson defensive end Shreveport (La.) Evangel Academy Illini recruiting class 1996
'Everyone's All-American'.....Five-star defensive lineman was recruited to Illinois by Lou Tepper'si linebackers coach O'Neill Gilbert.....Illini assistant Gilbert had strong recruiting ties to northern Louisiana where Jefferson was from....."In August, Jefferson stood before a crowd of reporters at media day, hailed as the second coming of Butkus. But that’s as close as he would ever get to the playing field. Before long, money and valuables began to disappear from the Illini locker room. Teammates wondered if the blue-chipper was to blame. Jefferson had already missed a handful of practices during the first two weeks, yet because of his reputation, his coaches were willing to cut him slack. First they said his absence was due to a hamstring injury; then, the flu. But when he did show up for workouts, his behavior was erratic. They had no idea what they were dealing with, Evangel football coach Dunn says. As soon as he got up there, they started to realize they had a monster on their hands.
Gilbert, who had convinced the Illini coaches he could shepherd Jefferson to the playing field, was overmatched. In late August, Jefferson was a no-show at practice once again. Tepper sent the team chaplain to look for him. What he found was a player all taped up and dressed in uniform, hiding in his locker. Two weeks before his first game, Jefferson had imploded, and no one knew how to handle it. He said he was paralyzed, couldnt move. Tepper says team doctors told him his star recruit was suffering from depression. The school sent Jefferson to a local hospital for psychiatric treatment. By the time he emerged three months later, his teammates had stumbled through a 2-9 season and Tepper was history”. (courtesy ESPN the magazine 2005 article)
Jefferson left Illinois intending to play at Grambling back in Louisiana........never made it.....next time Jefferson's name came up he was in jail in California for armed robbery....battled addiction/schizophrenia/bipolar disorder issues his whole life....last could find of Jefferson he was living in Bossier City, Louisiana outside of Shreveport in 2020.....certainly always been fuzzy about what exactly Gilbert knew of Jefferson's issues/what he told the Illini athletic department/Tepper before Jefferson got to campus....Gilbert left Champaign after 1996 to coach with the NFL’s Tennessee Oilers....Illini athletic department types later on would talk about how 'shady' Gilbert was…....'dodged' a bullet not getting an NCAA investigation into Jefferson's recruitment.
2. Connie Moore Northwest Mississippi Community College Illini recruiting class 1998
Rated top JC WR in the 1998 recruiting class....labeled signing day by then Illini head coach Ron Turner as a potential 'difference maker' at wide receiver....one of four JC wide receivers signed by Turner's staff in 1998....four were Moore, William Loyd, Larry Davis and Terrance Smalls all left school after the ‘98 season....originally from Miami, Florida...Moore played at Miami Southridge/Palmetto High School(s) as a prep....started out at Arizona Western JC before being asked to leave that program...sat out a year before enrolling at Northwest Mississippi JC....picked Illinois over Michigan State and Florida....Turner told Moore that he had coached Curtis Conway with the Chicago Bears and would turn Moore into the next Conway..
Moore came up to Champaign summer of 1998 to work out with team, pass two classes to get accepted into Illinois which he did..…..Moore had talent but his work ethic/dependability was always an issue that summer...getting booted off the team certainly wasn't his first time running afoul of the 'rules'....Camp Rantoul 'incident'....story was Moore came late into a position meeting got into a verbal argument with then Illini grad assistant Rod Holder....supposedly Moore threw a chair at Holder before storming out of the room....day later Moore was booted off the team.....After Illinois played for then head coach Denver Johnson at Murray State before getting a free agent tryout with the Dallas Cowboys.....Now lives in the Miami area.
Connie Moore's version of why he got booted off the Illinois football team.....’The papers said I was kicked off the team because of a fight with a coach. That’s completely false. I never got in a fight with any member of the coaching staff. They said it involved alcohol. They’re right about that part. Illinois had had disciplinary problems with some high-profile players. You can look it up if you want, but I’m not going to name names. A week before the regular season, Coach Turner laid down the law: no drinking, no smoking, no fighting. No excuses. Those were the rules.
I’ve never been a drinker in my life. But I took two sips at a small party our girlfriends threw for a few of us—who I won’t name—on a Sunday. We had a team meeting later that day, and the guys from the party knew we had to be there on time. We jumped out of the car and sprinted full speed to the meeting room. We got there just as the meeting started. In coach’s eyes we were late. I broke the rules. I admitted to Coach Turner what I’d done, and he had the team vote on whether I would be allowed to stay in the program .The team voted me out'. (quote courtesy FredSmith.com)
3. John Horn offensive tackle Joliet (Ill.) Catholic High School Illini recruiting class 1991
"Tuesday Illinois got a commitment from John Horn, a 6-foot-6-inch, 250-pound tackle regarded as the top lineman in the state and perhaps the state`s top player. Horn a Parade magazine All-America and a first-team Tribune all-state selection, chose Illinois over Michigan State and Iowa. Horn had said he preferred to play his college football close to home where his family could see him play”. (courtesy Chicago Tribune)…..Mackovic's staff first 'big time Chicagoland’ recruit.....like the majority of kids that played football growing up in Joliet had his heart set on going to Notre Dame to play for Lou Holtz's Fighting Irish....Notre Dame had upped their academic standards for football recruits and Horn was a non qualifier for the Irish.……media guide says Horn started two games in 1993 at left tackle for the Illini, only time he started games in Champaign.....got hurt that ‘93 season never saw the field again....talking to those in the program during that time about Horn, they never felt he was fully bought in at Illinois/committed to football.....liked football but didn't love it the impression others got from him.....same people speculated Horn never got over not getting into Notre Dame.
4. Aaron Bailey quarterback Bolingbrook (Ill.) High School Illini recruiting class 2013
Tim Beckman's staff first 'big' in-state recruit commitment fall of his initial season in Champaign....'difference maker' quarterback Illinois football could build around....Bailey in high school great athlete playing quarterback but seldom saw him pass, have to pass, just ran around and made plays with his athletic ability.....recruited to play in Beckman's run first spread offense....committed fall of 2012 when Chris Beatty/Billy Gonzalez were Illini co-offensive coordinators........after 2012 season Beatty/Gonzalez both left Champaign....Beckman hired Bill Cubit as offensive coordinator.....Cubit's scheme more pass oriented where accuracy/touch/anticipation required in the offense vs. the throwing to the spot spread where the WR should be which was the previous offense Bailey was recruited for....biggest question about Bailey was his passing.....then Illini tight ends coach/recruiting coordinator Alex Golesh tried to bullshit his media pals that 'Illinois have seen Bailey pass” 'he can pass' be a fit in Cubit's offense....Bailey didn't fit the scheme/passing was a mess/aimed didn't throw the ball, majority of Bailey's passes looked like the guy at the bar aiming the dart at the dartboard.....add to that, reportedly Cubit felt Bailey lazy/entitled no QB instincts not a fit for what he wanted done at quarterback.
To know one's surprise, Bailey left Illinois after the 2014 season transferring to Northern Iowa..... Bailey’s career highlight?.....season opener 2016 he threw for 135 yards, ran for 114 more and had two touchdowns as Northern Iowa rallied to beat Iowa State 25-20 in Ames.....Ironic that Golesh was on the Iowa State staff that contest...never improved as a passer at the college level.
5. D'Angelo McCray defensive tackle Jacksonville (Fla.) Jackson High School Illini recruiting class of 2007…..Reggie Ellis defensive tackle Washington (D.C.) Dunbar Illini recruiting class of 2008……Lendell Buckner defensive tackle Chicago Leo Illini recruiting class of 2009
All three four-star recruits that picked Illinois over multiple FBS offers....defensive tackle hardest position to find in recruiting....just not many of them....defensive tackles different breed....growing up biggest, most athletic kid on the team plays defensive tackle, king of the hill rarely challenged coming up because of his size, ability.....another case of how much do they like/love/need football when they go to the next level where it's a fist fight in a phone booth vs. offensive linemen the same size every rep in practice/game…..McCray originally committed to Urban Meyer's Florida Gators....de-committed picked Illinois with his high school teammate/running back Troy Pollard....'Big 'D' suffered a meniscus injury in high school that was never properly repaired....was on the 2008 Illini Rose Bowl team...meniscus was operated on again at Illinois after the 2007 season....in-active because of the surgery....got heavy, struggled on and off the field spring 2008... ...left the program in the summer of '08 to head to Eastern Illinois before landing at a Kansas JC for a year.....transferred/played offensive line for the Memphis Tigers/training camp tryout with the New York Giants....lost his agility cause the knee was never right after surgeries why he played offensive line....probably most remembered by Illini fans for being at the scene of the Martez Wilson stabbing winter 2008....that's a story for another time...very bizarre that one.
Ellis just over-rated......maybe 6-foot-1 with short arms....those that gave out the star's missed so bad for Ellis' high school teammate Vontae Davis that they over compensated in their ranking of Ellis....talked a lot of shit on/off the field about how good/tough he was, what he was going to do but never followed thru....left Illinois with his recruiter Mike Locksley when Lox got the head coaching job at New Mexico....moved from defensive tackle to guard for the Lobos....tell tale sign....Ellis enrolled in January 2008 went thru winter conditioning with the Illini...remember asking a then Illini football S&C coach about Ellis? The response was a shoulder shrug, 'I don't know, I don't know if he makes it....he hasn't impressed anyone'.....S&C coaches spend the most time with the players and have a good idea of the kind of potential/work ethic that player has.
Illinois took the commitments of four-star Chicago Leo teammates Buckner, tackle Leon Hill summer of 2008 after the linemen camp in Champaign.....the pair were coached by former Illini running back Mike Holmes at Leo......Buckner/Hill started out at Chicago Mount Carmel when that didn't work out, transferred to Leo....Mount Carmel staff had 'warned' Illini staff that Buckner/Hill had potential to be trouble 'going to have to keep an eye on them all the time'....neither made it..…..Buckner in trouble on campus....Hill just lazy....Buckner ended up getting the boot turned up on the Western Illinois roster for a season..……Hill transferred to NAIA Glenville State in West Virginia for a couple of seasons.....Chicago Mount Carmel staff was right.
*Huge key in recruiting?....Knowing the type of kid you are getting, the good, bad and ugly of his character/work ethic/motivation for the game.....Sure Alabama's Nick Saban can pick and choose the most talented recruits for his program....Saban has a strategy how and why he takes certain prospects over others....Strategy goes like this...if the Alabama staff wants to offer a player say on offense.....Saban has the Bama' offensive coordinator/position coach/area recruiter of that prospect all in his office to watch film of that prospect as critiqued by Saban while the staff defends their decision offering the young man/answering questions about the prospect from the head coach....Why?.....Saban can see the talent on film….He wants to make sure all three assistants/head coach know what kind of kid they are getting when that prospect hits campus...all the good stuff, family, grades, other baggage so when he arrives in Tuscaloosa......Saban/staff know what they are getting might have to deal with........no surprises.…..no 'well I didn't know' excuse from staff members when issues arise....accountability/attention to detail in the science of recruiting.
I thought Connie Moore was drunk and yelled profanities at Turner. Moore’s mom mad a desperate plea to keep him.
The best receiver in that class was Larry Davis, who had some plus 100 yards receiving games before Illini could throw the ball with Tepper players on the field . He transferred, don’t know why or where he went.