'He's a Hawkeye...ain't buying a beer for a Hawkeye.'

Don Thorp turns 62 and other random thoughts...

*Illini football great Don Thorp turned 62 last week....rated a two-star recruit by then prep football recruiting guru Joe Terranova…..defensive lineman out of Buffalo Grove (Ill.) High School was a part of Mike White's first recruiting class (1980)....top in-state recruit ‘80'? Chicago Weber defensive tackle Tim Marshall player of the year 'Darth Vader in cleats'....five-star signed with Notre Dame...showed up in South Bend with a bad knee and never lived up to the hype...injuries slowed his career...while two-star Thorp....1983 Big Ten MVP/four-year starter/team captain of conference champs/All-American/NFL career...successful business in the Chicago burbs'...poster boy for how 'in-state players do best when they stay in-state'….you aren’t going to build a championship team with a bunch of two-star recruits but every once in awhile…those types rise and shine at the next level.

*Thinking of White era football….Story time...

-Early 90's living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa...Thursday night summer time...my buddy and I go to a local hangout the Irish Democrat....what you would call a Yuppie bar then...wasn't a Yuppie but Irish Democrat had a lot of females...anyway...we sit down at the end of the bar about 9PM and no more than ten feet away having a few drinks....Bill Callahan, Kevin Cosgrove and Dan McCarney.

Three were then on Barry Alvarez's Wisconsin staff...in town for a coaches clinic at Linn Mar (IA.) High School....Linn Mar had three seniors to be B1G football prospects that Badgers were recruiting...quarterback Ryan Driscoll, defensive back Mick Mulherin and tight end Sean Rice....When at Iowa, the Cedar Rapids area was McCarney's recruiting territory/plenty of ties.

Had a few beers...decided to go talk to the assistants...'fanboy' them....tell Callahan/Cosgrove 'thanks for leaving all the talent you did at Illinois'...from 1982-till-1987…..pair had recruited plenty of players out of Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago to Champaign....bought them both a Heineken 'only beer JFK ever drank'...they got a kick out of someone in Iowa thanking them for what happened at Illinois...didn't buy McCarney a beer...snubbed him...told Callahan/Cosgrove, 'He (McCarney) is a Hawkeye...ain’t buying a beer for a Hawkeye'....pair laughed.....Mulherin/Driscoll became Hawkeyes...Rice played basketball at Northern Iowa.

Running into those two was before Lou Tepper accused Callahan of 'nosing' around the Illini coaches box before a game vs. Wisconsin....years later Big Ten Network documentary on the rise of Badger football...Alvarez admitted former White assistants Calahan, Cosgrove, Brad Childress all took great pride building up Wisconsin/beating Illinois cause all three felt they weren't treated well when let go in Champaign

Hiring of Tepper, rise of Wisconsin/Northwestern football same period of time...no coincidence in my view....all the positive left by Mackovic era...gone few years after Tepper took over....lost momentum...Badgers committed to football....Wildcats got a head coach who built a winning organization while the Illini....floundered.

*Makes me wonder...

-Looking at the Big Ten media notes for this year’s football event…..Geezus H....realized the 'Ron Zook of the 2020's' Mike Locksley has taken his Maryland Terps program to three straight bowl games/three wins....Illinois hasn't been to three straight bowl games since...early 90's....is it that hard?….this fall Lox will have three assistants that have coached the o-line (including newly hired analyst Brian Ferentz)…bet that unit still sucks.

-’Transportation for University of Illinois Athletics will be changing lanes effective immediately. The U of I announced it will not be using Peoria Charter’s services anymore for the first time in more than 20 years.....The company was told by the university it’s because of “maintenance issues,” which is something the company denies.’ (Courtesy WCIA-TV Champaign)....’Differences of opinion between Peoria Charter and football staff were not the main driver of the decision to switch charters, UI Division of Intercollegiate Athletics spokesman Derrick Burson told The News-Gazette’….out of the blue with a year left on the contract DIA cuts ties with Peoria Charter…..new carrier is Windstar an Iowa based company...cynic in me…ah never mind.

*Looking at 2024 Illini football non-conference opponents as media days kick off…

-Kansas football picked to finish fourth at recent Big 12 press get together......Jayhawks come to Champaign September 7th to play the Illini...Below comments from other Big 12 coaches about Lance Leipold's program from this year's Athlon's College Football preview magazine....with my comments from the peanut gallery.

“The school locking down Lance [Leipold] is the biggest move of their entire offseason. He is going to be rumored for everything that opens, but they’re aiming to win the league and go to the playoff. At that program, from where it started, that is nothing short of amazing. This coaching staff has created one of the greatest turnaround stories in college football."....Comment: Remember when all the on-line 'gurus' had Leipold the next Illini head coach?....from someone close to the then UofBuffalo head coach.……Illini rep called Leipold, asked him if he was interested in the job?….'yes'...He never heard from anyone at Illinois again....'Bielema was always going to be their guy'...no doubt Leipold done a great job at Kansas...admissions for football players in Lawrence a little different than Champaign...would be my only caveat on why hiring Leipold might not have been the slam-dunk many now think would have been.

"Replacing Andy [Kotelnicki] with [Jeff ] Grimes [as offensive coordinator] is more about how Grimes will acclimate to the KU system."...Comment: Kotelnicki now offensive coordinator at Penn State...Grimes is a ham-and-egger offensive coordinator...nothing special...He isn’t changing the offense/head coach has input during week/gameday on play calls...hard to screw it up with Leipold so involved.

"[Jalon] Daniels is a proven talent at quarterback, and they have some great running backs. This is a season where they should be considered a Big 12 title contender. They have depth, experience and talent.”….Comment:  Daniels great in this offense....what should worry KU staff is that it reads like three new starters on the offensive line....going on the road with an o-line that hasn't worked together very much?  That's how Illinois upsets the Jayhawks....beat that offensive line up on the way to making Daniels say uncle.