Illini land top 10 QB Recruit in Aaron Bailey

April 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

aaron bailey

On a night, when a couple Illinois football players were moving on to the next level, a new high profile playmaker was coming to them. On NFL Draft night (round one) Whitney Mercilus was selected by the Houston Texans and AJ Jenkins by the San Francisco 49ers. So you might have missed this story.

According to Rivals, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Wisconsin were among the schools to offer new Illini QB Aaron Bailey. He’s ranked as the No. 4 QB in the nation by Rivals, No. 6 by Scout in the “dual threat” category. Among ALL QBs in the Class of 2013, new Illini Aaron Bailey is ranked No. 9 by Rivals and No. 6 by Scout. Bailey verbally committed Thursday night.

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New England Patriots reach to grab Illini Tavon Wilson in 2nd round

April 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

New England certainly needs help in their secondary. They have WRs playing DB for them that’s how short-handed they are. Remember Julian Edelman covering Anquan Boldin in the AFC Title game? Troy Brown actually played some defensive back too; even though he was a wide receiver by trade. And the Patriots legend fittingly announced this pick Tavon Wilson from the Illini, tonight in the 2nd round of the NFL draft.

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Kansas City Chiefs take OL Jeff Allen from Illinois in 2nd round

April 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

jeff-allen

Four Illinois Fighting Illini were drafted in the first rounds of the 2012 NFL Draft. All of them were taken ahead of anyone from Nebraska, Penn State, Ohio State or Michigan. Yes, Illinois had four while those four traditional powerhouses had a combined goose egg. Devon Still from PSU and Lavonte David from the Huskers were taken later in the second round.

Former Illinois OT Jeff Allen was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 44th overall pick in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Allen was followed at No. 48 overall by defensive back Tavon Wilson by the New England Patriots. Following Whitney Mercilus and AJ Jenkins in the first round last night, this is the first time Illinois has had four players drafted in the top two rounds.

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San Francisco 49ers pull draft night shocker: Illini WR A.J. Jenkins

April 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

a.j. jenkins

The Seattle Seahawks made the first big shocker on NFL Draft night by taking Bruce Irvin DE/OLB from West Virginia. The San Francisco 49ers created another big surprise when they took WR A.J. Jenkins out of Illinois with the 30th pick. It marks the first time two Illini have been selected in the first round of an NFL draft since Kevin Hardy and Simeon Rice in 1996.

Illinois now has 5 first round picks in the last five years, the most in the Big Ten. That’s a very surprising stat isn’t?

The Niners defense was so strong last year, you knew they were going to go offense this draft. And now they have plenty of pass catchers: Mario Manningham, Vernon Davis, Randy Moss, Michael Crabtree etc.

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Houston Texans take Illini Whitney Mercilus, DE slips to #26

April 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

whitney_mercilus

He came out of nowhere to win the Ted Hendricks Award as the best Defensive End in all of college football. He rose from obscurity to become an All-American at Illinois. Now Whitney Mercilus is a member of the Houston Texans, joining fellow Big Ten alum J.J. Watt of the Wisconsin Badgers as the men who will fill the pass-rushing void left by the departed 2006 #1 overall draft selection Mario Williams.

Mercilus story is an uplifting one. Watch this moving GIF of the celebration at his house when he got the call.

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Final 2012 NFL Mock Draft 4-26 2nd round

April 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

NFL-DRAFT

The NFL draft is here! We’ve made some final changes in our last mock, moving quite a few guys around. See you Thursday night!

Go here for the FIRST ROUND of this mock

And here for our 2013 NFL Mock Draft

We also had last year’s overall #1 most accurate NBA mock draft. check out the current one here

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Illini grab shooting guard transfer Rayvonte Rice from Drake

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

illini cheerleaders

Coach John Groce landed his first recruiting victory as coach of the Illinois Fighting Illini today, as Rayvonte Rice is leaving Drake and coming home. The 6-4, 250-pound guard grew up in Champaign, Illinois and was the 2010 Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year while playing for Champaign Centennial High School. Hopefully, this will help bring in this year’s Gatorade player of the year Jabari Parker.

Rice’s numbers with Drake: 16.8 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 1.9 SPG. He was the team’s leading scorer, but also shot just 24 percent from three-point range.

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Illini Coach Tim Beckman: motivation through food

April 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

tim-beckman

Earlier this week it was announced that this Illinois football spring game would have a couple culinary twists. Newly installed coach Tim Beckman decided that the losing team would have to eat frank and beans as their postgame meal.

Not sure what the winners got, but I’m assuming it’s real food.

‘‘This is a competition,’’ Beckman said. ‘‘The winner will be rewarded. The loser will get their beans and weenies. That’s the way it is. That’s life — that’s the game of football.’’

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Should the Illini replace Tim Beckman with Bobby Petrino?

April 13, 2012 By 2 Comments

jessica-dorrell-bobby-petrino

It’s no secret that Illinois Fighting Illini fans weren’t the happiest with the hire of Tim Beckman as college football coach. And Athletic Director Mike Thomas didn’t exactly “win the news conference” when Beckman was introduced either. Beckman didn’t come off as extremely polished and ready for prime time in that presser, so Illini Nation remains restless.

That, coupled with the Arkansas Razorbacks firing of Bobby Petrino in the wake of his scandalous affair with fellow employee Jessica Dorrell, led a lot of Illini fans to tweet about the idea of replacing Beckman with Petrino. They were half-kidding, right?

Maybe not.

Seriously, swapping Petrino for Beckman is crazy, right?

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2012 NBA Mock Draft-First Round (4/9/12)

April 9, 2012 By 1 Comment

nba draft logo

The 2012 NBA Draft figures to consist of a deeper, more talented group of prospects that the 2011 class.  Team needs  HAVE been taken into consideration with this 2012 NBA mock draft and the order is based off the current NBA standings.  Click on the players’ name for a complete, in-depth scouting report.  Check out The Sports Bank’s NFL Mock Draft as well.

(By the way, The Sports Bank was graded as the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft on the web.)

Check out our ridiculously early 2013 NBA Mock Draft.

UPDATED: 4/9/12

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Illini assistant coaching job to Deon Thomas? help recruit #1 prospect Jabari Parker?

April 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

deon-thomas

For Illini fans, Deon Thomas could soon become much more than just nostalgia and the answer to a trivia question.

Thomas, a product of Chicago Simeon is the Illinois basketball all-time leading scorer and second all-time rebounder, starring in Champaign from 1990-94. He was selected by the Dallas Mavericks 28th overall in the 1994 NBA Draft. After attending Mavs mini camp, Thomas opted to play professional basketball in Europe and Israel instead of the NBA.

Thomas is one of the most successful American pros of all time in the European leagues and passed on several opportunities to play in the NBA. Since 2009, he’s been the head coach at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Illinois.

And there are rumors he could land on new coach John Groce’s staff. Thomas believes he has a good chance.

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