Illinois Class of 2017 Outlook
There has been a lot of movement throughout the past couple years with this class. Players moving in the state and several high profile prospects moving out. As we head into the stretch run of their careers we look at…
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Continue ReadingThere has been a lot of movement throughout the past couple years with this class. Players moving in the state and several high profile prospects moving out. As we head into the stretch run of their careers we look at the strengths and weaknesses of this class as a whole.
Strengths:
D1 Wings. The plethora of wing prospects at the D1 level is impressive in this class. We could see somewhere between 20 and 25 prospects at between the shooting guard and small forward positions sign at the D1 level. It has star power with Jordan Goodwin, Justin Smith, and Javon Pickett to lead the way.
Mid-major and low-major point guards. One of the most interesting aspects of this class to dissect is the point guard position. Nojel Eastern is in a category by himself as a high major prospect, but beyond him you have a group from #2 to #9 in the point guard rankings that there is little separation. They all project as either mid to low major targets depending on what you look for in a lead guard.
Small college depth. There is solid depth in this class overall at the D2, D3, and NAIA levels. At the D2 level you are looking at potentially 20-30 kids that could end up with a D2 grade by the time their careers are over. Several of those will fall to the D3/NAIA level and be impact guys. The depth at those levels is well over 100+ prospects that we see having quality careers if they find the right fit.
Dual sport stars. There are a lot of prospects that play two sports and could very well play multiple sports in college if that is what they chose. On the football side it is led by the nation’s top defensive end AJ Epenesa of Edwardsville who will never play college hoops, but would be a great mid-major post if it wasn’t for football. Oh he is also a state champion in track too. Other football standouts include Collin Stallworth, Jordan Goodwin, CJ Coldon, Jackson Perkins, Reyondous Estes, and more. Estes, Perkins, and Coldon all expect to go the football route. Baseball players include Mark Smith, Malik Binns, and Madison Lowery. Smith saw his basketball stock rise in July after his decommitment from Mizzou baseball.
Central Illinois and Metro East Prospects. I have always said that they state of Illinois is bigger than just Chicago and prospects are found everywhere in the state. That is definitely true this year with four of the top five players in Jeremiah Tilmon, Jordan Goodwin, Da’Monte Williams, and Javon Pickett coming from central Illinois or the St. Louis metro east. In all 30 of the top 100 prospects are from outside of Chicago or the Chicago area.
Weaknesses:
High Major Depth. The depth of high major prospects just isn’t where we thought it was going to be two years ago. Right now we project the top five prospects as no doubt high major prospects with four more earning mid-major plus grades. If you would have asked me two years ago I would have said there would be no doubt double digit high-major guys in this class.
D1 Bigs. It seems harder and harder to find quality post players across the state, Midwest, and national year after year. Not a lot of D1 options in Illinois in the class of 2017. Between the power forward and center positions we see only nine to ten potential D1 post players. It is however now headlined by Jeremiah Tilmon.