Illinois Football: Illini have a lot to offer Dallas Craddieth
The Illinois football team needs more secondary help and Dallas Craddieth might be the answer.
Craddieth is a 6-foot-1, 193-pound safety out of Hazelwood Central High School in Florissant, Missouri. He is ranked as a high three-star recruit who is the No. 491 player in the class of 2018 and the No. 9 player in the state of Missouri.
Illinois is in the middle of a heated recruitment for Craddieth. On Monday he cut his list down to just 12 programs he will be choosing from but is still accepting scholarship offers. That list included Michigan State, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa State, Iowa, Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, North Carolina, Kentucky, Purdue and Illinois.
This is a big list still and there are some pretty good teams on it. Looking purely at location, Missouri seems to be leading in that department considering that is Craddieth’s home state. Then you look at conference. The SEC has three teams vying for his commitment in Ole Miss, Kentucky and Vanderbilt. These are lower level SEC programs, but still SEC programs nonetheless.
You can then look at the coaching staff. Illinois has the most NFL coaching experience and they know how to put defensive players into the league. Michigan State and Iowa have arguably the most college experienced head coaches who continually put their teams in contention every season.
North Carolina is a contender and they can tout the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft was Mitch Trubisky. A lot of these teams bring their own special assets to the table, and it will be difficult for Craddieth to decide which program fits him the best.
Illinois should be the landing spot for this talented safety for multiple reasons. The first one that comes to mind is depth and playing time.
The Illini will trot out Stanley Green and Patrick Nelson as their two starting safeties this season. These two players are extremely talented and had good freshman campaigns. Expect both of them to continue to develop over time. But, when 2018 rolls around, they will be juniors. This would give Craddieth a chance to redshirt year one and then he would be a redshirt freshman when the duo of Green and Nelson are seniors.
This plan would allow Craddieth to develop and get the speed down of the college game. He would then start for the final three years of his collegiate career. He would also be needed for depth as well. Behind Green and Nelson, there are a few question marks on the roster. Illinois needs a player who could come in and stabilize the secondary in case someone gets injured or needs a breather.
Illinois needs to continue improving the secondary as well. In 2016, the Illini only had seven interceptions which was 104th in the nation out of the 128 teams in division I. That is a number that needs to improve and creating competition in the secondary could help.
An area that Illinois did well in last season was passing yards allowed. They only gave up 185.9 yards per game through the air which was 17th in the nation. That number is tremendous and it proves what type of impact the coaching staff has on the team.
That brings me to the coaching staff. This group of coaches has so much experience at both levels. They all know how to get to the NFL. Lovie has been to the Super Bowl and Hardy Nickerson has played double-digit years in the league. This is a staff that will get you to the next level if you have the heart.
Next: Profile of the Illini starting defensive backs
All of these factors have to be enticing for Craddieth in the recruiting game. There will be more to come from the Writing Illini on his recruitment later. Right now, hopefully, he just enjoys the process.