4. The Illini beat a lot of talent on that South Carolina sideline
I kind of touched on this in the previous slide. Illinois doesn’t have a ton of talent on paper. We have a bunch of three-star recruits and a few four-star players sprinkled in. Shoot, not even our transfer portal recruiting classes are that good on paper.
But games aren’t played on paper. That is the beauty of sports. Illinois proved that on Tuesday with a bowl win over a talented South Carolina program.
In the past three years, South Carolina has had a top-25 recruiting class. This includes a top 30 class when it comes to the transfer portal each year. That is much better than Illinois, which hasn’t cracked the top 40 in one season, let alone three straight years.
Illinois was able to contain LaNorris Sellers. He was a four-star recruit. Sellers is looked at by some as a Heisman Trophy candidate next season, but that didn’t stop Illinois from making him look average.
Wide receiver Nyck Harbor is 6-foot-5, 235 pounds. He was held to four receptions for 61 yards. This is his second season with the program, and coming out of high school, he was a five-star recruit and the No. 15 player in the country and the top athlete in the class of 2023.
Dylan Stewart, a five-star EDGE in the class of 2024 and the No. 19 player in the country, only had three tackles and a tackle for loss. Illinois ran for 183 yards and two touchdowns on him and his defense.
Just in the class of 2023 alone, South Carolina had six top 200 recruits. I don’t think Illinois has had that many top 200 recruits in the past decade.
If games were played on paper, South Carolina would win the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl by 30 points. But games aren’t played on paper. Illinois took down a talented Gamecocks squad.