Jay Cutler

[Rex Hudler]

That might have had a nice ring to it....

 

Illinois was the first BCS conference school to show interest, in the fall of Cutler's senior year. He decided fairly quickly to join the Illini and spurned overtures from Purdue, Duke, Maryland and others.

 

 

But Jay jumped immediately from that state title run in football to playing basketball, and he didn't get a chance to make a campus visit until late December. By then, according to Jack Cutler, Illinois coach Ron Turner was backpedaling. He rescinded the scholarship offer to Cutler and took a kid from the West Coast instead -- a kid nobody in the NFL is interested in today.

 

 

"It's not right," Jack Cutler says. "I still have a bitter taste in my mouth over that."

[Spod=Ratings]

yeah i read that today...but who needs him when u got Pazan and Brasic!

[whitesoxfan101]

Yep, the Illini could have had Cutler and Grossman before that if Turner wasn't an idiot. Oops.

Edited April 24, 2006 by whitesoxfan101

[Soxfest]

Turner messed up and was terrible at recruiting glad he is gone.

[thedoctor]

well, at least we got matt dlugolecki. :banghead

[Soxbadger]

Cutler would not have made any difference on the Illini.

 

And I find it very hard to believe that Rex Grossman would go to Illini over Florida, especially since Grossman is from Indiana, where both his father and grandfather played. If he was going to go to a terrible program he might as well of gone to Indiana.

[thedoctor]

Cutler would not have made any difference on the Illini.

 

well, that's debateable. would illinois have been a league title contender with cutler? probably not. would they have been more competitive? i think so.

 

granted, defensively they still would have been horrid, but i think they'd at least had a capable offense that could keep games close, which was not the case with beutjer, pazan, brasic, bower, etc.

[Soxbadger]

Cutler benefited greatly from the SEC having a down year, especially in the defense department.

 

Also he never put up more than 300 yards in a game where the other team did not score over 20 points. That generally means that he got to throw 80%-90% of the time. If you compare his 2004 when he only threw for 2k yards, he actually had a better QB rating.

 

In my opinion, Cutler would of been roughed up bad in the Big 10, where they are not going to let the game turn into a track meet.

[thedoctor]

Cutler benefited greatly from the SEC having a down year, especially in the defense department.

 

Also he never put up more than 300 yards in a game where the other team did not score over 20 points. That generally means that he got to throw 80%-90% of the time. If you compare his 2004 when he only threw for 2k yards, he actually had a better QB rating.

 

In my opinion, Cutler would of been roughed up bad in the Big 10, where they are not going to let the game turn into a track meet.

 

i'm no huge fan of cutler and think he's a bit overhyped right now. but is he better than the guys illinois's been running out there at quarterback the past few years? it's not even close. tim brasic wouldn't start for most mac teams. to say illinois wouldn't have been better last year with jay cutler rather than with tim brasic is just plain wrong, imo.

[Soxbadger]

Did not say he wouldnt make them better.

 

I did say he would not have made a difference. To me keeping games close is not a "difference". A difference would be if he made the Illini bowl contenders, which he would not have.

[thedoctor]

Did not say he wouldnt make them better.

 

I did say he would not have made a difference. To me keeping games close is not a "difference". A difference would be if he made the Illini bowl contenders, which he would not have.

 

well, i'll take your point of clarification. but to me, saying a player would "not have made any difference on the illini" is pretty definitive. i said initially that i did not think he would have made them contenders. but any difference? if the illini got one more win i think it's a difference, from a fan's standpoint at least.