So, How ‘Bout Them New Guys: Illinois Fighting Illini, 1987

Author's Note:

Apologies for the amount of time this took, since I got back to school I have been working on pure busywork, but I intend to get a couple of classes out a week at the very least... I do have internet in my apartment now, which is a definite plus.

There are some kinks in the math that I am trying to work out. It has to deal with freshmen and how much they count for playing - right now, I have the freshman year counting as a playable year for everyone after 1972, with 22 possible starting spots for every game, but this may cause skew once I start doing older classes. I may divide the board at 1972, therefore.

Set the Stage:

Head Coach: Mike White (1987), John Mackovic (1988-1991)

1986 Performance: 4-7, Big Ten 6th
New Blood: 27

Recruiting Map:

Mini Recruiting Board Lives Here:

Position	Count
QB	0
RB/FB	1
WR	4
TE	3
OL	2
DT	4
DE	0
LB	8
DB	1
K/P	4

1987 was an important year for Mike White. He was coming off of a poor season, and had to prove himself. The majority of this class was recruited as defensive depth, especially at LB.

How They Did:

Overall Record: 33-24-2
Varsity Letters: 42
Graduated on Team: 17
Started a Game: 16
Full Eligibility: 11
5th Year Seniors: 10

Notable Honors:

• Brownlow, Darrick, LB, All-Conference 1989 1990
• Poloskey, Mike, LB, All-Conference 1991
• Simpson, Tom, OG, All-Conference 1991

Draftees:

• Brownlow, Darrick, 1991, 5th Round, 132 Overall
• Griffith, Howard, 1991, 9th Round, 236 Overall
• Turner, Elbert, 1992, 7th Round, 189 Overall
• Simpson, Tom, 1992, 12th Round, 329 Overall

Recruiting Score:

Category	Points
Man-Game Ratio	0.2920
Record	0.0576
Letters	0.0420
Heisman	0.0000
All-Americans	0.0000
All-Big Ten	0.0400
Full Eligibility	0.0110
Drafted	0.0400
Total	0.4826

1987 proved to be Mike White's final season coaching, and he was succeeded by the very capable John Mackovic, who led Illinois to four bowls in a row (though he won only one). He finished in the AP Top 25 twice, and won the Big Ten in 1990 (with an 8-4 record, though).

This class proved to be an important cornerstone for Mackovic, especially in his defenses, where the LBs counted for 35 of the 36 possible LB starts on his 1990 Big Ten Championship team. Tim Simpson started 48 games in a row for Illinois, spanning his four years of eligibility, and the class overall made a large number of starts. In 1991, 6 of the [11+ game] starters on the defense were from this class, and the class overall accumulated 220 defensive starts, 217 of which came after 1987. There is a significant drop to the number of offensive starts (148), which is still large considering that only 7 offensive players played through to their senior season, and only 5 got starting time.