Alright so this Illinois Wesleyan football recruiting thing has been kicking my butt for weeks now. See, I like keeping tabs on who they’re bringing in – it’s kinda like hunting for hidden gems.
Starting Out: Zero Damn Info
First thing I did? Hopped straight onto the official university athletics site. Big mistake. Their ‘recruits’ section was drier than old toast. Maybe two names listed from like six months ago. Seriously? Gotta do better than that.
Pissed me off, honestly. So I turned to Twitter. Searched stuff like “Illinois Wesleyan commit” and “IWU football signee”. Scrolled forever, felt like my thumb would fall off. Found way too many posts about high school games and workout videos. Total needle-in-a-haystack situation. Needed a better plan.
Digging Like a Gopher
Changed tactics. Started hunting down specific players instead of the school. Followed coaches listed on the IWU staff page – head coach, coordinators, position guys. Hit up the Titan Football account too.
- Checked every ‘Following’ list these accounts had. Tedious? Hell yeah.
- Scanned Twitter handles that looked like player names or had football vibes in their profile pics.
- Pored over tweets from the past month, hunting for any hints of commitment – Titan emojis, words like “excited to announce”, anything.
More frustration. These prospects tweet about everything – their lunch, some quote – but actual recruiting news? Zip. Zilch. Nada. Found maybe two retweets from coaches congratulating players… from other schools. Zero consistency.
Throwing Everything at the Wall
Got desperate. Tried Instagram next, going down the same rabbit hole – team account, coaching accounts. Searched tags like #TitanFootball and #IWUcommit. Found boosters? Random alums? Yeah. New commits? Nope. Dead ends everywhere.
Thought about trying local Illinois newspaper sites. Remembered last year their coverage was pretty much hot garbage unless the kid was a superstar. Waste of time probably. Tagged some boosters and bigger fan accounts in replies, asking if they knew anything. Crickets. Absolute crickets.
Finally Found a Goldmine
Just when I thought I was beat… I stumbled into this Facebook group called something like “True Titans Football Boosters“. Didn’t even know it existed.
- Joined immediately. Took like 30 mins for approval.
- Scrolled like a madman through weeks of posts.
- There it was! A couple guys claiming to be ‘insiders’ dropping nuggets about visits and decisions.
Started cross-referencing those random names with Twitter profiles I’d seen earlier. Bingo! Found profiles for a lineman from Peoria and a speedy receiver out of Wisconsin. Finally saw those magic words: “Proud to announce my commitment to IWU!” – buried under memes and highlight clips, naturally.
Putting it Together
So now I got maybe 5 solid names for next season. No official list anywhere, of course. Had to piece it together like some kind of jigsaw puzzle made of social media scraps. Here’s what landed for sure:
- Matt Johnson, OL – Big kid, Peoria Centennial.
- Ryan Davis, WR – Wisconsin kid, track speed.
- Carlos Mendoza, LB – Chicago guy, seriously looks mean in his pics.
- Ben Miller, QB – Indiana. Seems decent?
Might be one or two more still hiding. It’s a pain in the butt tracking D3 recruits, man. Wish they just posted it straight up. Feel like I practically earned a PI license finding this stuff.
