‘The Zoom Meetings Are What Separate Illinois’: Recruit Talks BLM, George Floyd & Playing Madden With Illini Coaches On Zoom
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Demond Snyder was troubled by the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests that immediately followed.
So, the three-star 2021 class prospect asked Illinois assistants and Illini head coach Lovie Smith if he could talk to them about it on a Zoom video conference call. No recruiting, no football. He just wanted to talk about race relations, George Floyd and racial inequality in our country.
“Their response was ‘yeah, let’s do it,” Snyder said. “I’ve seen all these coaches tweet stuff like ‘Black Lives Matter’ and use it as recruiting tools to get Black athletes. I’m smart and think I can see if it is fake. (The Illinois assistants) and head coach Lovie Smith showed action, at least they did with me.”
Snyder might be shedding some light on one of the mysteries of this 2021 recruiting season for the Illinois football program during the coronavirus pandemic: What is a Zoom call with an Illinois coaching staff member and/or Lovie Smith actually like?
In an interview with Illini Now/Sports Illustrated, Snyder was more than willing to open up about what is said, done and accomplished during these Zoom video conference calls
“I was able to talk with the assistants and getting wisdom and advice from Coach Smith for nearly an hour about George Floyd, killings of Black people by police and how I felt about all of this stuff,” Snyder said. “They were mentors. It felt like that family they preach on Twitter and everywhere was real. It didn’t feel like that relationship would stop when my recruitment was over.”
In a NBC Sports interview with Mike Tirico in June, Smith said he has always encouraged activism with his players among social issues whether they’re specifically on the U of I campus or worldwide.
“I’ve been asked a lot of times: ‘Can you give me a statement about what’s going on right now?’” he said. “It’s so much more than that. A few things we need to acknowledge and we can’t go much further until we do that. Systemic racism exists in our world. It’s one thing to identify the problem, and then it’s how we change that problem. It can’t be words.”
Snyder said some of the calls were on very sensitive topics happening in 2020 and other times he’d simply message Illini cornerbacks coach for a video games session that included a lot of trash talking.
“Sometimes we talked heavy stuff in a Zoom and other times it was about having Coach Hudson come and play NCAA Football 14 for 30 minutes or an hour,” Snyder said. “Coach Hudson loves to talk smack while playing NCAA 14 or Madden.”
Snyder, who was primarily recruited by Hudson, who is a native of Tampa, Fla., selected Illinois over scholarship offers from UCF, Indiana, Louisville, North Carolina State and Duke.
Since on-the-road recruiting was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois has been able to secure 13 verbal pledges by doing nothing but talking to recruits on the phone and putting together video presentations via a Zoom conference call.
“The Zoom meetings are what, in my opinion, separate Illinois from a lot of schools that were recruiting me or trying to contact me,” said DD Snyder, who committed to Illinois on July 6. “But it’s not for the reason you might think. Most of the time we didn’t talk about football.”
Snyder who, like all of Illinois’ seven verbal pledges from the state of Florida, has yet to see the University of Illinois campus in person, said while the pictures and video interviews with athletics and academics personnel were helpful, it was the connection he was able to make with the Illini assistant coaches on sensitive topics happening in the world socially and politically that mattered to the three-star safety prospect out of Tampa Catholic High School.
“All college are different but I have to say, Illinois hit all the aspects I was looking for and that was being able to connect with me on a personal level, having a football [team] on the rise and a world-class academic situation that I was looking for,” Snyder said. “I’ve been on other Zoom meetings with other schools and when I would do one with Illinois, it felt like a conversation. I felt like I was talking to a mentor who was interested in me and what I wanted to be. Not just a coach who wanted me for football.”
Snyder also said the diversity of the Illinois coaching staff had a lot to do with his comfort level in picking Illinois.
“Sure, it came up (in my mind) but without having to mention it out loud,” Snyder said. “The first thing you think of with Lovie Smith is he’s a top-tier football coach who has been in (the NFL) and to a Super Bowl. The next thing you think is he and most of his assistants are my race and come from my kind of background growing up. That makes a difference.”
Smith has intentionally built the most racially diverse coaching staff among all 60 Power 5 college football program, with seven Black assistant coaches. Lovie’s program could potentially serve as a model that helps close the gap of racial disparity in college football.
“When I talk about my program and I'm in a position where I can change it a little bit, I look at what we have at the University of Illinois," Smith said. "We're led by a Black chancellor (and) a Black head football coach. Seven of the 10 assistants are black men. Our director of personnel, director of player development (are Black men). Our director of high school relations is a Black female. So, to me, it's about a platform of putting a model together to see what would happen when you look beyond your normal comfort zone...and seeing people of a different color."