Illinois Football: Khalil Shakir still keeping an eye on the Illini

The class of 2018 is extremely important for the Illinois football team. Lovie Smith needs to pull in a good group of players to continue building for the future.

One area that Lovie focused on for this past class was wide receiver. He received commitments from some top pass catchers like Carmoni Green, Ricky Smalling and Kendall Smith. These three will build a nice foundation.

But more talent needs to come in at that position from future classes. A target for Lovie and the coaching staff right now is Khalil Shakir.

Shakir is a four-star wide receiver from Vista Murrieta High School in Murrieta, California. He is ranked as the No. 220 player in the class of 2018 and the No. 41 wide receiver overall.

There are many programs trying to get Shakir to come play for their team. He is from the west coast so there are a lot of PAC-12 schools that are high on his list. He actually mentioned to the Writing Illini that his top programs right now are Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA.

These three programs are at the top of Shakir’s list and for good reasons. He has even been able to visit a few of them.

“I’ve been to Arizona State, Arizona and USC,” said Shakir, “both of the Arizona schools impressed me.”

Shakir is clearly high on these programs, but don’t count Illinois out just yet. They are still on this young talented wide receiver’s mind.

“I don’t have any future visits set, but I plan on getting up to Illinois in the summer,” said Shakir.

That is positive news for Illini fans everywhere. This is a top 300 player from the state of California and the fact that Lovie can have an impression like that on a recruit to make him want to come visit Illinois is impressive.

One of the attractions for Shakir to come to Champaign is family as well.

“What makes Illinois an attractive destination would be it is closer to my dad,” said Shakir, “my dad lives in Virginia and I kind of want to play ball near him.”

The fact that Shakir is thinking about the big picture in life is refreshing. This kid seems like he has his head on straight and will make a decision that is best for his life, not just a football career.

Shakir isn’t rushing the process either. He said he plans on waiting until at least the season starts to make a decision. He wants to take official visits and then after that, he will likely decide on the program.

Next: Illinois recruiting scholarship offers from the past week

Illinois needs playmakers and Shakir fits that bill. I think it will be difficult for Lovie to pull him away from the west coast, but it is always positive news to hear this caliber of a recruit wanting to visit Champaign.