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Illinois Football: List of Recent Illini Scholarship Offers

By Rees Woodcock

Oct 15, 2016; Piscataway, NJ, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith looks on during the first half against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at High Points Solutions Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 15, 2016; Piscataway, NJ, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith looks on during the first half against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at High Points Solutions Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports /
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Illinois Football
Nov 14, 2015; Champaign, IL, USA; A detailed view of the Illinois Fighting Illini helmet before the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports /

One of the more recent offers for the Illinois football team was to Austin Faoliu.

Faoliu is a 6-foot-3, 285-pound defensive tackle out of Santa Ana, California.  He is currently committed to Arizona, but hopefully, Illinois can pull him away from that commitment.

Illinois Fighting Illini
Illinois Fighting Illini /

Illinois Fighting Illini

247Sports lists Faoliu has a 2-star defensive tackle that is rated as the No. 2130 player in the class of 2017 and the No. 176 player in the state of California.

Illinois could be reaching with this offer, but they apparently see a lot of potential in this kid.

I am thinking Faoliu would have to bulk up a little more to play defensive tackle at the FBS level.  But, I do think he has the potential to move to defensive end and dominate there, though.

Faoliu has a quick first jump off the line of scrimmage.  He can get past the offensive lineman with a nice swim move and get to the quarterback.

Illinois is losing a lot of defensive line help in 2017 and it would be nice to get someone like Faoliu in there to spell some minutes.

I love Faoliu’s motor as well.  He never gives up on a play and that is huge for the locker room.  When a teammate sees him playing with that much heart it is contagious.

This would be a nice flip for the Illini if they could pull it off.

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