Writing Illini
Fansided

Illinois Football: Class of 2017 Recruits Visiting This Weekend

By Rees Woodcock

Nov 12, 2016; Madison, WI, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith during the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin won 48-3. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 12, 2016; Madison, WI, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith during the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin won 48-3. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 7
Next
Illinois Football
Sep 3, 2016; Champaign, IL, USA; Football fans wearing shirts with a message honoring new Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith enjoy activities in Grange Grove before the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Murray State Racers at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports /

DE Daniel Callendar

The Illinois defensive tackles are leaving the program because of graduation and so are the defensive ends as well.

Both Dawuane Smoot and Carroll Phillips are graduating and will likely see playing time in the NFL.  This leaves a huge hole for someone to get some serious playing time.

In addition to the two starting defensive ends leaving, Gimel President is also departing.  He was the main backup and actually had a pretty good season.

Daniel Callendar might have a chance to come in and get some playing time.  Worst case scenario he redshirts and adds depth to a program that needs it.

Callendar doesn’t have a ton of recruiting action right now.  He has scholarship offers from Illinois, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Mike Phair recently did an in-home visit with Callendar so that means he must be a player this program believes in and wants to mold for the next four or five years.

I think Callendar could be a player that comes in and he quickly picks up what Lovie wants.  He has the physical abilities and I can’t wait to see what this coaching staff can do with that.

The main competition for Callendar coming in is Sean Adesanya and Brandon Jones.  But, these two are question marks because they didn’t get much playing time in 2016.

Getting Callendar would be a nice step in building the depth on this team.  Depth is something we have been missing for quite some time.

Home/Illinois Basketball Recruiting