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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 /
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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 /

DE Owen Carney

Lovie and the defensive coaches continue to push to build up the defensive line with the potential of snagging Owen Carney from Miami, Florida.

Carney is a 3-star recruit who is rated as the No. 482 player in the class of 2017 ad the No. 67 player in the state of Florida.

The recruitment of Carney is tight right now.  He has 26 scholarship offers with Florida State and Illinois as the two potential landing spots.

If Illinois can win this recruiting battle it would show two things that are changing about this program.

The first thing it would show is that Illinois is starting to win recruits against the big boy programs.

Florida State won the National Championship not too long ago and that program continues to get big-time recruits year in and year out.

The fact that the Seminoles are going after Carney means they know he has a lot of talent.  If Illinois can snag him then it would be a huge victory for Lovie.

The other thing it would show if Illinois wins the battle for Carney is that Lovie can go into homes and convince young athletes that Champaign is the place to be.

Tim Beckman and Bill Cubit did not have the ability to get big-time recruits on a consistent basis and the result is what we see on the field today.

Illinois doesn’t have depth and they are lacking talent at the skill positions, among others.  Getting a player like Carney would help change all of that and would continue to build the program.

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