Illinois Football: 5 state of Illinois recruits needed for 2018

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Illinois Football
Oct 25, 2014; Champaign, IL, USA; The press box and field during pregame between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

TE Luke Ford

A player that is on the rise in the recruiting ranks is tight end, Luke Ford. He has really come onto the scene as of late and his scholarships prove he is a top flight recruit.

Illinois doesn’t have a great history with tight ends but this is a new regime and getting the tight end involved in the red zone would be huge for this program.

Ford is a 6-foot-6, 250-pound target that would help the Illini offense tremendously. He is a four-star recruit who isn’t ranked nationally, yet, but you can tell he has potential to eventually move into the top 300 in the Scout rankings.

The spread of scholarship offers for Ford is impressive. Illinois has offered him already, but he also has offers from teams like Arkansas, North Carolina State, and Oklahoma State.

Illinois doesn’t have much-proven talent at the tight end position. They haven’t had one that has really impressed me over the past decade or so, but this past recruiting class they did snag Louis Dorsey who will hopefully be pretty good.

I wouldn’t mind having Dorsey on one side and Ford on the other going two-tight end sets. That would make the Illini offense extremely dangerous.