The Illinois football team needs to build this program back into a contender in the Big Ten.
Lovie Smith and the coaching staff have been out on the recruiting trail over the past week, and they have handed out scholarships to the players they think will help in the rebuild.
Here are the most recent scholarship offers.
1. RB Tahj Gary; Class of 2019
Tahj Gary is a running back from the class of 2019. He currently stands at 5-foot-8, 205-pounds. He is from Woodward Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. Right now, he isn’t ranked on the recruiting sites but it is still extremely early in the recruiting process.
Illinois is one of two scholarship offers for Gary. The other team who has offered the running back is South Alabama. Expect his stock to rise throughout his recruitment. Look for him to end up being a top 1000 player and a solid three-star recruit.
2. RB Jirehl Brock; Class of 2019
Illinois needs to win the state in recruiting and having Lovie as a head coach should help their case. He has now offered class of 2019 recruit Jirehl Brock a scholarship. He is a 6-foot, 180-pound running back from Quincy High School in Quincy, Illinois. The 247Sports composite rankings don’t have him listed, but the site does and he comes in as a four-star recruit who is the No. 93 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 3 player in the state of Illinois.
Lovie can really start putting his mark on the state if he can start landing the top tier players. Brock fits that mold and getting him would hopefully, start a trend of owning the state of Illinois. Right now, he has five scholarship offers by teams who have dominated the state in recruiting the last few years. Brock is a big recruit for Lovie.