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Illinois Football: Top Illini recruiting targets for the class of 2019

By Rees Woodcock

IOWA CITY, IOWA- OCTOBER 07: Head coach Lovie Smith of the Illinois Fighting Illini during the second quarter against the Iowa Hawkeyes on October 7, 2017 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
IOWA CITY, IOWA- OCTOBER 07: Head coach Lovie Smith of the Illinois Fighting Illini during the second quarter against the Iowa Hawkeyes on October 7, 2017 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /
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Illinois Football
November 22, 2014: University of Illinois’ fans celebrate a 16-14 win over Penn State at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, IL. (Photo by Paul Bergstrom/Icon Sportswire/Corbis via Getty Images) /

Jonathan Perkins – Linebacker

Illinois can become Linebacker U with the type of class that is coming in for 2019. They have a chance to snag some talented players who could go down as greats in the history of the program. One of the players on the Illini radar is Jonathan Perkins.

Perkins is a 6-foot, 185-pound linebacker from Cajon High School in Fontana, California. He is rated as a four-star recruit who is the No. 278 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 30 player in the state of California. At one time, teams thought Perkins’ recruitment was over. But, that wasn’t the case.

The recruitment of Perkins started a while ago with the first offer coming from UCLA. More offers started to flood in but the Bruins were his team of choice, so he committed to them on June 24. That committed ended, though, due to their head coach being fired.

This firing of Jim Mora opened up Perkins’ recruitment and Illinois was one of the teams that were on him before he made his commitment. 247Sports has his Crystal Ball at 50-percent UCLA and 50-percent Illinois right now. This gives me some hope he could come to Champaign.

Like I have said with the linebackers on this list before, Illinois would likely start Perkins day one. He is a top 300 player and would make an impact immediately. Do I think the Illini will snag him? I think it is doubtful. I would bet he stays on the west coast.  But, they are clearly in the race and should be players when it is all said and done.

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