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Illinois Football: Fabian McCray looking to visit the Illini

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - SEPTEMBER 09: An Illini cheerleader carries the Block I flag across the field after a touchdown during a non-conference college football game between the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and the University of Illinois Fighting Illini, September 09, 2017, at Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL. Illinois won, 20-7. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - SEPTEMBER 09: An Illini cheerleader carries the Block I flag across the field after a touchdown during a non-conference college football game between the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and the University of Illinois Fighting Illini, September 09, 2017, at Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL. Illinois won, 20-7. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Illinois football team hasn’t focused a tremendous amount of effort toward recruiting in-state kids the last few seasons.

This trend seems to be changing now, though. Lovie Smith and the Illini have offered a wide range of in-state players that could help the team in 2019 and beyond. One of the most recent scholarship offers was to Fabian McCray.

McCray is a 6-foot-2, 175-pound wide receiver from Phillips Academy in Chicago, Illinois. The full ratings haven’t come out for 247Sports yet, so he isn’t listed but you can tell how good this kid is going to be by the type of scholarship offers he already has on the table.

Right now, McCray has roughly nine offers and they are all from DI programs. Some of the most notable offers besides for the Illini are teams like Purdue, Iowa State and Cincinnati. The Illini offer came as a bit of a surprise to McCray, though.

“I was in shock when Coach said that they were going to offer me,” said McCray.

This was a big offer for not only the Illinois program but for a kid who continues to work on his craft. He has a lot of talent on the football field. He points out that route running and the ability to go up and get the ball are some of the things he specializes in. He also knows that he needs to get faster as well. To be an elite wide receiver, the speed needs to be there.

Illinois is in the game plan for McCray. With the surprise of an offer from the Orange and Blue comes the intrigue of a visit as well.

“I haven’t taken a visit to Illinois yet,” said McCray, “I am planning to get down there sometime this spring.”

Like previously mentioned, the Illini aren’t the only ones who are recruiting this talented wide receiver. He has all of those scholarship offers – with more surely to come – but there have been a select few programs that have been in contact the most besides for Illinois.

“I’ve been talking to Iowa State, Minnesota, Ball State, Purdue and Miami (OH),” said McCray.

Next: Illini are not out of the Merlin Robertson race

The recruitment process is a long one and McCray is taking things slow right now. There is no timetable on official visits and on a commitment. Whenever a decision does come down, the team who receives McCray will be getting a talented player, though.

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