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Illinois Football: Illini offer 2019 safety Jarrian Jones

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - NOVEMBER 25: Northwestern Wildcats head coach Pat Fitzgerald and Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith discuss before the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Northwestern Wildcats on November 25, 2017 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - NOVEMBER 25: Northwestern Wildcats head coach Pat Fitzgerald and Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith discuss before the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Northwestern Wildcats on November 25, 2017 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Illinois football team plopped on the radar of a new recruit on Monday.

Illinois ended up offering Jarrian Jones a scholarship. He is a 6-foot-1, 185-pound safety from Northwest Rankin High School in Flowood, Mississippi. He is rated as a three-star recruit who is the No. 483 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 33 safety in the nation.

Jones is a highly rated recruit with a ton of recruiting attention right now. Originally, Jones committed to Mississippi State back in December 2016. But, since then, he has received a wide range of scholarship offers. Jones then decided to reopen his recruitment in April 2017 to see what other options he had on the table.

The scholarship count for Jones is roughly at 21 right now with the Illini being one of the most recent. He has offers from pretty much the entire SEC and Big Ten. His recruitment is pretty far down the road it seems as well. Mississippi State and Ole Miss are the two leaders for his commitment according to 247Sports.

Illinois might as well throw their hat in the ring with Jones’ recruitment. He is a really good defensive back who would help the Illini immediately. The safety position isn’t completely set by any means right now.

Bennett Williams has a lock on one of the safety roles for the Illini. He had a great freshman campaign and will be an All-Big Ten type of player before his career is finished. But, the other safety role is a question mark this season let alone in 2019.

My money is on Stanley Green to get the most starts this upcoming season. But, he is a junior and will be a senior in 2019. I could see Jones competing with Green for the starting job right away. The worst-case scenario would be Jones gets a few starts and sees a lot of playing time, and then he will take over as the starter in 2020.

Next: 5 takeaways from Illini loss to Michigan State 2.0

Do I think the Illini will snag Jones? No, I don’t. They are too far behind in his recruitment. But, he would be a tremendous help to this program if he decides to keep the Illini in the mix. This would be an impressive get for Lovie Smith and the Illini coaching staff.

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