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Illinois Football: 5 biggest Illini commits from the state of Texas

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - NOVEMBER 25: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith looks on during 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: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith looks on during 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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CHAMPAIGN, IL – NOVEMBER 11: Illinois cheerleaders lead the team on to the field before a Big Ten Conference football game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the University of Illinois Fighting Illini on November 11, 2017, at Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

4. Zarrian Holcombe #703

The class of 2016 wasn’t the greatest for the Illinois football team. They fired their head coach in the fall and they had a temporary head coach in place when the class of 2016 put pen to paper. This class did consist of the No. 4 player on this list, Zarrian Holcombe.

Holcombe was a 6-foot-5, 215-pound tight end from Summer Creek High School in Humble, Texas. He was rated as a three-star recruit who was the No. 703 player in the class of 2016 and the No. 39 tight end in the nation.

There was actually a ton of recruiting attention for Holcombe. Illinois ended up winning out over teams like Texas A&M, Missouri and Oregon. He was supposed to be a great player for this Illini bunch but that didn’t pan out.

Holcombe spent one season with the Illini and didn’t play too much. In May of 2017, he was then dismissed from the team after he and two other Illinois football players were charged with residential burglary and aggravated robbery.

This was a sad way to end a promising career. Illinois could have used Holcombe on the team last season but a bonehead move ended his time in Champaign.

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