Illinois Football: Ranking the last 10 Illini recruiting classes

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November 22, 2014: Matt LaCosse (11) celebrates a touchdown during the game between Penn State and the University of Illinois at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, IL. (Photo by Paul Bergstrom/Icon Sportswire/Corbis via Getty Images) /

4. Class of 2011

The final class of the Ron Zook era was actually pretty good. It didn’t have the quantity of four-star recruits like what we saw at the beginning of his tenure, but the class of 2011 still brought in some serious talent.

The class of 2011 consisted of one four-star recruit and 20 three-star recruits. There was some quality that came out of the all those three-stars, but the one four-star didn’t pan out.

Dondi Kirby didn’t play for the Orange and Blue. He was the lone four-star but ended up going the junior college route and then played one season for the Temple Owls in 2013. He was supposed to be a talented player for the Illini but that never happened.

There were some really good players in this class, though. Jon Davis had a good Illini career. He was used in multiple ways in the Illinois offense. Matt LaCosse went to the NFL and has played for a few teams there the last three years.

Ted Karras is the biggest hit in this class. He had a great Illini career and then was selected in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. Josh Ferguson also came out of this class. He was a special running back for the Illini and has played for the Indianapolis Colts.

While the top of the class didn’t produce, the middle of it did. This was a solid class and it deserves the No. 4 ranking over the last 10 years.

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