Illinois Football: Illini class of 2019 will need to play early

The Illinois football class of 2019 is going to turn out to be pretty special.

Right now, the ranking doesn’t look very good but that is because the quantity isn’t there. Once the Illini fill out their class, they will surely start climbing the national class ranking. They currently have the No. 61 class in the nation and the No. 13 class in the Big Ten. That will change soon.

All of the players coming in from the class of 2019 will have an impact on the team. The impact might be from day one or they could be a big-time player for the program in a year or two after they join the team. But, all of the players will contribute.

With the way the Illini are set up right now, some of these players might need to start or play big snaps immediately. There are actually quite a few of these players in the class of 2019 I could see being huge impact guys from day one.

Let’s start off with Marquez Beason. If just happens that Illinois is struggling greatly in the secondary this season. They have been giving up some serious yardage through the air. Beason is the No. 66 player in the class of 2019 and plays the cornerback position. He will come in and start immediately.

I believe Isaiah Williams is going to have a chance to start from day one as well. Williams is the No. 88 player in the class of 2019 and is coming into the Illinois program as a quarterback. Depending on how MJ Rivers finishes the 2018 season, there is a strong possibility Williams gets the nod in 2019. Worst comes to worst, there will be a great quarterback battle entering the season.

With the way the Illini wide receivers have been getting injured and how the healthy ones have been dropping passes, I think there is plenty of room for Fabian McCray and Casey Washington to come in and see a lot of snaps year one. For 2019, there are only two set spots at wide receiver and that is Ricky Smalling and Carmoni Green. After those two, there are so many questions. That means, at the very least, McCray and Washington could be seeing a decent amount of snaps.

Illinois will actually have some depth at defensive back in 2019, which is something we haven’t seen in a long time. In addition to Beason coming in, Illinois also has Bryce Childress and Joseph Thompson coming in and I believe both could see playing time next season. I don’t think either will start, but I do see them spelling snaps for the starters. The quality depth is building in this area of the field for the Illini.

Beyond the players I have named above, I think the rest of the class will be redshirted. There are some talented players who I hope get a redshirt next season, like Kyron Cumby. The more redshirts the better because that means we are actually building depth.

The class of 2019 is going to come in and fill some voids on the team. There are some talented players in this class. They will be asked to play early and succeed. Illinois is getting better and the class of 2019 will provide more building blocks to a contending program.