The Illinois football team only has 13 commitments for the class of 2019 right now.
Some people might be worried about the fact that the team only has 13 commitments. That isn’t a big number considering a program is allowed to sign 25 players per class. Illinois’ recruiting ranking is only No. 58 in the nation as well. On paper, this looks bad. But, there are some details that this picture doesn’t show.
Each Division I program is allowed 85 scholarship players on the roster. With the latest addition of Tarique Barnes to the mix a few days ago, that brings the Illini scholarship total up to 80 for 2019. That means Lovie Smith and the Illinois coaching staff only have five more scholarship spots left for the class of 2019.
So, when you only see 13 players signed up, don’t be shocked. That isn’t a full class on paper, but it is almost a full class when you realize that Illinois only has five more spots to fill to max out their scholarship allotment.
This is the #Illini football scholarship grid I have right now. It might be off by one or two, but I believe this is pretty accurate. #Illinois #Football #B1G #Recruiting pic.twitter.com/NHm8htjpGH
— Writing Illini (@WritingIlliniFS) January 30, 2019
The big question remains; how should Illinois use these last five scholarship offers? There some holes to fill on this team still.
Here are three ways the final scholarships should be used for the Illini.