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Illinois Football: 5 Illini targets from St. Louis for the class of 2020

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - OCTOBER 13: Illinois Fighting Illini helmets sit on the sidelines as players warm up for the Big Ten Conference college football game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Illinois Fighting Illini on October 13, 2018, at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - OCTOBER 13: Illinois Fighting Illini helmets sit on the sidelines as players warm up for the Big Ten Conference college football game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Illinois Fighting Illini on October 13, 2018, at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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CHAMPAIGN, IL – OCTOBER 13: An Illinois football Helmut rests on a post during a Big Ten Conference college football game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Illinois Fighting Illini on October 13, 2018, at Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL. Purdue won, 46-7. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The importance of the class of 2020 for the Illinois football team cannot be overstated.

The class of 2020 has so many talented players from pipelines the Illini have built in the recruiting game. One of those pipelines is St. Louis. This has been an area that Lovie Smith has focused on since becoming the head coach of the program back in March 2016.

Since Lovie’s first recruiting class in 2017, the Illini have had the most recruits commit from St. Louis. They have brought in five players who were all in the top 1000. The next team on the list was Missouri with four of the top St. Louis recruits. Beating out Missouri for state of Missouri players is always something I enjoy greatly.

The class of 2020 is producing more talented St. Louis players as well. There are some great recruits who could really make an impact on this program for years to come. Illinois needs to land some of these recruits before they end up going to other teams.

I think we have a chance at many of the talented playmakers that are coming out of St. Louis this upcoming recruiting class. I even think we still have a shot at Mookie Cooper. He is currently committed to Texas, but there is a while until the early National Signing Day. I didn’t put Cooper on this list, but I wouldn’t count the Illini out of his recruitment either.

Here are the five Illini targets from St. Louis for the class of 2020.

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