Illinois Football: Marcellus Moore keeps Illini in top 7

There was some good news for the Illinois football team on Monday night.

Illinois needs players who can tear apart opposing defenses. They also need more help at the running back position in the near future. There are some talented running backs departing in the next couple of years, so depth will be an issue if there aren’t enough replacements coming in. One replacement could be Marcellus Moore.

Moore is a 5-foot-6.5, 149-pound running back from Plainfield North High School in Plainfield, Illinois. He is rated as a three-star recruit who is the No. 734 player in the class of 2020 and the No. 56 running back in the nation. He is also the No. 10 player in the state of Illinois as well.

The recruitment for Moore has blown up over the last year or so. He had big-time offers from teams like Kansas State, Iowa and Cincinnati. But Moore decided to cut his list down on Monday night. He wants to just focus on seven teams now. The seven teams he kept alive for his commitment include Ole Miss, Missouri, Kentucky, Purdue, Nebraska, Michigan and Illinois.

There are some great programs on this list, but the fact the Illini made Moore’s top seven gives me great hope of landing him. He would be a huge pickup because of his talent and the teams that are after him, but also because he is a big in-state kid who could help the Orange and Blue on the football field day one.

When offensive coordinator Rod Smith took over, the entire Illinois offense changed. The Illini offense went from a stagnant group who was bottom 10 in the nation in just about every statistical category, to an offense that improved in the passing game and was one of the best in the country when it came to the rushing attack.

The development of Reggie Corbin has been something phenomenal to watch. This kid always had talent, but Coach Smith was able to bring out the full potential of Corbin. He could end up breaking multiple Illinois rushing records this upcoming season.

Now that we have witnessed what Coach Smith can do with Corbin, I can only imagine what he would be able to do with a player like Moore. In The Opening regional back in April, Moore ran a 4.35-second 40-yard dash. That might not mean too much to some people, but a 4.35-second 40-yard dash is amazing. That is NFL level speed. I would love to see that type of playmaking ability in the Illini backfield.

Getting in Moore’s top seven is step one. Step two is to get him in for an official visit. This kid needs to be suiting up for the Illini in 2020. I want to see him help bring back this program to its glory days.