With every recruiting class, there are some players who the Illinois football team comes so close to snagging but are left at the doorstep.
Illinois fans had to deal with a little bit of that on Monday morning. One of the top targets on the board for the Illini, Mookie Cooper, decided to pick Ohio State over Illinois and three other programs. Not getting Cooper hurt as a fan. The video hurt a little bit too, but I wish the kid nothing but the best moving forward.
While losing Cooper hurts, especially to another Big Ten program, Illinois will recover. There are a lot of other players out there for us to land. We need to continue building up the class of 2020 so we can continue making a march toward a Big Ten Championship game. That is my goal for this program in the near future.
There are a decent amount of recruits who have either cut their list down or seem to be pretty interested in the Illini. These players could really help this team get over the hump and get a solid class of 2020 signed come December and February.
Here are five players most likely to commit to the Illini for 2020.