Illinois Football: Illini lose top WR commit Jadon Thompson

Well, Illinois football fans, we lost the highest-rated recruit for the class of 2020 on Tuesday afternoon.

It was first reported by Chad Brendel of the BearcatJournal.com that Illini commit Jadon Thompson has decided to flip and pledge his commitment to Cincinnati. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering Thompson didn’t sign during the early signing period.

Where does this leave Illinois in regards to the wide receiver position moving forward, though?

Losing Thompson does hurt a little bit. While the program is going to be set at wide receiver in 2020, I think Thompson would have been a centerpiece for the wide receiver corps in the following seasons.

This upcoming campaign, Illinois has a solid core of Ricky Smalling, Trevon Sidney and Josh Imatorbhebhe returning all for their final year. Behind them, there isn’t a ton of depth. I do love the development of Casey Washington last season as a true freshman. He is clearly going to be a top pass catcher on this team in his final two or three years.

I am excited to see what Kyron Cumby can do in the slot too. This kid has all of the speed in the world. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him break out in 2020. Let’s also not forget about Donny Navarro. He was No. 2 on the team in receiving last season, and he is only going to be a junior.

Losing a player like Thompson from the class of 2020 hurts the program. There is no doubt about that. But, for the immediate future, we are okay at wide receiver. This upcoming season, Brandon Peters has enough weapons to continue showing progress with this program.

The future is bright for the Orange and Blue at the wide receiver position. Look for the Illini to have another great season.