Don’t look now but the Illinois football class of 2021 is building into a solid grouping and is only getting stronger.
There was a period of time in there where some Illini fans were struggling with only having one committed player for 2021. That one commitment quickly snowballed into more, as Illinois sits with six committed freshmen and two transfers for the 2021 campaign.
The breakdown of the committed players for 2021 is split evenly between offense and defense. Transfer Brian Hightower leads the way for the offensive newcomers, as he was a four-star wide receiver who was the No. 154 player in his class a couple of years back. Daniel Edwards is the leading newcomer for the defensive side of the ball, as he is a three-star cornerback who is the No. 991 player in the class of 2021.
Illinois’ ability to bring in an eclectic mix of players is exciting for the program. We aren’t even close to being finished with this class either.
An exact scholarship count is always difficult when you are talking about two years in the future, but I believe Illinois has 18 scholarships available for 2021, as 67 of the 85 scholarships are currently spoken for. That means we need to find 18 more players to join the program in the coming months.
There are still plenty of talented players out there for the Illini to snag too. I have 19 players currently on my big board. Out of those 19 players, seven players have Illinois on their top list.
Demetrius Cannon, Cameron Ball and Theodore Lockley have Illinois in their top 10. Devin Lee has the Illini in his top eight. Kendrick Blackshire has us in his top six. And Jamari Gassett and Zeiqui Lawton have us in their top five.
I believe I have all of the top lists the Illini are currently on in the paragraph above. But I am sure there are more players I will be adding to the big board. While we already have six freshmen and two transfers pledged for 2021, it feels like we have only just begun.
The Illinois coaching staff, led by Lovie Smith, has done a great job recruiting. They continue to find pockets of the country that want to come play for the Illini. The class of 2021 currently ranks No. 60 in the nation, and I expect that number to continue to creep closer to the top 25 by the end of the recruiting period.