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Illinois Football: Illini class of 2022 has chance to be best in over a decade

By Rees Woodcock

Oct 21, 2017; Minneapolis, MN, USA; A Illinois Fighting Illini helmet sits on the grass during pre game before a game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 21, 2017; Minneapolis, MN, USA; A Illinois Fighting Illini helmet sits on the grass during pre game before a game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Recruiting has not been a strong point for the Illinois football team over the past decade.

The struggles for the Illini have been real when it comes to landing solid recruiting classes. Have there been some top recruits sign with the Orange and Blue? Sure, but usually classes tend to drop off after a few high-level recruits.

Bret Bielema is trying to bring Illinois football back to prominence. It has been a long time since we have had sustained relevance. In fact, I am not sure if it has happened in my lifetime and I was born in 1990.

The class of 2022 is Bielema’s first recruiting haul, so this is arguably the most important class he will have in the first five years at Illinois. The recruits from the 2022 class will be the building blocks to what type of team the Illini will have in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Where does the 2022 class line up compared to the previous Illinois football classes from the past decade?

As of right now, Illinois has a recruiting class ranked No. 40 in the nation. That might not sound good to fans of an Ohio State or Alabama, but No. 40 in the nation is respectable compared to what Illinois fans have had to deal with for the past 10 years.

If Illinois would finish with the No. 40 class for 2022, that would be the highest-rated recruiting class over the past 10 years, so dating back through the class of 2012. The next best class would be Lovie Smith’s class of 2017, which ranked No. 46 in the nation.

The start of the 2022 class is solid for Bielema, but there is a lot of talent that still needs to come in to keep the top 50 national ranking alive. I actually believe there is a solid chance we are able to land some additional top 1000 recruits.

Three top 1000 recruits are already committed to the Illinois football program for 2022. Over the past month, 13 top 1000 recruits who have yet to commit have been to Champaign for an official visit and seven of those 13 are top 600 recruits.

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With that being said, Bielema has a golden opportunity to pull off a special class of 2022. Illinois has a good start already, but landing more talented depth is a priority. Out of the 13 top 1000 recruits, if we could end up having a closing percentage of between 40-50, then I would be a happy camper. I believe that would lock up the best class the Illini have had in the past decade.

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