Over the summer, the Illinois football team was on fire, landing recruits and building out the class of 2026.
When the season starts, that kind of slows down naturally. Both recruits and coaches have games and game plans to implement, but even with the recruiting cycling slowing down a bit, the Illini are still looking good.
Right now, Rivals has Illinois with the No. 26 class in the country and the No. 7 class in the Big Ten. While that is great, the national ranking isn’t what is catching my eye the most. It is in-state recruiting.
On Friday, Rivals released an updated top 10 recruits in the state of Illinois. There are some massive names on this list, and all players are four-star recruits.
In the past, with previous coaching regimes, Illinois would be lucky to be on this list with a commitment. Shoot, even that is probably too generous. The Illini would have likely been nowhere in sight of the top 10.
That has all changed with Bret Bielema as the head coach. Illinois doesn’t just have one commitment in the top 10, but we have two players committed among the top 10 in the state of Illinois.
Illinois football has landed some big-time recruits, but now is the challenge of holding onto them
As of right now, the Illini have wide receiver Nasir Rankin committed, and he is the No. 3 player in the state of Illinois. Rankin ranks No. 179 nationally, and in a recent interview, he said he is still firmly committed to the Orange and Blue.
The other commit in the top 10 is Nick Hankins Jr. He is a cornerback who is the No. 213 player in the class of 2026, and his services are needed greatly in Champaign, especially with the way the Illini secondary has played lately.
A big date to remember is December 3. That is early National Signing Day. That is when Illinois can get pen to paper and officially land these two huge recruits.