Why I'm so excited about Illinois football's current recruiting class

One of four four star commits from our last class to actually have one. Things have been bleak. Bradley Leeb-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

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Why I'm so excited about Illinois football's current recruiting class

Story Created: May 2, 2012 at 12:06 PM CDT

Story Updated: May 2, 2012 at 12:09 PM CDT

By U-God
HailtotheOrange.com
SBNation.com

I was talking to one of the other writers at South Side Sox last night who happens to be a Michigan fan when I found out about the Jarrod Clements commitment. His response to my excitement about getting another three star recruit so early in the recruiting season was something along the lines of "So that's what passes as excitement for the Illini fanbase nowadays?". I don't really find that to be a far assessment.

Getting Aaron Bailey to agree to take over for Nathan Scheelhaase and eventually Reilly O'Toole has been a rather large fan on the flames of our recruiting class. Before Bailey, the last four star recruit (I prefer Rivals to Scout) Illinois landed was DB Dondi Kirby back in 2011. And he wound up being ineligible. Before him, QB Chandler Whitmer in 2010. Whitmer transferred after one season and will be playing for UConn this fall. You have to go back to the 2009 recruiting class to actually see our last group of highly-rated talent being brought in, and even then half of the four stars in that class transferred (OL Leon Hill to NIU, RB Bud Golden to Tennesse Tech, and DT Lendell Buckner to nowhere as he was kicked off the team). So yeah, I won't apologize for being thrilled to have our first four star prospect since my senior year of undergrad.

And it's not just the players we're landing that are why I'm so excited. It's how soon we're landing them. It's the second of May and we already have a recruiting class seven deep! With one four star and five three stars! Do you know how many teenagers had agreed to be Illini at this time last year? None. We didn't land our first recruit until mid-May and didn't reach seven until Thanksgiving. Maybe that was just an off year? Nope. Our 2011 class had one recruit at this point and didn't reach seven until the end of July. 2010's class also had one and didn't reach seven until the week of Christmas!

You have to go all the way back to the 2008 class to even have seven recruits lined up before the start of July. This is pretty impressive.

I know that it's not completely a race to get as many commits as fast as possible, but it sure as hell helps make a recruiting class stronger and is likely to make the coaches' lives easier come football season.

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