Illinois Brings in Solid Class

Some stayed true to their commitments, at least one other fled for Wisconsin, and one even switched allegiances from Ohio State to Illinois. When the dust settled, Illinois came out of National Signing Day with a pretty good class.

Rivals rated the Illinois recruiting class at 32. Other Big Ten schools that came in ahead of Illinois were Ohio State at 3, Michigan at 7, Michigan State at 16, and Penn State at 25. The Illini ended up with seven four-star recruits, eight three-stars and five two-stars for their total of 20 new members of the Fighting Illini.

I highlighted some of the major players yesterday, and things went pretty much as planned. The Illini got their Ohio State defection, most of the other commitments stayed around, and they lost one to Wisconsin. Justin Green switched his commitment from OSU to Illinois yesterday and signed with the Illini. The highly touted cornerback might have gone with Illinois because they offered him a chance to play running back also.

Receiver Kraig Appleton wasn't so taken with the Illini. After commiting to Illinois three separate times, the East St. Louis prospect decided to go to Wisconsin. However, the Illini did manage to keep Terry Hawthorne from switching his commitment to Oklahoma.

Long story short, it was a great class with some names you'll be hearing a lot in the near future. QB Nathan Scheelaase, DT Lendell Buckner, DE Michael Buchanan, RB Bud Golden, and some of those gentlemen mentioned above. You have to wonder what kind of role J Leman's patriotism played in the recruiting process.