I'm confused by this argument. It's important to recruit Illinois, it's important to prioritize certain recruiting hotbeds, such as Texas and Florida. There's no point in arguing the value of each because it isn't a binary relationship (e.g., give up recruiting Illinois to focus on Texas).
I can't speak for out-of-state recruiting (besides general location, such as DFW area), but high school and location within the state of Illinois has been a strong indicator of Illinois football's chances of getting a specific recruit. Using the 2021 recruiting rankings for the State of Illinois, there are at least five recruits in an area that Illinois has a ~0% chance of securing commitments (JJ McCarthy (La Grange), David Davidkov (Winnetka), Athan Kaliakmanis (Antioch), Mac Uihlein (Lake Forest), Bryan Sanborn (Lake Zurich)). I'd also make an argument that one more recruit are in an area that Illinois is facing an uphill battle (Mar'Kiese Irving (Country Club Hills), but there is less history on that area for support and more of a projection of surrounding communities. This means Illinois has a plausible chance on four of the remaining recruits in the state (Sam Jackson (Naperville - committed to Minnesota), Dominic Bass (Chicago), Justin Johnson (Edwardsville), and Dominic Lovett (East St. Louis). The coaching staff has a choice of making progress. Start really hitting on the areas of high likelihood, or start making in-roads in these areas that have not been kind to Illinois in the past 15+ years (North suburbs, West suburbs, private schools, quad cities). It also wouldn't hurt if Illinois would find a pulse in any neighboring states besides St. Louis (specifically Indiana). Having an improved season in 2019 will hopefully have some tangible improvement for in-state recruitment, but as I mentioned above, the map isn't great and a number of 2021 in-state recruits have already committed elsewhere. Getting someone like Willie Shaw would be a nice start. It's very early with national rankings, almost so early it's foolish to mention, but the 247 rankings for Illinois in-state prospects show a very deep state. Securing 5-6 of these recruits would be a great keystone for future team improvement and in-state recruiting success.