Can someone explain this one to me? Don't we have a ton of empty slots on the roster right now?
Just adding to what another poster wrote, Robert from illiniboard.com has the current number of available scholarships at 12.
There will be 9 Seniors on the roster this fall including the graduate transfers. This will put us at 84 scholarships, 1 under the limit if we don't add another blueshirt transfer.
That gets us to 10.
Bobby Walker and Jimmy Marchese were awarded scholarships on Christmas. It is assumed that these are just 1 year scholarships since both are redshirt Juniors.
This gets us to 12.
Then you can start looking at the redshirt Juniors who may not have their scholarships renewed. Unless they have breakout years, I wouldn't expect Justice Willams, Zeke Martin, Adam Solomon, or Caleb Reams to return. Trenard Davis could also move on although I'm not sure if he is a RS Junior since he did not qualify academically in 2015 and couldn't enroll until the Spring semester in 2016. Dre Brown could retire if he struggles to remain healthy so hopefully he has an injury free year.
This gets us to 15+ without taking into account normal attrition which is why I'm guessing the class will be around 18.
It should be noted that this class is capped at 22 since we have three blueshirts who count against the Class of 2019 (Griffin, Bush and Greene). If we add another blueshirt then the class is capped at 21.