Dug into the state of Illinois top-10 recruits by year because we were talking a few weeks back about how often these recruits sign with Illinois and how IF Illinois football can make some degree of improvement regarding convincing the best players to stay home it would be a big improvement on talent.
State of Illinois Top 10 Recruits that Signed with Illinois
2003
#2 - Martin O'Donnell
#6 - James Ryan
Biggest Miss - Mike Jones (OT - Iowa - Freshman All-American)
2004
#5 - Sam Carson
Biggest Miss - Roland Martin (OG - Michigan State - All B1G as Senior)
2005
#4 - Rashard Mendenhall
#10 - Doug Pilcher
Biggest Miss - Tony Moeaki (TE - Iowa - All B1G as Senior)
2006
#2 - Isiah Williams
#4 - Chris James
#5 - Marques Wilkins
#8 - Garrett Edwards
Biggest Miss - Sergio Brown (S - Notre Dame - Two year starter)
2007
#1 - Martez Wilson
#4 - Josh Brent
#5 - Anthony Morris
#9 - Jack Cornell
Biggest Miss - Bryan Bulaga (OT - Iowa - 2009 B1G Offensive Lineman of the Year)
2008
#5 - Graham Pocic
#8 - Glenn Foster
Biggest Miss - Darius Fleming (OLB - Notre Dame - Three year starter)
2009
#2 - Terry Hawthorne
#6 - Lendell Buckner
#9 - Michael Buchanan
#10 - Leon Hill
Biggest Miss - Chris Watt (OG - Notre Dame - Three year starter)
2010
#7 - Chandler Whitmer
Biggest Miss - CJ Fiedorowicz (TE - Iowa - All B1G as Senior)
2011
#10 - Clint Tucker
Biggest Miss - DaVaris Daniels (WR - Notre Dame - Biletnikoff Award Watch List )
2012
None
Biggest Miss - Your choice of Jahleel Johnson (DT - Iowa), Jordan Westerkamp (WR - Nebraska), or Antonio Morrison (LB - Florida)
2013
#6 - Aaron Bailey
Biggest Miss - Ethan Pocic (OG - LSU - 2016 First Team All American)
2014
None
Biggest Miss - JaMarco Jones (OT - OSU - Two-Time All B1G)
2015
#2 - Gabe Megginson
#6 - Dre Brown
Biggest Miss - Terry Beckner Jr. (DT - Missouri)
2016
None
Biggest Miss - Tuf Borland (LB - OSU)
2017
#6 - Ricky Smalling
#8 - Kendrick Green
Biggest Miss - AJ Epenesa (DE - Iowa)
2018
None
Biggest Miss - Luke Ford (TE - Georgia)
As you can see, the well has severely dried up since 2009. Plus, all of the players that Illinois was able to get post-2009 have either not panned out, transferred, or dealt with severe injuries. Hopefully the 2017 class can re-establish some credibility. IF Illinois was able to secure commitments from Jason Bargy, Jahleel Billingsley, and Duke Olges, it would be the best group of talent from the state of Illinois in ten years.