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Final Signing Day Breakdown

The Class of 2021 in the State of Illinois simply faced an uphill climb on many levels during it's recruiting process. Today starts the final National Letter of Intent Signing period for the Class of 2021 and here is my Final Class of 2021 Singing Day breakdown.

Biggest Storylines from the Class of 2021?

COVID- The Class of 2021 in particular within the State of Illinois was dealt a serious blow in recruiting circles when IHSA football was put on hold and moved to the Spring of 2021. Illinois wound up being the only Midwest state in the nation to not find a way to play football in the fall. All Land of Lincoln football prospects fell behind those in other states in many ways, including not having a season and/or the ability to compile any game action highlights for recruiting purposes. Multiple kids from the State of Illinois fell off of many schools recruiting boards and the amount of lost opportunities plus severely limiting any remaining opportunities that became available. While Illinois will start spring football in Mid March, a vast majority of athletic scholarship money available left weeks if not months ago. The group that felt the biggest impact in my opinion from COVID? The FCS to D2 level athletes, who in many cases took a preferred walk on roster spot when in most other years they would have instead secured some form of athletic scholarship monies.

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The NCAA Recruiting Period: We Are Never Open- The NCAA in short locked down the entire recruiting process at the beginning of the COVID outbreak in early spring of 2020, and nearly a year later the NCAA still remains in a recruiting dead period. Lost for recruits and college coaches was the all important spring and summer evaluation period. Prospects also were not allowed to make any official or unofficial college campus visits whatsoever, a lockout which remains in place to this day. The amount of prospects who ended up signing early letters of intent without ever stepping foot on that campus numbers in the thousands. College recruiting went from an in person/build a relationship business to a Zoom meeting/virtual recruiting pitch within days. Throw in the State of Illinois kids, who had no chance to be evaluated last spring, summer and then add in a fall with no IHSA football season? Again yet another gut punch for all involved with recruiting in the Class of 2021 in Illinois.

The COVID Economy and can the little guys survive? The economic fallout of COVID might not ever be truly known, but from a college football standpoint schools, especially the mid level to smaller football programs remain very concerned. From major slashing of athletic budgets to no incoming revenue, many college programs are seeing less and less early commitments compared to year's past.

On many different levels times are still very troubling. Millions of families are still struggling with COVID related layoffs and furloughs and most families have seen less and less income. Less and less income means less and less available money to help pay surging college cost. The sooner the vaccines are distributed the better and many in and around college football will feel a bit relieved when that happens. Yet for now, a big financial cloud will continue to hang over at all levels of college football.


So how did the State of Illinois Class of 2021 rank overall? Despite the Class of 2021 being easily one of the strangest recruiting years anyone has ever seen, the State of Illinois overall will end up being one of the better overall classes we've had since 2014 be FBS signee nunbers. The overall Class of 2021 State of Illinois FBS level scholarship signee's will wind up in the 73-75 range by the end of the February 2021 signing period.

Total number of FBS level names from the State of Illinois who have signed Letters of Intent? (Source Rivals.com database)

2021: 74*** Final Signing Day number of projected signee's

2020: 61

2019: 64

2018: 67

2017: 73

2016: 68

2015: 70

2014: 73

EDGYTIM.com Class of 2021 Early Signing Day Top 50 Recruit Rankings

EDGYTIM.com The List Class of 2021 commitment tracker


So which FBS schools recruited the Land of Lincoln's Class of 2021 well?

Minnesota- The Gophers and head coach PJ Fleck and staff continue to do work in Fleck's home state. Minnesota also has a staff with serious Land of Lincoln ties including OL coach Brian Callahan along with former Sacred Heart Griffin RB and Gophers running backs coach Kenni Burns. The Gophers have signed five from the State of Illinois including several impact names led by Antioch QB Athan Kaliakmanis, his bother WR Dino Kaliakmanis along with Providence Catholic TE Jameson Geers, Hillcrest RB Mar'Kiese Irving and Simeon OT Cameron James.

Northern Illinois- The Huskies and head coach Thomas Hammock once again signed multiple names back in December. Key December signings include Aurora Christian QB Ethan Hampton, Lincoln Way East WR Mason Pierre Antonie plus Batavia WR Trey Urwiler, Sterling DE Trevon Jordan and Solorio S Brian Whitsey. NIU for the second straight recruiting year is expected to add a very large incoming Preferred Walk On group. In some cases, loom for the PWO class to contribute right away to a somewhat depleted NIU Huskies roster that was hit relatively hard by the transfer portal.

Western Michigan- The Broncos continues to work it's deep ties in the State of Illinois and have inked multiple names from the Land of Lincoln. Headliners from the Land of Lincoln Broncos 2021 Class for WMU includes Sacred Heart Griffin TE Kadinn Morris, Normal West DE/TE Corey Walker plus OPRF OLB Naahlyee Bryant, St. Laurence DB Aaron Wofford plus St. Rita WR Henry Wilson Jr.

Ball State- The Cardinals really did well I feel in the State of Illinois, several key names back in December. Keep an eye on Vernon Hills TE Justin Morris, Glenbrook North TE Drayton Charlton-Perrin plus Vernon Hills LB Jackson Wiegold and Loyola Academy ATH Vaughn Pemberton. Thrown in Nazareth Academy DE Drew Hughes and Nazareth Academy refugee WR Tanner Koziol.

Illinois State- The Redbirds and longtime head coach Brock Spack always makes Illinois a priority, and the Redbirds 2021 class will feature a terrific collection of talent. Eight in-state names signed in December led by St. Francis QB Tommy Rittenhouse, O'Fallon K/P Ian Wagner along with Hersey OL Ryan Gudaitis, SHG LB Reese Edwards, Lake Zurich LB Jack Dwyer along with H-F RB Sean Allen, St. Rita OL Bodie Turner and East St. Louis TE Scott Presson.

Eastern Illinois- The Panthers under Adam Cushing have made in state recruiting a priority and that will again continue with the 2021 class. Eastern Illinois added several names in December and is headlined by Rock Island WR/DB Perry Slater, Loyola LB Liam Conaghan plus Lemont LB Al Pontrelli and Glenbard South OLB Jeremy Gelino. Loo for the Panthers to also add more in-state names

So what ended up being positions of overall strength in the Class of 2021 in the State of Illinois?

Wide Receiver and Offensive Linemen The wide receiver and the offensive line group ended up being positions of strength in an overall strong Class of 2021. Yet other positions including tight end, running back, linebacker and defensive back also will end up having multiple kids inking letters of intent. The class has a really nice mix of multi-positional depth and a high level of talent in several spots.

So which position ended up being down in the Class of 2021?

Defensive Tackle. It's strange since the defensive linemen group has generally been a plus here in Illinois. Yet the Defensive Linemen Class of 2021 is a considerably light in overall depth and numbers of kids who will sign. The only Top 50 ranked defensive tackle is St. Charles North Carmine Bastone. Bastone, who was committed to Cornell but has since decided to take a PWO from Northwestern also had several additional Ivy League and D2 level offers. Several other defensive linemen will sign at the D2 and below level, yet the overall lack of depth inside on the defensive line was surprising to see in the 2021 class.

So what about the FCS level and below?

The Class of 2021will end up being a very strong group for the FCS level schools. Currently 47 names from the Class of 2021 already signed to FCS schools back in December and a majority of those names who have since committed to FCS level schools post December in most cases will be walk on's. The combined FBS/FCS number of signee's should number in the 120 range which is still well above average over the past eight signing classes from the State of Illinois. Both in-state FCS schools Illinois State and Eastern Illinois had large early signing day classes featuring multiple names from the State of Illinois. Also look for several additional names added today via the Preferred Walk On route.

The Future...

So you want the good news or the bad news? The good news is that the overall talent level so far in the State of Illinois for the 2022 and the 2023 classes look very promising. Roughly 40 names have already been extended early scholarship offers in the Class of 2022 in Illinois. While that's not a great number, colleges still haven't really had a chance to dig into or evaluate these kids in Illinois now for well over a year plus. Expect more and more State of Illinois 2022 names to continue to add scholarship offers over the next several month and the 2022 class has a chance to match and even surpass the Class of 2021 scholarship numbers.

EDGYTIM.com Class of 2022 and 2023 Top Recruit Rankings by Position

The Bad News? The shortage of available college scholarship will be as hard or even harder to land for the Class of 2022. Why? The NCAA Transfer Portal is overstocked with available names. Many college coaches I've spoken to already have said they will begin to fill needs first from the transfer portal (kids who they either personally evaluated already in high school or kids who have college game video already) then fill out the remaining needs from the high school ranks. That's not good news for everyone in the State of Illinois Class of 2022.

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