Behold! Illinois' Class of 2010!

Every coach puts on his best face for Signing Day. Though some get more excitable than others, everyone stays upbeat. Most every player has a chance to become special.

With that in mind, decide for yourself what it means when Ron Zook uses these words to describe the 20 young men who signed with the Illini this year: “This class is going to surprise a lot of people down the road.”

Illinois lost several oral commitments down the stretch, including killer safety Corey Cooper from Proviso East. Cooper, who committed as a sophomore, switched to Nebraska to become a part of the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense in 2009.

By the same token (as Zook likes to say), if you accept Zook’s tacit admission that he and his coaches didn’t exactly land the nation’s No. 1 class, then you also have to accept his statement that the Illini brought in a ton of good players in 2008 and 2009 on the strength of the Rose Bowl appearance – and they’re ready to go:

“If you go back and look at our two previous classes, which I feel like are as good as any classes that I’ve ever been around, so I can say this class is going to solidify (the roster). I’m excited about it. I really am.”

Illinois scored a few last-minute recruiting wins. While Cooper and OL Dan Foose (Florida State) de-committed, Florida's Darius Millines and Brandon Denmark slapped on Illinois caps.

Illinois Recruiting In A Box

Already on campus (3):
QB Chandler Whitmer (Downers Grove South HS)
S Trulon Henry (College of DuPage)
OL Shawn Afryl (Niles West)

Junior on defense (1):
S Henry

Freshmen on offense (12):
QB Whitmer
QB Miles Osei (Prospect HS)
FB Jake Howe (McHenry HS)
WR Spencer Harris (Greenwood, ARK)
WR Ryan Lankford (Jacksonville, FL)
WR Darius Millines (Delray Beach, FL)
TE A.J. Williams (Chesapeake, VA)
TE Evan Wilson (Woodstock, GA)
OL Simon Cvijanovic (Cleveland, OH)
OL Afryl
OL Michael Heitz (Vermont, IL)
OL Alex Hill (Slidell, LA)

Freshmen on defense (7):
DE Brandon Denmark (Tallahassee, FL)
DE Austin Teitsma (Glenbard South HS)
LB Jonathan Brown (Memphis, TN)
LB Jay Prosch (Mobile, AL)
LB Mark Wilson (Tallahassee, FL)
S Ean Days (Kingsland, GA)
S Earnest Thomas (Orchard Lake, MI)

I’m doing my own projections on a few of these positions. For example, NIU had an initial commitment from Prosch and planned to play him at fullback. He could well end up there for the Illini, too, as new offensive coordinator Paul Petrino institutes his pro-style stuff, but he made his name in 'Bama as a frequently tackling linebacker. In addition, I moved Days from RB to DB because the News-Gazette's Bob Asmussen says he'll play there.

Zook also said he experienced more negative recruiting than any of his previous years at Illinois. Sometimes he said it was as simple as throwing newspaper articles in front of a potential recruit’s nose. Interesting. I’m sure he’s not casting any blame on reporters, but I don’t recall Zook ever mentioning the times the Illini use positive articles to influence potential recruits.

LW