Tim Beckman and the Illini staff had been hoping to get a late commitment from three-star wide receiver Ryan Timmons -- or a four-star if you use 247Sports.com -- before signing day on Wednesday, but Timmons has decided to stay in his home state and chose Kentucky.

Timmons made the announcement on Tuesday in a press conference at his high school. His other finalists were Ohio State and Florida.

There had been rumors that the Illini emerged as a strong contender for Timmons after Corey Smith flipped to Ohio State last week, but, alas, it was not meant to be.

Which is too bad because Illinois could certainly use as much talent as possible at receiver, and after watching tape on Timmons I felt he was certainly somebody that could have helped in Bill Cubit's offense.

Of course, just because Timmons isn't coming, that doesn't mean there aren't any possible surprises out there before everything becomes official tomorrow. I'm just hoping they're the good kind of surprises.

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