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2016 defensive lineman Antonio Shelton decommits from Illinois after visiting Rutgers

This is Illinois fourth decommitment in the past week.

By Jim Vainisi
Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Illinois' recruiting class has taken yet another hit. On Monday night, three-star defensive lineman Antonio Shelton announced his decommitment from the program. The Westerville, OH native has recently taken a visit to Rutgers and he's planned another trip to Penn State. Both schools have offered scholarships to Shelton, so this has obviously been in the works for quite some time.

Illinois was Shelton's first Big Ten offer, and he originally committed immediately after receiving it in June.

Putting the situation at Illinois aside, this actually makes sense for Shelton. Former Illini defensive coordinator Tim Banks holds the same position on Penn State's staff, so a relationship is already there. Crazy how the coaching carousel works, huh.

Look, no matter how you choose to spin it all of these decommitments aren't good news for Illinois. Were they expected? Yes. Did the coaching staff almost immediately replace these four players? To a lesser extent, yes. But Illinois could've easily avoided all of this. For the sake of sparing my Twitter mentions from more blind optimism, you can check out the bottom of this post on Tim Walton's decommitment for more of my opinion on the matter.