Cory Patterson’s Hire Is Paying Nice Dividends For Illinois Football

The first day of the Early Signing Period for Illinois Fighting Illini Football has just about wrapped up, with only one outstanding letter of intent from Kyron Cumby pending. Illinois will ink a small class, but one with a good average rating and some potential superstars in Marquez Beason and Isaiah Williams.

These two are by a wide margin the best recruits in the Lovie Smith era, and a key element to their recruitment was Cory Patterson.

It was 11 months ago today that Illinois announced that they would add the Trinity Catholic High School head coach to their staff as tight ends coach. The fanfare he received proved justified when those two commitments happened in March, but it’s now been made official.

As of 12 p.m. CT today, Cory Patterson is one of the top 100 recruiters in the country, according to 247. Patterson has thus far proven himself every bit the nice get Illini fans thought he would be.

Nice.