ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Signing day is over, and 11 new groups of recruits have joined the Big Ten. It's time to take a quick look at each class, beginning with Illinois.

Now if you're looking for rip jobs on classes, recruits and coaches, this isn't the place for you.

Despite all the experts and recruiting rankings, no one really knows how these players and classes will pan out. As my colleague Chris Low detailed this morning, some of the best players are overlooked in recruiting, and the bust factor is extremely high.

Let's begin with the Fighting Illini.

Number of recruits: 20

Key needs: Offensive line, defensive line, linebacker, quarterback

Highest-rated player (Scouts Inc.): Wide receiver Terry Hawthorne (No. 10 nationally in wideouts)

The quote: "I felt through our evaluations that last year's class was the best I've been around. This class doesn't have the quantity but the quality is the same as last year. We probably had fewer visits than anyone but we got the highest percentage of anyplace I've been. These are the guys almost exclusively that we set out to get. We can only have 85 players on scholarship and we're busting at the seams." -- head coach Ron Zook

Quick take: Many have labeled Illinois a disappointment in recruiting because the team lost players like Kraig Appleton and Craig Drummond late in the process. Though this year's class doesn't stack up with the last two, it contains several important components. Hawthorne gives Illinois another playmaking threat when Arrelious Benn leaves (after 2009 or 2010), and quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase could be Juice Williams' successor. Landing one-time Ohio State commit Justin Green at running back is big, and Illinois bolstered the defensive line with edge rusher Michael Buchanan. The Illini could have used another linebacker, but they did a decent job overall.