Libertyville junior defensive tackle Ryan O'Malley (6-foot-4, 255 pounds) - who had been committed to Illinois under former head coach Tim Beckman since late February - was told last week that his verbal commitment to the Fighting Illini was being rescinded. O'Malley then Tweeted out that he was reopening up his recruiting process.
"I was asked to call up the coaches at Illinois last week," O'Malley said. "I called and they told me that they decided to rescind my scholarship offer. The coaches said that they decided to go with a different scheme on defense and that it wouldn't be a good fit for me. To be honest I was a bit nervous about the hiring of the new coaches at Illinois. I really liked the old staff and it just didn't feel the same. I'm disappointed because I loved Illinois so much and they are a big part of my family."
Loyola Academy junior offensive guard Jack Badovinac (6-foot-2, 265 pounds) made a visit last week to Colgate and a few days later gave the Raiders his verbal commitment.
"Colgate is just a great fit for me and they offer everything I was looking for in a school," according to Badovinac. "Colgate has an amazing campus. It's just a great looking school and setting in upstate New York. I was also really impressed with the facilities along with the overall football program."
Marist junior defensive back Robert Topps (6-foot-2, 182 pounds) has quickly seen his recruiting stock take off. Topps - who made a weekend visit to Wisconsin - now has 10 scholarship offers having added his latest offers on Tuesday from Nevada and Bowling Green.
"Both Nevada and Bowling Green made in-school visits on Tuesday," according to Topps. "The coaches at both schools asked me to call them after school and that's when they offered. It's been pretty hectic the past few weeks, but in a great way."
Topps is also starting to draw increased recruiting looks from a handful of Big Ten schools.
"I visited Wisconsin last Saturday and I had a great visit," he said. "Michigan State has also started to text me and they want me to come out and visit them soon."
Topps has scholarship offers so far from Buffalo, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Illinois State, Miami of Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, NIU, Western Michigan and Wyoming.
Need proof that the football recruiting process is being pushed ahead earlier and earlier? All you need to do is look at the Rivals.com early spring Class of 2017 Top 20 recruiting rankings.
Out of the Top 15 recruits in the Top 20 ranking, over half (9) have already given verbal commitment with Jacobs quarterback Chris Katrenick (Bowling Green) being the latest Land of Lincoln top-ranked name to make a verbal commitment.
Need even more evidence of the recruiting clock being pushed ahead? Out of the Top 5 recruits in the State of Illinois Class of 2017, four out of the five are already verbally committed. Top-ranked Edwardsville defensive end AJ Epenesa (Iowa), Neuqua Valley athlete Isaiah Robertson (Notre Dame), St. Viator tight end Cole Kmet (Notre Dame) and Maine South offensive guard Kevin Jarvis (Michigan State) all committed. Only East St. Louis four-star ranked wide receiver Jeff Thomas is uncommitted and Thomas has scholarship offers from across the country this spring.
I fully expect nearly all of the current Top 20 recruits in the Rivals.com early spring Top 20 to be committed by mid summer at the latest.