Thomas Schaffer (OT), Lake Forest Academy
Schaffer (6-foot-7, 290 pounds) has begun to set up official visits following the season. Schaffer, who is the highest ranked Rivals.com Illinois Class of 2016 recruit left on the board, is also planning to take all five allotted official visits before making his decision. Schaffer has visit dates set for Oregon (11/7), Stanford (11/14) and Wisconsin (likely 10/31). Schaffer will also take his remaining two visits to either Kentucky, Vanderbilt, California or Purdue. Expect a late November, early December decision.
Jacub Panasiuk (DE), Lake Park
Panasiuk (6-foot-3, 230 pounds) added Illinois to his offer list — his first Big Ten offer. Panasiuk, who is the younger brother of Lake Park senior defensive tackle Mike Panasiuk (committed to Michigan State), made an unofficial visit to Illinois on Saturday.
"It feels amazing to get a Big Ten offer," Panasiuk said. "I like the fact that Illinois is close to home. It's in-state and they also offer a great education. Staying closer to home is a big deal for me. If I find a school that's a great fit farther away from home I'd consider it, but I'd prefer to stay closer to home if I can."
Panasiuk has also drawn recruiting looks from Minnesota, Purdue, Rutgers, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Michigan State. Panasiuk also has an offer from Florida Atlantic.
[MORE PREPS: Week 6 AP Illinois preps football rankings]
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Watts (6-foot-3, 270 pounds) chronicled where he's at regarding his recruiting process. Watts, who decommitted from Western Michigan in the summer, has several favorites on the table.
"I had narrowed things down to a top five [with] Kansas, Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse and Tennessee, but then Minnesota offered me," Watts said. "Minnesota is a really strong offer so I'm also looking harder at Minnesota now. Tennessee hasn't been in touch for a while now so I'm not sure where I stand with them to be honest. Both Ole Miss and Central Florida are new schools that are starting to reach out."
Expect Watts to make official visits after the season is over.
The local quarterbacks are having a rough go of it this year. One of the prime examples is Frank (6-foot-4, 216 pounds). Frank, who had winter and early spring scholarship offers from the likes of Boston College, Illinois and several Mid American schools, is now searching for new options this fall.
"I'm still pretty open right now," Frank said. "It's been pretty frustrating for me no question about it. I wish I knew earlier how things would go for me. I would have definitely moved faster on some of the offers I had back in the winter and the spring. I'm still in touch with several coaches and I'm confident that I'll find a school to call home soon.
"I'm still waiting on a few schools to make a final decision and evaluation on me," Frank added. "Temple has been pretty interested. Iowa State is still interested and they said they would let me know over the next few weeks if they will offer me or not. Florida Atlantic is also interested. I talk to them a lot now and I'm going to try and go visit them soon hopefully over the next few weeks."