3-star ATH Theodore Lockley’s commitment to Illinois’ 2021 class lasted under 40 days

Lockley, a 6-foot and 175-pound 2021 class athlete, sent out a message on Twitter Monday afternoon confirming he was reopening his recruitment.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Theodore Lockley’s pledge to Illinois’ 2021 recruiting class lasted just under 39 days.

Lockley, a 6-foot and 175-pound athlete who the Illini coaches primarily wanted at receiver, sent out a message on Twitter Monday afternoon confirming he was reopening his recruitment after being a part of the Illini’s recruiting class for just over a month. Lockley, who verbally committed to Illinois on June 19, comes from the high school (Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Fla.) where Illinois cornerbacks coach Keynodo Hudson served as a defensive coordinator from 2009-11.

Respect my decision!💯 RECRUITMENT 100% OPEN pic.twitter.com/tWp09VhRNA

— SPEEDY. (@LockleyTheodore) July 27, 2020

In June, Lockley detailed to Illini Now/Sports Illustrated the connection he’d made with Hudson through several Zoom video conferences and phone calls.

“It wasn’t ever a call to offer me and it wasn’t really even a call to talk about football,” Lockley said in an interview with Illini Now/Sports Illustrated. “It was a call about where I’m from. It was about Daytona. (Hudson) knows what it's like to grow up here. He understands. I was able to talk to him about all of it. It ain’t easy coming from here. It ain’t ever easy in Daytona.”

The 170-pound athlete told Illini Now/SI he’d taken phone calls from bigger in-state programs such as Florida, Florida State and UCF but none of them were ready to offer a prospect they’d never seen live in a camp or workout due to the mass COVID-19 shutdowns.

“I think the pandemic forced me to think about other schools that wouldn’t normally have been in it for me,” Lockley said. “But I’m very happy with my decision to commit to Illinois but I had a lot of programs tell me they didn’t want to offer me without seeing me live. I didn’t get my first offer until January and that was Kansas.”

Hudson, along with the help of Illini offensive coordinator Rod Smith, was the primary recruiter for Lockley as he initially decided on Illinois over scholarship offers from Boston College, Kansas, Rutgers, Temple, East Carolina, Liberty and Western Kentucky.

Lockley’s decision is the fear of the Illinois staff, and college coaching staff members across the country, as Class of 2021 prospects have been making commitments to a school during the current coronavirus pandemic without yet having set foot on the university campus.

Back in June, Lockley had narrowed down his choices to a final four schools: Illinois, Boston College, Bowling Green and East Carolina.

In his junior season at Mainland, Lockley was an all-area first-team selection as a receiver by the Daytona Beach News Journal and according to 247Sports.com, the speedster recorded a 10.74-second time in the 100-meter dash as a track athlete. Illinois offered Lockley in early April and Lockley was still receiving some attention from Power Five Conference schools at both wide receiver and defensive back.

With the loss of Lockley, Illinois is now down to 14 verbal pledges in a recruiting class that is expected to reach the NCAA capacity limit of 25 signed prospects. The Illini currently sit with the 11th-best recruiting class, according to 247Sports.com, in the 14-member Big Ten Conference with no four or five-star prospects attached to this group.