St. Louis Remains a 'home university' For Illinois Football

After getting three more signees from St. Louis, Illinois head coach Lovie Smith declares the second-largest Missouri market as his home.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The 172-mile trek from the front door of Trinity Catholic High School in St. Louis and the front gate of Memorial Stadium remains an active, viable pipeline.

Following an early signing period in the 2020 recruiting class where he signed a pair from Trinity Catholic and another prospect from the St. Louis city limits, Illinois football continued to stick an orange and blue flag in Missouri’s second-largest market.

On Wednesday, Illinois reloaded its skill position players with three-star tailback Reggie Love and three-star wide receiver James Frenchie from Trinity Catholic. This is one year removed from acquiring Isaiah Williams, Illinois’ highest ranked quarterback recruit since Juice Williams in 2006, and four-star linebacker Shammond Cooper.

“St. Louis has been good to us,” Illinois head coach Lovie Smith said on the Big Ten Network. “That’s an area we’ll continue to recruit. Guys buy into us. We feel like we’re their home university too."

Smith was quick to also point out former Trinity Catholic head coach Corey Patterson being on his staff as the tight ends coach for the last two years has been essential to this St. Louis recruiting pipeline.

Under Patterson, Trinity Catholic established itself as one of the top high school programs in St. Louis and the state of Missouri. He was named the Archdiocesan Athletic Association (AAA) Conference Coach of the Year all three seasons.

Patterson, a 2002 finance graduate of Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, compiled a record of 27-6 in his three seasons and led the Titans to the 2016 Missouri state Class 2 title game. Patterson has established an easy path for St. Louis products to the Illini program.

“I chose Illinois for the possibility to change a culture,” Williams said when he signed in 2018. “I’m looking forward to playing for Lovie Smith because of his laid back personality and the family atmosphere he’s got at Illinois.”

Smith, who has been recruiting and preparing for a bowl game in the month of December for the first time since arriving at Illinois, described Love as “a complete back” to add to the long line of successful tailbacks in his four-year Illini tenure.

Love may be given the opportunity in the 2021 season opener in Ireland vs. Nebraska to get his first significant playing time at Illinois when he, Isaiah Williams and Frenchie complete the offensive skill position trio from Trinity Catholic.

“When you talk about special, it’s, ‘Can you make someone miss?’ He can do that. Excellent quickness, speed, tuning in between the tackles, make you miss in the open field,” Smith said. “Another player that we’ve watched grow, known about him for a long period of time, he’s been locked into our program for a long period of time. Were excited about him."

Frenchie was still a dynamic athlete without Williams in his final prep year as he had 33 catches for 453 yards and five receiving touchdowns while also adding 264 yards and six touchdowns on the ground.

The 5-foot-9 and 175-pounder is hoping to show his superior athleticism and playmaking ability in the slot of the Illini’s spread offense in future years.

“Nowadays, guys come in and play a lot earlier than they used to,” Smith said. “Outstanding receiver, good hands, can make you miss in the open fields. We’ve watched him grow quite a bit. Known about him for a period of time. There’s a good chance you could be seeing him (early)."

Even though he's not part of the Trinity Catholic connection, the signing of three-star offensive lineman Kevin Tyler represents a deep pipeline connection between the city of St. Louis and the Illinois football program. Tyler, a 6-foot-5 and 295-pound athlete, becomes the eighth player from the St. Louis city limits to sign with Illinois since Lovie Smith took over the Illini program.

Tyler committed to Illinois at the end of July over scholarship offers from Iowa State, Kansas State, Minnesota, Missouri, Purdue and Syracuse. He was a three-star rated prospect by 247Sports.com and ESPN.com. He was also rated the No. 16 prospect in the state of Missouri by ESPN.com.