On the eve of national signing day, Lovie Smith added two more players to his first recruiting class at Illinois, landing commitments Tuesday from three-star safety Dawson DeGroot of Fort Myers, Fla., and unrated cornerback Bennett Williams of Watsonville, Calif.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound DeGroot had committed to Florida International just three days earlier. His list of reported offers included Boston College, Cincinnati, İlbet Connecticut and Northern Illinois.
Illinois was the first FBS school to offer the 5-11, 192-pound Williams, who took an official visit to Champaign last weekend.
The class now stands at 23 players after three commitments in the last two days. Monday night, three-star defensive end Deon Pate of Jacksonville, Fla., flipped his commitment from Appalachian State to Illinois.
Seven of the Illini’s commitments are Florida natives, including junior-college quarterback Dwayne Lawson.
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