WCIA — High school football recruits are now allowed unlimited official visits in a new ruling by the NCAA, which previously restricted players to just five official visits.

That will be top of mind for Bret Bielema and Co. as they build the Class of 2024. Continuing to stack successful recruiting classes is paying dividends, and is a major focus for the Illini over the Summer.

“The first June recruiting class of my tenure, there were 16 guys that hit campus and we’ve got 13 of those guys here and they’re all in our two deep,” Bielema said. “The three guys that didn’t come, one’s the backup running back, possibly the starting running back at Ohio State, one’s either starting or backup safety at Michigan, and the other one is in the SEC. There’s three guys that we didn’t get, but those other ones were really beneficial to us and they’ve helped us build those next class, and the next class.”

The transfer portal will be a hot topic to end the month, as a 15 day window for players to move schools opened on Saturday. Bielema says the Illini have three scholarships to fill if they would like to look into the portal.