By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

Illinois’ 2016 class is shaping up to be one of the more interesting group of prospects in recent years. This crop of rising juniors features high-end national talent and impressive overall depth already. And the scary part is we have only begun to scratch the surface of this class.

That point became abundantly clear over the last three-plus months. More and more names emerged, while many prospects have made significant leaps in their games. The 2016 class also seems to be on an accelerated pace than past classes.  Already 12 Illinois 2016 prospects have pledged their verbal commitments.

After a long high school season, and many regional and national events scouted over the summer months, we have updated and expanded the Illinois 2016 rankings. It was amazing to us how many previously unknown players emerged over the last three months, which made the process that much more difficult. In many instances, players did nothing to have their rankings drop; there were just a lot of new prospects put into the mix.

Despite having so much high-level talent at the top of the class, RHP Drake Fellows (Joliet Catholic Academy HS) proved he is the clear No. 1 prospect over the high school and summer months. The Vanderbilt recruit has been consistently dominant nearly every time he takes the mound.

RHP Brenden Heiss (Jacobs HS), 3B/RHP Cal Coughlin, SS Tyler Fitzgerald (Rochester HS), C Cooper Johnson (Carmel HS), RHP Anthony Holubecki (Kaneland HS), and 3B/1B Joey Polak are also top-level national prospects who remain firm in the top 10. Ben Brecht, a 6-foot-7 LHP from New Trier HS, moves into the top 10, as does INF Jordan McFarland (Gibault HS). C AJ Lewis (Mount Carmel HS) rounds out the top 10.

Outside the top 10, there are been many significant shakeups in the expanded Top 150 rankings. Other big risers in the 2016 class include: OF Danny Gleaves (St. Rita HS), RHP Garrett Acton (Lemont HS), RHP Brady Huffman (Genoa-Kingston HS), OF/RHP Alec Barger (Champaign Central HS), OF Dylan Gilbert (St. Ignatius HS), SS Camden Bauer (O’Fallon HS), OF/2B Jeremy Gaines, LHP Brent Headrick (Reed-Custer HS), RHP Tyler McAlister (Waterloo HS), and RHP Josh Garner (Plainfield North HS), to name a few.

A look at the Top 10:

Rank	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Commitment
1	Drake Fellows	IL	Joliet Catholic Academy	2016	RHP	Vanderbilt
2	Brenden Heiss	IL	Jacobs	2016	RHP
3	Cal Coughlin	IL	Carmel	2016	3B
4	Tyler Fitzgerald	IL	Rochester	2016	SS	Louisville
5	Cooper Johnson	IL	Carmel Catholic	2016	C
6	Anthony Holubecki	IL	Kaneland	2016	RHP	Notre Dame
7	Ben Brecht	IL	New Trier	2016	LHP
8	Joey Polak	IL	Quincy Notre Dame	2016	3B
9	Jordan McFarland	IL	Gibault	2016	3B	Arkansas
10	AJ Lewis	IL	Mount Carmel	2016	C

 >> CLICK HERE to view complete Top 150 Illinois 2016 Rankings