How does Alabama get to where its at?

What about Ohio State? Clemson? Georgia? Oklahoma?

It all starts with recruiting. If a team doesn’t get its guys in the mix, then the team won’t be able to do exactly what it wants to on the field.

On Thursday, it was announced that 4-star athlete Isaiah Williams — who is a part of Illinois’ Class of 2019 — won back-to-back Gatorade Player of the Year awards in Missouri.

As 247Sports probably correctly has it, Williams ranks as the No. 1 overall recruit in the state of Missouri. Makes sense, since he’s won Player of the Year award twice now, no?

Illinois coach Lovie Smith will be going into his fourth season as the man in charge of the program in 2019 and Williams will certainly be a dynamic freshman to utilize all over the field.

Illinois’ 2019 class ranks No. 64 nationally and No. 12 in the Big Ten. Williams is the second-highest rated recruit for the Fighting Illini in 2019, behind another 4-star athlete in Marquez Beason.