It’s easy to understand why some Illinois football fans are confused about where the team stands in its recruitment of East St. Louis receiver Kraig Appleton. I know I am. There are a lot of sources for this uncertainty, and the recruiting web sites aren’t helping anyone.

I’ll tell you what his coach and a top recruiting analyst had to say a little further down, but it will only further complicate the matter.

But back to the recruiting sites. Take Rivals.com for example. I poked around the web site today and first found a list of schools next to Appleton’s name that rated Illinois, Texas Tech and Wisconsin as being of medium interest to the senior. Arkansas, Michigan State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Vanderbilt were listed as being low on his list.

When I searched for Appleton in the prospect search, Illinois was listed as his college choice in a highlighted box. But when you click on Illinois to see the school’s commitments, he doesn’t appear.

Next I went to Scout.com and a search of his name turned up a list that includes Illinois, LSU, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas Tech, Wisconsin and Michigan. You’ll notice that the schools are a bit different. ESPN.com has Missouri and Nebraska in the mix.

One site — and I can’t remember which one — had him listed as a “soft verbal” last week. How ridiculous is that? We now have degrees of commitment because kids want to take their visits?

Appleton supposedly said he had committed to Illinois at some point. But according to East St. Louis coach Darren Sunkett, his recruitment is wide open. He has taken one official visit, that being to Wisconsin.

“He hasn’t made any commitment,” Sunkett said. “Rumors spread, that’s about all I can say. Those are just all rumors. We talk about it, but like I say, he’s not close. He’s going to take his visits and go from there.”

Analyst Tom Lemming has a different hunch, saying “I’d be shocked if he doesn’t go to Illinois with his two buddies,” referring to receiver Terry Hawthorne and defensive back Tommie Hopkins.

My advice is to ignore the recruiting web sites because they’ll only serve to confuse.