CHAMPAIGN – When the Big Ten Conference made a move eastward and annexed Rutgers and Maryland in the growing conference wars over expansion, TV markets and grabbing more cash, there was also another benefit.

With more teams hitting the Eastern Seaboard for regularly scheduled games, it further opened up a recruiting market. Players from the East Coast could leave home and still return for conference games.

It’s something coaches like Illinois’ Bret Bielema know all about.\

“The addition of them and what it’s been able to do on the East Coast, I’ve noticed it in recruiting,’’ Bielema said. “When they announced USC and UCLA, it’s going in the other direction.’’

That Big Ten footprint is now as big as Shaq’s size 22, and it will likely open up the West Coast for more opportunity. Even if some California kids don’t want to play in the cold weather, there’s so much more opportunity for mid-pack teams like Illinois to grab some players, even if Champaign is roughly 2,000 miles from the Pacific Ocean.

Hey, Mike White made the Illini into an overnight sensation in the 80s with California kids.

Big Ten expansion “allows players from the East to think about the West and players from the West to think about the East, going across the country to play,’’ said Adam Gorney, the Rivals.com national recruiting director. “And it basically takes out all Pac-12 recruiting. All of those players (thinking about) going to those schools are now fair game.

“Whether Illinois is a school that can capitalize on that, it’s yet to be seen.’’

Such a seismic change as abruptly adding Washington and Oregon to USC and UCLA to the Big Ten will topple other dominoes, and there’s no way to truly predict how the college football landscape will adjust 5 or 10 years down the road. As Bielema was sending his Illini through preseason camp in the Memorial Stadium complex, he was also thinking about how the latest additions to the league will help Illinois expand its reach.

Illinois’ large living alumni base in Los Angeles “has to factor into it,’’ he said.

So does the exposure with the Big Ten, now a coast-to-coast league and a television ratings powerhouse.

“In today’s world, you sell that to kids big time,’’ Bielema said. “Anything that brings a new opportunity for them to be somewhere they’ve never been gets kids excited.’’

Make no mistake, there will be opportunity to recruit the loaded California recruiting market.

“With a conference basically disintegrating before our eyes, there are lot of talented players going to go (to the Big Ten),’’ Gorney said. “Talking to kids in southern California, I don’t know how many of them are incredibly interested in going to a cold, Midwestern school.

“Some of them love moving to the Big Ten because of much more exposure, but some of them, especially quarterbacks, aren’t necessarily thrilled about going to Champaign in November, or Madison or Iowa City, when we all know it’s 12 degrees and the 30 mile-per-hour winds, rather than going to Arizona and it’s 72 when they take the field.’’

With the Big Ten and SEC growing larger and more powerful, those leagues are also becoming more attractive to recruits, who realize these are going to probably be among the last conferences standing when conference realignment continues. With huge TV markets and large alumni bases, the Big Ten isn’t going anywhere.

With the Pac-12 disappearing, the Big Ten has advantages that will help schools like Illinois on the recruiting trail.

“Any kid who is looking at a developmental program, exposure, playing on the biggest stages and playing in prime time, move to the Big Ten is absolutely a huge upgrade for all those things,’’ Gorney said.

West Coast recruits realize there’s more opportunity for exposure in the Big Ten, so there’s now a choice – it’s the Big Ten and the SEC.

“That’s why a lot of recruits from the West especially have gone to the SEC,’’ Gorney said. “Now they will look at the Big Ten, even those schools in their back yard.’’

Prior to Lincoln Riley’s hiring at USC, the powerhouse program had trouble keeping players home. Bryce Young was once a USC commit. The mid-level players have more options now than just heading to Oregon State and Washington State or dropping outside of the Power 5.

“Kids who were overlooked ended up at Washington State and Oregon State, you can look at Illinois and Minnesota, schools that can grab some of those guys,’’ Gorney said, “and they would be coming back to the West Coast and play one, two three games a year and family can see you. It will open things up.

“The best players will still go to USC and Georgia and Alabama, but it certainly does open it up a lot for more Big Ten programs now.’’

That’s where Illinois and other schools in the middle of the pack can take advantage by kicking the door open, building a niche with certain areas and helping themselves by winning games on West Coast road trips.

“The entire conference is gone now,’’ Gorney said. “It’s not like kids who wanted to stay out West still have the opportunity to play in the Pac.12. It’s kind of wide open.

“Arizona has always been a state that’s been pilfered for talent from all across the country. The quirky thing is Arizona kids don’t stay home. In California, there are plenty of kids sort of being overlooked by USC and UCLA. Then you get to the Pacific Northwest, where weather might not be such a deterrent. Going somewhere can turn off some kids. Where it gets cold in Washington and it does rain in Oregon, you get that weather. You could be open to moving (your future) to the Midwest.’’

The massive NIL collectives in the Big Ten will also overwhelm what’s left of the Pac-12, which may join up with San Diego State, San Jose State, some Mountain West programs and perhaps an AAC team.

“I don’t see that as an option if there is an option where they can come back and play USC in the coliseum or play (Oregon) in Autzen and play in the Big Ten with NIL a big part of that,’’ Gorney said. “That amount of money is going significantly up now. That’s only a benefit for Big Ten schools to recruit out West.’’

Along with the rest of the Big Ten, Illinois will take advantage of increased exposure on the West Coast to plant a flag.