Kyle I can see. He's calm headed and did a good job when there was no corps, and had the status of torchbearer. He wouldn't let it go to his head, he'd listen to the good ideas of others, and will stand up for what's right.
Personally I loved this peek into Corps hierarchy. During the SC War it seemed like Hal had some sort of commander position, and he's lead the military side of things way back in the day, but exactly where that puts him isn't clear, and it makes sense he's not in line for the big chair. Honor guards have been around for awhile but it's never been exactly clear what their status was except for 'higher than normal'.
Clarissi as next in line,(since he's their right hand person anyway and really shows why here), then Illustres, probably together, makes a lot of sense to me.