The Illinois football team added to their class of 2019 on Wednesday night.
Joseph Thompson decided to pull the trigger and commit to the Illini. This is a big pickup for Illinois considering he is an in-state kid, and Illinois was able to land another defensive back.
Thompson is a 5-foot-10, 160-pound cornerback from Phillips Academy in Chicago, Illinois. He is rated as a three-star recruit who is the No. 1004 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 23 player in the state of Illinois.
The recruitment of Thompson really picked up after the turn of the year. He started receiving more and more scholarships. One of those scholarships was from Iowa State. The Cyclones offered Thompson back on February 8. Just two weeks later, the Illini came in with an offer to the young cornerback.
After those two offers, Thompson visited Iowa State for their junior day and then took an unofficial visit to Illinois. His mind seemed to be made up because three weeks later, he decided to commit to Iowa State on March 29.
That commitment lasted a little over three weeks until Illinois flipped him. He is now going to be wearing the Orange and Blue in 2019.
Illinois needed more cornerback help for the future. On the roster right now, they have Nate Hobbs, Tony Adams and Cameron Watkins as the most experienced cornerbacks on the team. But, behind these three, there isn’t a lot of proven depth. That is the main reason this was a big pickup. Illinois is building a legendary secondary.
Thompson will hopefully not be the only Phillips Academy player coming to Champaign either. Illinois is also after Thompson’s teammates Jahleel Billingsley and Fabian McCray. Billingsley is a top 300 tight end and McCray is a top 1000 wide receiver. Both would be huge additions to the Illinois football team.
Next: Illini building a talented defensive secondary
The Illini did a great job flipping Thompson. This was a big get for them and, hopefully, there is more to come. Something tells me LittyvILLe is just starting to warm up.