The Illinois football team had a big week snagging two recruits who will help the program.
Flipping Joseph Thompson from Iowa State to Illinois was great for the program. He 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. 1003 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 23 player in the state of Illinois.
I look for players who are top 1000 recruits to really make an impact early on in their careers and despite Thompson being just outside of that mark, I still think he will be a big-time player. The other player to commit to the Illinois football program was Bryce Childress.
Childress is a 5-foot-9, 155-pound wide receiver from Trinity Catholic High School in St. Louis, Missouri. He is rated as a three-star recruit who is the No. 924 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 18 player in the state of Missouri.
Trinity Catholic produces some talented recruits, and Illinois has already managed to snag a few of them. Childress is now paired up with his high school quarterback, Isaiah Williams, and his former high school coach, Cory Patterson. But, Childress picked Illinois for more than just the familiarity with the people from Trinity Catholic.
“I chose Illinois because they always made it like home towards me even when Coach Cory wasn’t there,” said Childress, “so it is the people and the great coaching staff.”
Childress is committing pretty early in the process considering the early signing period isn’t until December. But, Illinois has made a big impact on this kid during the recruiting trail. The time, energy and resources paid off to snag this top 1000 wide receiver. They made such a big impact that Childress isn’t looking anywhere else.
“Right now, I am shutting down my recruitment for the rest of the school year,” said Childress, “I am getting the guys together to keep working to get on this state run.”
Childress is talking about his Trinity Catholic ball club who made it all the way to the Sweet 16 last year of the Missouri state tournament. That was an impressive team featuring some of the best players in the country including himself.
There is no doubt that the 2018 Trinity Catholic team will once again be back in the postseason looking for a state title. The talent hasn’t diminished from last season, and their players are only getting better. Childress has some plans on how he can improve to help the team as well.
“Just work much harder, staying together when times are hard and having a better game plan for people,” said Childress.
The goals are set for Childress when it comes to his senior season at Trinity Catholic. He wants to win that state title and become a champion at the high school level. He has also set goals for when he comes to Champaign, and they involve winning.
“My goal is to come in and give the team everything I got,” said Childress, “I am a hard worker, I give it my all and I want to help contribute to winning ball games.”
Next: Top 5 in-state recruiting targets for the Illini
Illinois got a diamond in the rough with the addition of Childress. This kid has fire and passion for the game. He also has a great chemistry with Williams who will likely be Illinois’ quarterback in 2019. All of these things should be the platform to one of his goals; winning.