Illinois Football: Antonio Johnson would be a great addition for the Illini
The Illinois football team still needs to build the class of 2019, but focusing on the class of 2020 is extremely important as well.
Having a player like Antonio Johnson come aboard would be big for the Orange and Blue. The Illini took a step on Wednesday to make this a possibility. Johnson took to Twitter to announce that he has received a scholarship offer from the University of Illinois. This is a huge offer considering how much talent he brings to the game of football.
Johnson is a 6-foot-2, 185-pound safety from East St. Louis High School in East St. Louis, Illinois. He is rated as a four-star recruit who is the No. 232 player in the class of 2020 and the No. 12 safety in the nation. He is also the No. 3 player in the state of Illinois for 2020 as well.
Surprisingly, there haven’t been too many scholarship offers for Johnson yet. It looks like Illinois is now his ninth offer with more surely to come soon. This kid is way too talented not to have every team in DI football coming after his services.
I feel confident in saying; Johnson is going to be a superstar at the next level. This kid has everything you would want in a defensive back. He has the speed to keep up with wide receivers if you put him on one. He can drop back and play zone and dominate in that formation. He specializes at the safety position as well. He is a hard-hitting talented player who always finds himself in the right position. His game really reminds me of a Mike Brown or Eddie Jackson.
The next step for the Illini is to land Johnson. If this kid picks Illinois, he would start day one. He would be inserted at one of the defensive back positions. The Illini are starting to build a good defense, and Johnson would take the program over the top.
I hope Illinois can do some work with Johnson’s recruitment. He is going to be a tough get, but the location is good and the Illini seem to be recruiting the St. Louis area well. Hopefully, we can snag Johnson and solidify the secondary.