Illinois Football: Illini target Peyton Powell reopens recruitment

The Illinois football team has been after Peyton Powell for quite some time.

Powell is a 6-foot-2, 182-pound athlete from Permian High School in Odessa, Texas. He is rated as a four-star recruit who is the No. 290 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 13 athlete in the nation. He is also the No. 35 player in the state of Texas. Looking at how highly ranked Powell is and the fact he is from Texas, it is obvious Illinois wants this kid in Champaign.

Well, Illinois did end up offer Powell a scholarship. They extended their offer to him back on May 18. After that offer by the Illini, Powell cut his list down to 10 teams on June 18. Those 10 teams included Ohio State, Texas Tech, Baylor, Texas, Virginia, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, TCU and Illinois.

The decision for Powell ended up coming down to three teams at the end. Ohio State, TCU and Texas were the finalists with the Longhorns winning out. On October 23, 10 days after taking an official visit to Austin, Powell committed to Texas. It looked like this was the end of his recruitment. Not so fast my friends.

Things look to have changed in the month and a half since Powell committed. On December 13, Powell decided to reopen his recruitment and backed away from his commitment to Texas. This has piqued the interest of many fans, including myself.

Granted, this de-commitment came a week after his Baylor official visit, so that likely puts the Bears in the driver seat. The Illini did come in with another offer, but this time it wasn’t from the football team. It was from the Illinois Track & Field team.

This offer by the Illini Track & Field team is interesting. What is also interesting is the interaction that happened on Twitter. Illini football commit Marquez Beason quote retweeted Powell with the hashtag littyville. He has been a big recruiter for the Illinois class of 2019, so this response is usual. But, Powell replied to his quote retweet with three sets of emoji eyes.

I have overreacted to tweets in the past. I am not going to overreact to these tweets. Do I think the Illini might be back in the race for Powell? Possibly, but I am not going to hold my breath. Powell would be a huge addition to the class of 2019, though.