Illinois Football: Illini trying to bulk up OL with offer to Alex Atcavage

The Illinois football program is now trying to get into the mix for an under-the-radar player who can help the offense tremendously.

One of the big worries I have for the Illini is depth on the offensive line. Without a good line, the rest of the team will fail. It doesn’t matter how good your running back, quarterback or wide receivers are if there isn’t good blocking, everything falls apart. That is why getting someone like Alex Atcavage would be good for the team.

Atcavage is a 6-foot-5, 285-pound offensive tackle from Honesdale High School in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He isn’t rated or ranked by 247Sports but has a lot of programs looking at him. As of right now, he has roughly 16 scholarship offers.

Some of the teams that are vying for Atcavage’s commitment are big-time programs. Besides for the Illini offer, he also has offers from teams like Minnesota, Indiana and UCF. This might be a tough recruit to land based on the number of scholarships he is racking up.

Coming out of high school, Atcavage is listed as a tackle, but I think he would be more suited for the guard role, especially with the Illini. I believe we are going to be pretty thin at guard in 2020 and beyond if we don’t find suitable replacements. I think Atcavage could come in and compete right away for snaps.

The big attribute that stands out to me about Atcavage’s game is his ability to move. In the college game, you need offensive linemen who are athletic. The tempo of the game is important and the offensive linemen can’t get tired. Atcavage can move well and he can also pull well too. Having a good guard who can pull quickly is going to help the running back position tremendously. That is what I think he can do for this program.

Illinois can’t have too many offensive linemen. Hopefully, we can put the resources into Atcavage so we can continue building the depth for the most important grouping on the field.