Illinois Football: Illini targeting versatile athlete Kyan Graham

Over the weekend, the Illinois football team started pursuing a player who seems to be a little under the radar when it comes to his class.

The defensive secondary is understandably a focus for the Illini. While they have some nice pieces in place for this season, there will be a few players departing over the next couple of years. We recently lost Ron Hardge III to transfer too. So, it looks like we need to bolster the cornerback and safety positions. Kyan Graham would help with this issue.

Graham is a 5-foot-10, 170-pound cornerback from Winter Park High School in Orlando, Florida. He is rated as a three-star recruit who is the No. 1966 player in the class of 2020 and the No. 138 running back in the nation. He is also the No. 272 player in the state of Florida.

It looks like, according to 247Sports, Graham played a lot of defensive back in high school but may end up coming into the college ranks as a running back. Overall, the ranking Graham has seems to be a little low based on his scholarship offers.

Graham has roughly 17 scholarship offers right now and most are from lower-tier DI programs. But he does have a few big-time offers. In addition to the Illini offer, Graham also has offers from Boston College, Minnesota, Wake Forest and UCF. Based on all of those offers, this kid would seem to be ranked more toward the top 1500.

In watching a little bit of what Graham can do on the football field, it seems that Illinois might be recruiting this kid for the safety position. This is complete speculation, but I feel that he would be a great option at this position. I love Graham’s ability to read the quarterback. He has good closing speed and can lay a hit. His size also fits the safety mold.

Either way, I like this offer by Illinois. Cornerbacks coach Keynodo Hudson is trying to put his flavor on this Illini team. I am excited to see what type of players he can pull from the state of Florida.