Illinois Football: Illini in the mix for 5-star Broderick Jones
Don’t look now, but is the Illinois football team in the running for one of the best recruits in the class of 2020?
Most “experts” speculated that the Illini class of 2020 was pretty much buttoned up. There could have been one or two more players who transfer in, but there weren’t a lot of high school players who still had Illinois in the mix. Well, that was until Tuesday afternoon.
According to Keith Niebuhr of 247Sports, Broderick Jones has included Illinois in one of his five official visits. This has come as a huge surprise to the masses. He is a recruit who would make an immediate impact on this program.
Jones is a 6-foot-5, 298-pound offensive tackle from Lithonia High School and resides in Lithonia, Georgia. He is rated as a five-star recruit who is the No. 14 player in the class of 2020 and the No. 2 offensive tackle in the nation. He is also the No. 3 player in the state of Georgia.
5-star Georgia OL commit Broderick Jones is making a surprise official visit this week to a Big Ten school .... More here --> https://t.co/atlifKGG6f @KippLAdams @Mansell247 @SWiltfong247 @JWerner247 pic.twitter.com/XThVNMx6Jr
— Keith Niebuhr (@On3Keith) January 22, 2020
Currently, Jones is committed to Georgia. He made that commitment all the way back in April 2018, though. That is a long time, especially in today’s college landscape, to stay committed to a team. Even with the commitment to the Bulldogs, Jones is going to take his official visits.
The first official visit is already off the board for Jones. He visited Arkansas back on January 17. They had a coaching change, so I would be surprised if they are really in this recruitment. The next official visit is actually today, January 22. Jones is in Champaign visiting with the Illini coaches and checking out the new facilities.
Jones’ final two official visits are also scheduled. He will take an official visit to Georgia on January 25 and then finish his visits up with one to Auburn on January 31.
If I had to take a guess, I would say Jones flips to Auburn. But don’t count the Illini out of this one. The fact we can even get this kid into the building shows that there is mutual interest. Illinois’ offensive line was something special this past season, so that has to be attractive for a top offensive lineman.
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It is exciting to see the Orange and Blue in the mix for such a talented player. The college football world would be turned upside down if we can pull off this flip.