Illinois Football: Illini in the top seven for Benjamin Perry

The class of 2021 is trying to pick up some steam for the Illinois football program.

So far, we have one commitment for next year. Quarterback Samari Collier has pledged his commitment to the Illini, and he is going to be a special talent. I have no doubt in my mind that Collier is going to make an impact on this team. But we need more players if we want to win games in the future.

Illinois has been hard at work offering players scholarships and trying to get talented recruits to come to Champaign. While not much is happening right now, there is starting to be some movement with recruits. Benjamin Perry is a player who is starting to narrow down his college decision.

Perry is a 6-foot-3, 186-pound safety from Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, Illinois. He is rated as a three-star recruit who is the No. 520 player in the class of 2021 and the No. 32 safety in the nation. He is also the No. 18 player in the state of Illinois.

There were a ton of teams after Perry during his recruitment. He had roughly 24 scholarship offers, and they were all from solid DI programs. But it looks like Perry has decided to cut down his list again on Saturday night.

Back on March 14, Perry had a list cut. He ended up narrowing his list down to his top nine schools which included Minnesota, Iowa State, Syracuse, Missouri, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Louisville, Purdue and Northwestern. But, just five days ago, Illinois came in with a scholarship offer to the star defensive back. This changed things.

On Saturday night, Perry released a new top list. He cut his list down to just seven teams this team and included Cincinnati, Iowa State, Louisville, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern and Illinois. Yes, the Illini just offered him and have already made his top seven.

I can’t stress to you enough how huge this top list is to make. Perry is a much-needed player for the Illinois roster. He is a big strong safety who can come in and make an impact early on in his career. The Illini need help over the top, and Perry is someone who could solve that problem.

Hopefully, when the Coronavirus chaos subsides, Illinois can get Perry in for an official visit. This class of 2021 is going to be special, and Perry could be a piece to the puzzle.