Illinois Basketball: Early look at the top five Illini recruiting targets for 2022
5. Jayden Pierre
The final player on the list is someone that we haven’t heard too much of recently. Some Illinois fans might not even know the name. I am talking about the talented guard, Jayden Pierre.
Pierre is a 6-foot-2, 165-pound point guard from Long Island Lutheran High School and resides in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is rated as a four-star recruit who is the No. 107 player in the class of 2022 and the No. 20 point guard in the nation. He is also the No. 2 player in the state of New Jersey.
As of right now, it looks like Rhode Island is the only team to have offered Pierre, but there is a myriad of other programs keeping an eye on the talented point guard. Illinois is one of those teams as well. While we haven’t offered Pierre a scholarship, we should be a contender for the big-time recruit.
Pierre played for Elizabeth High School last season but is now taking his talents to Long Island Lutheran, where he plans to build on a great tradition. One strong connection Illinois has with LuHi is the fact we were able to pull Andre Curbelo, future starting point guard for the Illini, out of this prestigious program.
Illinois is trying to build out their backcourt depth, and snagging someone like Pierre would help accomplish that goal. This kid has everything I want in a No. 1 guard. He can drive to the hoop and score. He has great aggression and energy on the court. He also has solid court vision and can find the open man when defenses collapse.
Next. Illini offer four-star guard Tyty Washington. dark
The Illini need to get more aggressive with recruiting Pierre. I want to keep the pipeline to the east coast alive and well. Bringing in someone like Pierre would help us win a lot of games moving forward.