Illinois Basketball: Jaden Schutt wraps up Zoom call with Illini
Piecing together the future of the Illinois basketball program is a priority for Brad Underwood and the coaching staff.
The class of 2021 still needs to be buttoned up, but that doesn’t mean the staff can slouch on the class of 2022. Recruiting is constant, and that is why the Illini continue their push for in-state star, Jaden Schutt.
A 6-foot-5, 175-pound shooting guard out of Yorkville High School, Schutt has quickly picked up numerous offers from around the country, including from most of the schools in the Big Ten. A top 100 four-star recruit by 247Sports standards, the talented shooting guard will have his pick of the litter, which includes Illinois, who offered him back on April 20, 2020.
Schutt spoke with Jake Weingarten of Stockrisers.com back in late August and mentioned a couple of handfuls of teams that had been in contact with him. He also mentioned to Weingarten that Illinois was in hot pursuit of him and that a Zoom call was going to happen in the weeks to follow.
That Zoom call happened on Friday night.
After the Zoom call, Luke Lowry of IlliniPulse.com had a chance to speak with Schutt about the call. Lowry asked Schutt about the biggest takeaway from the Zoom call, and this is what the Illinois native had to say.
"“Their player development plan and how they would utilize me and where I would be impactful within their offense.”"
Player development is clearly a focus in the recruiting game for the Illini, as this isn’t the first time I have heard it mentioned with recruits. But that recruiting ammunition couldn’t be used without the great progress some of the current Illinois players have shown over the last couple of years.
With Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn likely headed to the 2021 NBA Draft and the potential for a Big Ten Player of the Year Award to return to Champaign, the Illini are starting to garner a better reputation around the recruiting world. This has helped Underwood and his coaching staff tremendously.
Schutt also talked about utilization, which piqued my interest. How would the talented guard be used at Illinois?
The class of 2022 is going to be big because Illinois might have a pretty bare backcourt. Ayo Dosunmu, Trent Frazier and Da’Monte Williams will all be gone after this season. If Adam Miller and Andre Curbelo have solid freshman campaigns and then great sophomore seasons, then there is a potential they depart before the class of 2022 arrives too.
On one hand, that scenario would be bad because Illinois would need to reload. On the other hand, this would leave plenty of room for Schutt to come in and start from day one. I am going to say Miller and Curbelo are both around for their junior years, though.
This leaves Schutt to come in and be a primary backup at the No. 2 or No. 3 spot, depending on where Luke Goode plays. They are both similar players, so Illinois could bring both of them off the bench and have a great scoring second-team.
Next. Top 4 best options for the Illini class of 2021. dark
By year two, Schutt should be a full-time starter for the Orange and Blue. This seems like it would be the most likely path for the Yorkville star. Let’s start winning the state of Illinois in the recruiting game from top to bottom. Schutt would help this cause in a big way.