Illinois Football: Conversation with 2022 Illini target Danny McGuire

A former Illinois football offensive lineman has been to the pinnacle of the NFL each of the last four years, making it to the Super Bowl.

In three out of the four Super Bowls, the former Illini offensive lineman has gone home with the title. The tradition of having successful NFL offensive linemen come through the program isn’t slowing down anytime soon either. With players like Kendrick Green, Doug Kramer, Vederian Lowe and Alex Palczewski, we are sure to have more Super Bowl titles in the future.

The need to continue having solid offensive linemen come through the program is crucial too. 2020 is bringing in some solid talent as well as 2021. The focus is slowly shifting to 2022, though. One of the big targets for this class is Danny McGuire.

A 6-foot-5, 270-pound offensive tackle out of Marist High School up in Chicago, Illinois, McGuire is looking to continue piling up the scholarship offers. His three-star rating and nationally ranking of No. 402 in the country, has landed him roughly 17 scholarships already with more surely on the way.

Being from the state of Illinois, things are a little iffy on the high school football front. Everything is shut down for the time being due to COVID-19, so this has a lot of players scrambling when it comes to recruiting. McGuire seems to be taking everything in stride, though.

“Yeah, things are going good. So right now, we’re in our “20-day contact period” so we get a little bit of football. Other than that, I’m just working out as much as I can and hoping we’ll play in the spring.”

McGuire is making the best out of a tough situation; recruiting is no exception.

“Yeah, so I don’t think it has hurt my recruiting that bad, but some schools want to see my junior film or see me in person, so we just have to wait a little bit for that.”

While recruiting has to be harder under the circumstances, McGuire still has almost 20 scholarship offers under his belt, one of which is from the Fighting Illini.

“Yep, I talk to Coach (Bob) McClain almost every week.”

Offensive line coach Bob McClain is one of the best in the business. He has done some amazing work with offensive linemen in the Illinois program. McGuire would be another great player Coach McClain could help sculpt into an All-Big Ten caliber offensive lineman.

While McGuire is listed as an offensive tackle right now, Coach McClain has been known to form talented blockers into versatile players who can play multiple roles. That seems to be the mindset at Marist as well.

“So, this year, I’ll be paying guard and I’ve talked about it with Coach McClain. He thinks I can play tackle or guard in college. I don’t have a preference for whether I play guard or tackle at the next level.”

It sounds like McGuire is an extremely versatile player who is going to be a huge asset to whatever team he picks. But what does he see has his biggest strengths?

“I would say my best traits are finishing my blocks and my footwork.”

Everyone needs to continue improving, and McGuire sees some areas he can improve as well.

“Definitely my leverage and hand placement.”

With so many teams in the mix for the talented offensive lineman, who will win out? That will be up to McGuire at the end of the day. The Marist Monster will bring a ton of talent, but what is he looking for in a program?

“I’m going to go somewhere where I have the best relationships, get a great education and be able to play.”

Whoever ends up landing McGuire is going to get a player who can help the team win from day one. A top 500 recruit nationally, McGuire will surely garner more recruiting attention over the next year. Look for his recruitment to blow up and just about every program in the nation offer him a scholarship.