Illinois Football: Josh McCray was a good first addition for new Illini staff

Brett Bielema got his first commit as the Illinois football head coach on Tuesday morning.

Josh McCray took to Twitter to announce that he was committing to Illinois. This was a huge announcement because Illinois recruiting has been stagnant for a while.

McCray is a 6-foot-2, 215-pound running back for Enterprise High School and resides in Enterprise, Alabama. 247Sports has McCray as the No. 1575 ranked player in the class of 2021, and he is also ranked as the No. 100 running back in the nation and the No. 71 player in the state of Alabama.

This was a good pick up for Illinois. McCray had offers from other programs such as Ole Miss, Kentucky, and South Carolina. New offensive coordinator Tony Petersen said he will run a lot of 11 and 12 personnel. McCray fits into the mold that Coach Petersen is looking for.

From the tape I watched of Mccray, he is a good running back who does a good job of finding the hole. He is more of a dual-threat running back, as he takes snaps at wide receiver as well. Having a player like McCray come into the Illinois program is great because they aren’t deep on the offensive side of the ball. This kid could come in and play either running back or, potentially, wide receiver. But if you ask me, he would be a better option to play running back because of his size and speed.

This honestly was a good first pick-up for a new Illinois football coaching staff. I think McCray could be a good player, and I can’t wait to see what he will do while wearing Orange and Blue.