Illinois Football: Illini look to build offensive line with offer to Lucas Heyer

With the new coaching staff in place, the Illinois football team has been a lot more active in the recruiting market as of late.

Noticeably, more scholarship offers have been handed out by the Illini over the past several weeks. One of those offers went to Lucas Heyer.

Heyer is a 6-foot-5, 307-pound offensive tackle from Hill Murray School and resides in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is rated as a four-star recruit and is ranked as the No. 270 player in the class of 2022 and the No. 34 offensive tackle in the nation. He is also the best player coming out of Minnesota.

Illinois is by no means the first team to come in with an offer to Heyer. He has roughly 13 scholarship offers right now with some of the bigger programs being Nebraska, Michigan and Iowa State. Coming in late to the party, the Illini will have some work to do.

What would Heyer bring to Illinois?

The big man is fun to watch on the football field. His size is amazing, as he is built for the college ranks already.

I love Heyer’s lower body. His legs are like tree trunks and this makes it difficult for defensive linemen to get him off balance. He uses his great size as a strength at the high school level. I believe he has great technique right now, though. Heyer is able to get into the pads of the defensive lineman and can turn him out. This opens holes for the running back.

I am curious to see if Illinois can get in the Heyer recruitment. Hiring offensive line coach Bart Miller has to help the recruiting process. He was the offensive line coach for Wyoming the past two seasons and was in the same position with Minnesota back in 2016. That means he is extremely familiar with the territory.

This is a great offer by the Illini. There is still plenty of time to reel in talent for 2022. Adding someone like Heyer would be a great start to the class.