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Illinois Football: Illini favored with 2 Crystal Balls for 2022 linebacker

By Rees Woodcock

Nov 2, 2019; Champaign, IL, USA; A fly over is seen during the national anthem prior to the first half of a game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Illinois Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 2, 2019; Champaign, IL, USA; A fly over is seen during the national anthem prior to the first half of a game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Illinois Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports /
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It has been a little over a month since the last commitment for the Illinois football team, but it looks like the Crystal Ball is starting to warm up again.

The last two commitments for the Illini came back on April 29 when both Henry Boyer and Jordan Anderson decided that Champaign would be their new home. Illinois’ next commitment might not be too far down the road, though.

It looks like Illinois is now predicted to land Malachi Hood. 247Sports has two Crystal Ball predictions in for Hood, the highest coming from Jeremy Werner with a confidence of nine out of 10. Snagging a player like Hood would be good for roster quality.

Hood is a 6-foot-2, 210-pound linebacker from Joliet Catholic Academy and resides in Joliet, Illinois. He is rated as a

three-star recruit

and ranked as the No. 85 linebacker in the country. He is also the No. 25 player coming out of the state of Illinois.

Building in-state depth should be a priority for the Illinois football program.

In recent years, the Illinois football team has had a significant drop in in-state recruiting. On the 2020 roster, the Illini only had 39 players who were from the state of Illinois. This was the second-lowest number of in-state players since 2005. The lowest coming in 2016 when there was a coaching change.

One of Bret Bielema’s goals should be to change this number for the better. Let’s build out the roster with a lot of in-state talent. Adding a player like Hood would be a nice piece for the linebacker corps, but he would also be a great player to have because he is an in-state kid.

I believe the tides are turning on in-state recruiting. If you look at the current class of 2022, Illinois has eight players signed up. Out of those eight players, four are from the state of Illinois. Building that trust with in-state recruits now will only help us continue to recruit the top state of Illinois players down the road.

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Let’s snag Hood and continue building the depth chart out with in-state players. I love what Bielema is doing with the roster right now.

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