Illinois Football: Illini flip in-state wide receiver Eian Pugh

Illinois football added to the family on Wednesday, as another commitment has joined the fight for 2022.

It had been a couple of weeks since the Illini received a commitment for the 2022 class. The most recent commitment was from Malachi Hood back on June 7 when he decided Champaign was going to be his new home. Recruiting momentum started to pick back up on Wednesday when Eian Pugh joined the Orange and Blue.

Pugh is a 6-foot-4, 170-pound wide receiver from Fenwick High School and resides in Oak Park, Illinois. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 700 player in the class of 2022. He is also the No. 95 wide receiver in the nation and the No. 13 player coming out of the state of Illinois.

On Monday, Pugh decided to back away from his commitment to Cincinnati, where he had just taken an official visit that prior weekend. Less than 48 hours later, a commitment was made to the Illini.

Pugh is the highest-rated Illinois football commit so far for 2022.

The Illini 2022 class is starting to build into a pretty solid group. Illinois now has 10 commitments in Bret Bielema’s first group of players he is bringing into the program.

On a national level, the Illini rank No. 43 for their 2022 recruiting class. They are No. 11 in the Big Ten as well. But the quality is starting to build. There are now four players committed to the program who rank inside the top 1000.

The highest-rated recruit currently committed is Pugh. Joey Okla, an offensive lineman out of Wisconsin, is a close second. Quarterback Donovan Leary and offensive tackle Hunter Whitenack round out the top 1000 recruits for the Illini.

I love what is happening with Illinois football recruiting. Pugh was an afterthought with the previous coaching staff. Now the current staff led by Bielema was able to flip the kid and keep him in-state. Don’t be surprised if this becomes a trend moving forward.