Illinois Football: Illini land official visit from Florida safety
While the season hasn’t gone exactly as most had hoped, there is still a class of 2022 that the Illinois football team needs to button up.
The Illini currently have 15 commitments for 2022, which ranks No. 46 in the country. This isn’t a bad start to the class, but a strong finish is what this program needs moving forward. Landing a player like Elijah Davis would help give us the much-needed boost.
Davis is a 6-foot-1, 165-pound safety from Auburndale High School and resides in Auburndale, Florida. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 971 player in the class of 2023. He is also the No. 70 safety in the nation and the No. 125 player coming out of Florida.
With five official visits in the holster, Davis managed to use one visit back in June when he took a trip to Iowa State. Since then, he has not taken a single official visit. That will all change on October 29, though. Davis will be making the haul up to Champaign for his second official visit.
Davis wants to see what the Illinois football program is all about.
Why would Davis want to come up to Champaign to take a look at the program? The Writing Illini had a chance to chat with the star defensive back about his decision.
“Myself, really, I want to try something new and see some things out of Florida. They were recruiting hard, so I chose to take an official visit there.”
As a top 1000 recruit, Davis is wanted by various programs throughout the country. Since the position that you play in high school isn’t necessarily the position you would play in college, I wanted to see where Illinois wanted Davis playing and what coaches he was closest to.
“They want me at safety.”
Davis was also able to confirm that not only does he have a great relationship with recruiting coordinator Nate McNeal, but he is also close with defensive coordinator Ryan Walters.
The great relationship with the Illinois staff has to be enticing for the Florida product, but what is his goal in visiting the Illini? What does he want to get out of his second official visit?
“See the city, see something different from Florida, and to learn more about the school.”
Based on the recruiting ranking, everyone knows that Davis is a good player who can play at the next level. But he also wanted Illinois fans to know that if he did pick the Orange and Blue, we would be getting a ball-hawking safety.
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Landing an official visit from a top 1000 recruit is a big deal. That means we are in the top five for his commitment. This is a chance for the Illini coaching staff to really show out. Davis just wants to see what is outside of Florida, and let’s show him that Champaign is the place to be.