Illinois Football: Illini receive Crystal Ball Prediction for Georgia defensive back

We are now into the week of early National Signing Day, and the Illinois football team seems to be close to landing another player for 2022.

The Illini being able to play defense was one of the biggest shocks from this past season. With very few newcomers, I fully expected Illinois’ defense to struggle in 2021.

There wasn’t much of a struggle, though. Defensive coordinator Ryan Walters had the program playing well. Pass coverage was one of the areas that improved greatly. We went from giving up 237.1 yards per game through the air in 2020 to just 215.2 yards per game through the air, which ranked No. 43 in the nation.

Illinois is going to need to continue adding pieces to the secondary. I love what Walters did with the current roster, but adding someone like Tyson Rooks would be beneficial.

Rooks is a 6-foot-5, 180-pound defensive back from Glynn Academy and resides in Brunswick, Georgia. He isn’t rated or ranked by 247Sports, but the talented Georgia product does have solid recruiting attention. He has roughly 13 scholarship offers with some of the bigger names being Minnesota, Florida Atlantic, and Illinois.

Illinois football is making moves to land Tyson Rooks for the class of 2022.

Illinois first entered the Rooks sweepstakes back on December 2. They offered him a scholarship, and things seemed to have moved pretty quickly since.

Rooks took an official visit to Georgia Southern on December 3, and just this past weekend, he made a trip to Champaign to visit the Illini.

Right before the visit, Jeremy Werner of 247Sports put in a Crystal Ball Prediction for where Rooks will end up landing. That prediction favored the Illini. Werner has a six out of 10 confidence in his pick, so it doesn’t seem too concrete.

If the prediction rings true, this would be a solid addition to the Illinois roster. The first thing that obviously jumps out to me is Rooks’ size. A 6-foot-5 defensive back is something that Illinois hasn’t seen on the roster in a long time, if ever.

Rooks played a lot of the wide receiver position in high school, so he knows how the offensive side of the ball reacts and knows the routes wide receivers run. This will help him tremendously as a defensive back.

I think Rooks is a talented player ready to be molded into an All-Big Ten caliber defensive back. Hopefully, Werner’s Crystal Ball Prediction comes true and Illinois adds to their famILLy.