Illinois Football: Illini trying to get into the Miles McVay recruitment

2023 is going to be a pivotal class for Bret Bielema and the Illinois football program.

I look forward to seeing what type of talent Bielema and his coaching staff can pull in for 2023. They did a solid job securing a talented class of 2022 that ranks No. 44 in the nation, so my expectations are high for the 2023 class.

While there hasn’t been a commitment for 2023 just yet, the Illini are continuing to target some top talent from the state of Illinois. The latest offer is to offensive lineman, Miles McVay.

McVay is a 6-foot-7, 365-pound offensive tackle from East St. Louis High School and resides in East St. Louis, Illinois. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 136 player in the class of 2023. He is also the No. 13 offensive tackle in the nation and the No. 2 player coming out of Illinois.

On Tuesday, McVay took to Twitter to announce that the Illini had offered him a scholarship. Illinois now joins roughly 23 other programs that want McVay on their offensive line in the future.

Landing McVay would be huge for the Illinois football team.

That statement above is an obvious one. A player inside the top 150 doesn’t commit to Illinois very often. But I think a McVay commitment would mean more than just snagging a top 150 recruit.

McVay is from the state of Illinois, and the top talent in the state has been saying no to the Illini for far too long. It is time for Illinois to start winning the recruiting battles for in-state recruits. Having someone like McVay say yes to the Orange and Blue could start a wave of in-state recruiting success.

The other reason landing McVay would be huge is for the fact Illinois’ recruiting success out of East St. Louis High School has been very scarce. We have had a few over the years, like Stanley Green, but there have been some great East St. Louis recruits head elsewhere. I want that to stop.

I love this offer by Illinois. Hopefully, we aren’t too late to the McVay sweepstakes. If he does pick the Illini, this kid would start from day one on the offensive line.