Illinois Football: Crystal Ball Prediction submitted in favor of the Illini

Illinois football is trying to build something special for the future, and pieces are starting to fall into place for the class of 2023.

The Illini are coming off a 2022 class that ranked No. 46 in the nation, which is one of the highest-ranked classes over the past decade. I want Bret Bielema and the coaching staff to build on that 2022 group, though. That means the class of 2023 needs to be a solid unit as well.

As of right now, no one has committed to Illinois for 2023. But that doesn’t mean dominoes won’t start falling soon. The first piece of the puzzle could end up being Antwon Hayden.

Hayden is a 6-foot-2, 215-pound linebacker from East St. Louis High School and resides in East St. Louis, Illinois. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 99 linebacker in the country. Hayden is also the No. 30 player coming out of the state of Illinois.

A new Crystal Ball Prediction is in for the Illinois football team.

Illinois came in with an offer to Hayden back on February 23. This wasn’t his first offer, though. He has roughly eight offers on the table right now, so there will be some competition to snag this talented in-state linebacker.

But, on March 7, Hayden posted to his Twitter account that he is going to be taking an official visit to Champaign. That visit is set for the weekend of June 3. While that is some big news, it wasn’t the biggest news to form in the past couple of days.

On Tuesday, 247Sports’ National Recruiting Analyst Allen Trieu submitted a Crystal Ball Prediction in favor of Illinois landing Hayden. While it isn’t a strong confidence – six out of 10 – it is still a prediction in favor of the Illini. Trieu is right about most predictions, so that is exciting news.

Opinion

There are many reasons why the recruitment of Hayden is important for the Illinois football program. My biggest hope is that we can land Hayden and build a pipeline to East St. Louis. That is something I have wanted for years, but the previous two coaching staffs couldn’t manage to accomplish this goal.

Hayden brings a ton of high-energy, aggressive, talent to the field. He has great size as a linebacker at the high school level, and he could end up getting a little bigger in college, but I think this kid is good enough to play either linebacker or make the move to safety. He has great ball instincts and can lay a hit on the ball carrier.

I hope the prediction comes true and Hayden lands with the Illini. He is a player who can be a two or three-year starter for the program.