Illinois Football: Illini secures commitment from 2023 4-star Kaden Feagin

The first domino has fallen for the Illinois football class of 2023.

After a top 50 class of 2022, the Illini were waiting for the first player to commit for the current 2023 group. There are quite a few players who have great interest in the program, and now we have someone who decided to make the first move.

On Wednesday afternoon, Kaden Feagin announced his commitment to the Illinois football program. This comes just two days after his announcement that a commitment was coming. This is a huge addition to the Orange and Blue.

Feagin is a 6-foot-3, 221-pound athlete from Arthur Sr. High School and resides in Arthur, Illinois. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 241 player in the class of 2023. Feagin is also the No. 17 athlete in the nation and the No. 3 player coming out of the state of Illinois.

Kaden Feagin joins a dynamic Illinois football running attack.

While Feagin is listed as an athlete by 247Sports, he is most likely entering the Illinois football program as a running back. When he does join the Illini, he will help form one of the most dangerous backfields in the Big Ten.

After this season, Illinois is losing Chase Hayden out of the backfield. I believe there is also a chance that Chase Brown has a good enough junior campaign where he enters the NFL Draft. But, for now, I am just counting Hayden as the only departure entering the 2023 campaign.

The starting backfield for the Illini in 2023 would be Brown (SR), Josh McCray (JR), Reggie Love III (JR), and Jordan Anderson (SO). That is an insane running back room. This also means that Feagin can come into the program and redshirt year one.

By Feagin’s redshirt freshman season in 2024, there is a chance he will be fighting for the starting job, and, at worst, he will be getting a large number of touches per game.

Feagin is going to get his shot at running back early in his career. At No. 241 in his recruiting class, he is the highest-ranked recruit so far in the Bret Bielema era. This is a great start to what could be a special class of 2023.