Illinois Football: Colin Houck would help build Illini quarterback room

Illinois football is looking to build out the quarterback room with one of their latest scholarship offers.

The quarterback position is something the previous Illini coaching regime couldn’t get right. We brought in a few options during this run, but no one could get the program to win consistently.

With Bret Bielema and his staff at the helm, it does seem that Illinois is more proactive when it comes to quarterbacks. Just in the past week, the Illini started looking at Colin Houck. He is a passer who could help the Orange and Blue down the road.

Houck is a 6-foot-2, 175-pound quarterback from Parkview High School and resides in Lilburn, Georgia. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 885 player in the class of 2023. Houck is also the No. 46 quarterback in the nation and the No. 86 player coming out of Georgia.

Illinois’ offer to Houck last week was not his first. There have been roughly 11 other programs that have extended a scholarship to the talented Georgia passer. But it does seem like Illinois could make some inroads on this recruitment based on the fact Houck hasn’t set up official visits.

Illinois football stockpiling quarterbacks for the future is ideal.

I have been impressed with the current coaching regime and what they have done with the quarterback position. There was a massive need for a quality passer of the football, so we went out and snagged one of the top quarterback transfers in Tommy DeVito.

DeVito is only going to last one season, but it should be a good year for the former Syracuse gunslinger.

Backing up DeVito is likely going to be Artur Sitkowski. He showed flashes last season but couldn’t manage to be consistent. Samari Collier is another backup option for the Illini. He hasn’t played much but had a live arm coming out of high school.

There isn’t a quarterback on the roster who has been recruited by the Bielema coaching staff just yet. But that is going to change with the addition of Donovan Leary. He is coming in from the 2022 class, and I believe he is the future at the quarterback position. I love what Leary brings to the table.

Illinois is going to need solid backups, though. That is where Houck would come into play. He is someone who could come in from the class of 2023 and compete for the starting job at Illinois.

Houck is a very interesting recruit. I love his ability to throw the short to intermediate passes. He flings the ball into his wide receiver and has great touch. He can also dip his arm down to hit certain angles, which is rare to see with a high school kid. I imagine maybe his biggest issue is downfield passing. I am not sure the arm strength is fully there yet. But that could also be developed.

I love this offer by Illinois. Houck clearly has a ton of talent. If we could have a serious quarterback competitive with high-level passers in the future, then the future will be extremely bright.