Illinois Football: Confidence rating for Illini recruiting targets in the class of 2023

2. Ian Jeffries – 8.5 out of 10

Illinois football could always bolster the defensive line, and adding a player like Ian Jeffries would help bring more depth to a much-needed position.

Jeffries is a 6-foot-5, 265-pound defensive lineman from Southaven High School and resides in Southaven, Mississippi. He isn’t rated or ranked by 247Sports or by Rivals, but Jeffries does have some decent scholarship attention.

As of right now, the defensive lineman has offers from teams like Indiana and Liberty, in addition to the Illini offer.

Back on June 20, Jeffries cut his list down to just four programs. He kept Liberty, Georgia State, Arkansas State, and Illinois alive for his commitment.

Illinois’ recruitment of Jeffries has gone fairly quickly. We offered him back on June 3. That offer was supposed to turn into an official visit in late June, but that has been since pushed back into the fall, Jeffries told the Writing Illini. He also mentioned that he wants to make a commitment on September 7.

The need for Jeffries is great as well. Illinois has some good defensive linemen on the roster right now but most of them are getting up there in age. By the time 2023 rolls around, players like Jamal Woods and Calvin Avery will be gone. Their replacements, Johnny Newton and Keith Randolph Jr., will both be juniors. Illinois needs more depth.

I am pretty confident Illinois can land Jeffries. Rivals also has him as 100% to Illinois according to their FanFutureCast. I would be surprised if we aren’t his eventual landing spot.