Illinois Football: Illini coaches eyeing talented Indiana recruits

The Illinois football coaching staff had a busy week of recruiting and strengthening relationships.

It was a sad weekend for Illini fans as the program had a bye week. The next game is this Thursday against FCS powerhouse, Chattanooga. But the bye week did enable Bret Bielema and his coaching staff to visit high school programs and some of the targets they are eyeing.

Bielema and Ryan Walters checked in on top 2023 target Jyaire Hill up at Kankakee High School. Keeping that connection strong is extremely important, as Hill is a four-star recruit and would help the class of 2023 tremendously.

Kankakee wasn’t the only place Illinois football coaches were visiting, though. On Saturday, Merrillville High School football Twitter account tweeted out and said they appreciated Cal and Illinois for stopping by to watch them play on Friday night.

Illinois football is eyeing multiple recruits from Merrillville High School.

Merrillville is a big high school program in Indiana, and they have started the 2022 campaign off well. They are currently 3-1 with the only loss coming in a tough 48-40 loss to Crown Point.

Illinois coaches were probably watching various players at the Merrillville game, but there are a couple of names that I assume are high on their priority list.

Phillip Roche – Class of 2023

One of the more immediate targets for the Illini from Merrillville is Phillip Roche. Roche is a 6-foot-1, 190-pound safety from the class of 2023. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 126 safety in the country. Roche is also the No. 20 player coming out of Indiana.

Illinois hasn’t come in with an offer to Roche just yet, but the kid is starting to rack up a lot of recruiting attention. He has roughly 12 scholarship offers on the table right now, and most of them are by big-time programs like Nebraska, Cincinnati, and Purdue.

I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Illini offer Roche in the coming weeks. He has a ton of talent, and the recruiting sites seem to be underrating him right now.

Terrelle Elmore – Class of 2024

Illinois is building quite the defense, and adding a player like Terrelle Elmore would help tremendously. He is a 6-foot-2, 220-pound edge rusher from the class of 2024. Elmore isn’t rated or ranked by 247Sports just yet, but that will come likely in the next year or so.

The Illini had Elmore in for an unofficial visit two weekends ago, and they now went and visited him this past weekend. Bielema and the coaching staff clearly see Elmore as a top priority for 2024.

This feels like a situation where Elmore’s recruitment is about to take off. I don’t believe he has a scholarship offer just yet, so Illinois could end up being his first in the coming weeks. Look for more teams to pour in after the first domino falls.