Illinois Football: JUCO defensive back strengthens secondary for the Illini

Illinois football continued to do some great work in the transfer portal on Sunday.

Coming into this past weekend, the Illini had already started to secure commitments via the transfer portal. We had landed players like Nicario Harper, Avery Jones, and Tanner Arkin, all of whom will be important pieces to the puzzle.

Illinois has also been scooping up transfers from the junior college ranks. Back in late October, we were able to land offensive lineman, Dez’Mond Schuster who will help fill some voids left in the front five. Bret Bielema and the Illini coaching staff added another JUCO player to the roster this past Sunday in Kaleb Patterson as well.

Patterson is a 6-foot-2, 186-pound cornerback from Pearl River Community College in Mississippi. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 20 JUCO player in the class of 2023. He is also the No. 4 JUCO cornerback and the No. 5 JUCO player coming out of Mississippi.

It is a pretty big deal that Illinois was able to land Patterson. He is a player many teams wanted, including Indiana, App State, and Memphis. But new defensive coordinator Aaron Henry was able to secure his commitment and is continuing to build out the defensive secondary.

Kaleb Patterson should be a plug-and-play cornerback for the Illinois football team.

Patterson had a solid final season with Pearl River CC. He would finish with 12 tackles, four pass breakups, and two forced fumbles. His lockdown defense earned him All-MACCC first-team honors as well.

Adding a player like Patterson is going to help the Illinois roster tremendously. Devon Witherspoon is going to be the biggest loss for the Orange and Blue. He is heading to the NFL and leaving a big hole in the secondary. Sydney Brown also entered the NFL Draft.

Illinois could be losing Quan Martin and Kendall Smith, as they are both listed as seniors on the Illinois roster. These two were solid contributors and important pieces to a dominating Illini defense in 2022.

So, there are going to be plenty of spots open for Patterson to come in and be a starter from day one. Illinois is going to need him to contribute early and often. This was a big addition to the Illini depth chart.