Illinois Football: Illini targeting multiple JUCO wide receivers

Illinois football lost a ton of talent from the team after the 2022 campaign, but we are loading up through the class of 2023.

The Illini class of 2023 currently ranks No. 42 in the country, which is the highest-ranked recruiting class we have had since the Ron Zook era. We have numerous top 1000 recruits and transfers in the group of players that are coming into the program as well.

Bret Bielema and his coaching staff are also landing a variety of junior college (JUCO) players. We had a couple of JUCO players who committed a while ago in Kaleb Patterson and Dez’Mond Schuster. Over the past week, the Illini added two more JUCO players to the mix in Laine Jenkins and Will Leys. And now Bielema is eyeing a couple of more JUCO players to round out the roster.

Illinois football is looking to bolster the wide receiver corps with JUCO recruits

The Illini had two official visits this past weekend. Jayden Dixon-Veal and Jamai East took a trip out to Champaign and are both looking for a new home after spending time at the College of San Mateo.

Dixon-Veal is a 6-foot, 180-pound wide receiver who isn’t rated or ranked by 247Sports. He does have a lot of decent recruiting attention, though. Teams like Temple, Ball State, and UConn have all offered him a scholarship.

East is a 6-foot-2, 215-pound wide receiver who isn’t rated or ranked by 247Sports. There is some serious competition for East, though. He will also be taking an official visit next weekend to Oregon State.

If I am not mistaken, Dixon-Veal will have two years of eligibility remaining and East will have three years of eligibility remaining.

Opinion

It is pretty interesting that Illinois is looking to the JUCO market for wide receivers. I love the young core we have right now, but there isn’t a ton of depth at the position in the future.

Casey Washington is done after the 2023 campaign, and it wouldn’t shock me to see Isaiah Williams head to the NFL. I think he is poised to have a breakout year. Williams and Pat Bryant will both depart at the latest after the 2024 campaign, though.

I love what we have coming up behind those three pass catchers. Illinois has a slew of freshmen or redshirt freshmen on the roster this season. These are high-quality players too. The development of these young guys is going to be fun to watch.

Eyeing a couple of JUCO wide receivers probably isn’t a bad idea. If we can get a couple of instant-impact players into the depth chart, that will enable the coaching staff to redshirt some of the young talent. This would be optimal.