Illinois Football: Crystal Ball favors Illini for JUCO wide receiver

The Crystal Ball continues to stay hot, as the Illinois football team is favored to land another junior college (JUCO) player.

The Illini have already landed a few JUCO players this offseason. We have Kaleb Patterson coming in at cornerback, Laine Jenkins helping out on the defensive line, and Will Leys and Dez’Mond Schuster filling holes on the offensive line.

But Bret Bielema and the Illinois coaching staff aren’t finished with just those JUCO players. We want to add more instant-impact talent. One of those players could be Jayden Dixon-Veal.

This past weekend, Dixon-Veal took an official visit to Champaign to see what the Illini had to offer. Now the talented wide receiver is favored to land with Illinois. Jeremy Werner of 247Sports has submitted a Crystal Ball Prediction in favor of the Illini. He has a confidence of seven out of 10, which is pretty high.

Illinois football would be adding some nice depth with a wide receiver like Jayden Dixon-Veal

Dixon-Veal is a 6-foot, 180-pound wide receiver from the College of San Mateo in California. He isn’t rated or ranked by 247Sports, but he does have some nice scholarship offers such as Temple and Ball State.

This past season with San Mateo, Dixon-Veal had a pretty good campaign. He would play in eight games and had 24 receptions for 272 yards and two touchdowns. Illinois is now getting this quick and talented pass catcher.

I would be curious to see where Dixon-Veal fits in on the roster. Isaiah Williams, Pat Bryant, and Casey Washington are near-guaranteed starters for the Illini. Hank Beatty will get a lot of snaps as well.

Illinois has a nice young group behind these four wide receivers. Shawn Miller and Eian Pugh are just waiting for their turn to shine. They are both redshirt freshmen. I haven’t even mentioned the group that is coming in with four-star Malik Elzy and top 1000 recruit Collin Dixon. They will be making some waves early on.

Dixon-Veal would be a part of a deep wide receiver room, which would get deeper with his commitment. Hopefully, this Crystal Ball Prediction comes true. Illinois cannot have enough pass-catching talent on the roster.