Illinois Football: Illini eyeing newly available 2024 Edge

Illinois football is trying to get into a big recruitment late in the game.

The Illini have just about completed a solid class of 2023 that features three four-star recruits and an overall ranking of No. 42 in the country. That would be the best class Illinois has pulled in since the Ron Zook era.

Bret Bielema and the Illinois coaching staff want to do the same with the 2024 class. This group has started well, with three commitments on the board as we speak. Illinois ranks No. 67 in the county as of right now, but that number could easily skyrocket.

The Illini have roughly 30 official visits scheduled for players in the class of 2024, but the coaching staff isn’t just relying on those players to pledge to the program. Illinois is still offering talented recruits scholarships.

On Wednesday, the Illini entered the recruitment of Josaiah Knight. He is a player who is wanted by numerous teams but is starting to narrow down his options.

Illinois football has some work left to do to be true contenders in the Josaiah Knight recruitment

Knight is a 6-foot-3.5, 230-pound edge rusher from Gadsden County High School in Florida. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 869 player in the class of 2024. He is also the No. 58 edge rusher in the country and the No. 122 player coming out of Florida.

The timeline for Knight has been kind of crazy. He took an unofficial visit to Cincinnati back in early May and committed to them two days later. That commitment lasted a few weeks, and now Knight is back in the recruiting game, as he has backed away from his pledge to the Bearcats.

Knight still has three official visits scheduled as of right now. He has an official visit scheduled on June 9 for Cincinnati, June 16 to Georgia Tech, and June 23 to Missouri.

Opinion

It is hard to see Knight taking his official visit to Cincinnati. After backing away from a commitment, the player usually doesn’t return to that team.

I think there is a decent chance Illinois can wiggle our way into this recruitment. When a team swoops in this soon after a player backs away, I feel like that usually means there has been some type of communication between the two sides.

Snagging another defensive player for the class of 2024 would be great for the Illini. We already have Angelo McCullom coming in on the defensive line. Having someone like Knight at outside linebacker would be big for the Illini. These two top 1000 recruits would help form a dangerous defense for the program.

Let’s see if Illinois can make some waves in the Knight recruitment. I wouldn’t be shocked to see us get an official visit sometime in the coming months.