Illinois Football: Illini building out tight end room with big 2024 commitment

Illinois football added to their tight end room on Wednesday morning.

Bret Bielema and the Illini coaching staff have started the 2024 class off on the right foot. Coming into Wednesday, we had nine commitments and the potential to add a lot more talent before the early national signing day in December.

Plenty of big targets are still left on the board, but you can pull one of those targets down. Karsen Konkel took to social media on Wednesday to announce that he has committed to the Illinois football program.

The commitment of Karsen Konkel gives the Illinois football team another top recruit

Konkel is a 6-foot-6, 225-pound tight end from Pinckneyville Community High School in Illinois. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 978 player in the class of 2024. He is also the No. 42 tight end in the country and the No. 20 player coming out of Illinois.

Illinois was able to beat out an impressive list of teams that were vying for Konkel’s commitment. While the Illini were able to snag his first official visit, Konkel was just coming off a visit to Michigan State and Arkansas, and he had a visit to Pittsburgh set up this weekend.

Opinion

On the recruiting front, this is another big commitment for Bielema. With Konkel now aboard, Illinois has six out of their 10 commitments ranked inside the top 1000 in the country. Stacking that type of talent is what will help us consistently win in the future.

From a roster point of view, this is also a solid commitment. Illinois hasn’t been a tight end factory by any means. Tip Reiman is the lead man for the next two seasons. I think next in line is the incoming transfer, Tanner Arkin. He joined the program this offseason from Colorado State.

Behind those two are a bunch of talented but inexperienced tight ends. That means there is a chance Konkel can come in from the class of 2024 and compete for snaps from day one. He has a nice big body and great hands, so look for him to make some waves. I love this commitment for the Illini.