Illinois Football: More defensive back help on the way for the Illini

Illinois football bolstered the secondary on Monday afternoon with an under-the-radar commitment.

Coming off a big recruiting visit weekend, the Illini had 11 commitments for the class of 2024 and a national ranking inside the top 50.

Bret Bielema and the Illinois coaching staff really loaded up on defensive backs from the 2023 class. We lost a ton of secondary talent to the NFL the last couple of seasons, so replenishing the talent was crucial. The same goes for the class of 2024 as well.

Illinois has one defensive back committed for 2024: top 1000 recruit, Vernon Woodward. On Monday, that all changed, as the Illini received another defensive back commitment. After taking an official visit to Champaign this past weekend, Amar Reynolds took to social media to announce that he was committing to the Illini.

Amar Reynolds keeps adding to a strengthening Illinois football secondary

Reynolds is a 6-foot-1, 175-pound cornerback from Vero Beach High School in Florida. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 133 cornerback in the country. He is also the No. 204 player coming out of Florida.

The scholarship offers were starting to pile up for Reynolds. He held offers from teams like Indiana and Western Kentucky but would ultimately pick the Orange and Blue as his landing spot.

Opinion

The recruiting ranking for Reynolds won’t blow you away, but this is another solid recruit who can add to a building secondary unit for the Illini.

Illinois brought in nine new faces in the defensive backfield from the 2023 class. We now have two more newcomers, and counting, for 2024. Building depth is important, and that is why I like this commitment for the Illini.

I see Reynolds redshirting in 2024 and then seeing some snaps by 2025. Hopefully, he pulls a Devon Witherspoon and goes from a relatively unknown to a high-quality player in a matter of a few years.