Illinois Football: Illini favored for 2024 recruit, commitment date set

Momentum might be shifting in favor of the Illinois football program on a big offensive lineman for 2024.

The Illini have had a pretty good couple of weeks when it comes to recruiting. We now have 14 commitments for 2024, and our national recruiting ranking sits at No. 35 in the country.

This great start could get even better in the coming days and weeks. There are still some pretty big recruits left on the board, and Bret Bielema and his coaching staff are looking to strengthen their 2024 group.

One of the big recruits that has an interest in the Illinois program is Caleb Pyfrom. On Tuesday night, Mike Schaefer of Husker247, the 247Sports Nebraska site, put in a Crystal Ball Prediction in favor of Illinois to land Pyfrom.

Illinois football landing a top 700 recruit from Nebraska, like Caleb Pyfrom, would be big for the program

Pyfrom is a 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive tackle from Central High School in Nebraska. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 670 player in the class of 2024. He is also the No. 51 offensive tackle in the country and the No. 5 player coming out of Nebraska.

With double-digit scholarship offers, Pyfrom has started to take official visits. He visited Nebraska and Minnesota, and this past weekend he was in Champaign to take in the Illini program.

On Tuesday night, Pyfrom also announced via social media that a commitment is coming. He is going to make a decision this Thursday, June 29, at 10:00 a.m. CT. One would assume it is between those three programs mentioned above.

Opinion

This would be a big commitment for the Illinois football team for a couple of reasons. Obviously, it would be big because Pyfrom is a good player.

Landing another top 700 recruit would go a long way in strengthening the Illinois program. This would help boost our national recruiting ranking, and Pyfrom plays an important position. Getting quality offensive linemen stacked up on the roster will only benefit the Illini down the road.

I also believe this would be a big commitment for geographical reasons. If Pyfrom does pick Illinois on Thursday, that means we went into the heart of Nebraska and took one of their top recruits for the class of 2024. The Cornhuskers have a new coaching staff with a lot of hype, and yet Bielema has a chance to take one of the best players in their own backyard.

Let’s see how this recruitment plays out over the next 24 hours. Hopefully, Illinois can add another talented player to their class of 2024.