Illinois Football: Illini target Marquise Lightfoot sets commitment date and time

A commitment date has been set for a big-time Illinois football target for 2024.

The Illini have done a great job securing a solid class of 2024 thus far. With 15 commitments, Illinois ranks No. 35 in the country, and we aren’t done adding talent.

With the dead period starting, no more in-person visits are happening until late July. That doesn’t prevent recruits from making commitment decisions, though. There are players announcing their destinations daily, and now one of the biggest targets for the Illini is set to pick a school.

On Thursday, 247Sports posted on social media that Marquise Lightfoot will announce his decision on their platform. He is set to make a commitment on July 3 at 4:00 p.m. CT.

It might be a long shot, but the Illinois football team is still alive for Marquise Lightfoot’s commitment

Lightfoot is a 6-foot-5, 220-pound edge from Kenwood Academy in Illinois. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 68 player in the class of 2024. He is also the No. 6 edge in the country and the No. 3 player coming out of Illinois.

The announcement had Lightfoot choosing between Alabama, Illinois, Georgia, Miami (FL), USC, and Ohio State. I believe he has taken official visits to USC, Ohio State, Miami (FL), and Illinois

Opinion

I recognize that this might be a long shot for Illinois to come out on top of this recruitment. But, without a doubt, we are one of the top four programs for a top 100 recruit.

Alabama and Georgia are both powerhouse programs, but not taking an official visit to either program probably means they are out of the picture for now.

There are three Crystal Ball Predictions in favor of Ohio State to land Lightfoot. All three are six out of 10 confidences, which isn’t high. They were also before the news broke that Illinois was getting an official visit.

If I had to guess, I would say the Lightfoot recruitment is down to Illinois and Ohio State. The Buckeyes will probably win out because there isn’t a long enough sample of size of coming to Illinois and being successful. But don’t count the Illini out. It wouldn’t shock me if we came away with a commitment from a top 100 recruit.