Illinois Football: Florida 4-star recruit receives Illini offer

Illinois football is now eyeing a big-time four-star out of Florida for the class of 2026.

Recruiting never stops, and the Illini coaching staff knows this. While Bret Bielema and his team of talented coaches try to button up the 2024 class, they are also focusing resources on landing players for the class of 2025 and beyond.

Some players are already ranked and rated for future classes. Not every recruit has a star next to their name, but the top players in the country are already being looked at as must-have prospects. That is the case with Calvin Russell.

On Friday, Illinois got in the Russell sweepstakes. He took to social media to announce that the Illini had offered him a scholarship. This will hopefully be the beginning of something special for this big-time recruit.

Russell is a 6-foot-4, 175-pound athlete from Northwestern High School in Florida. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 44 player in the class of 2026. He is also the No. 3 athlete in the country and the No. 7 player coming out of Florida.

Illinois is in on Russell, but there are plenty of teams who want this kid to join their program. He has numerous scholarships on the table right now, including the likes of Miami (FL), Florida, and Penn State, to name a few.

Florida has been a great recruiting ground for the Illinois football program

Landing Russell out of Florida would be a big accomplishment for the Illinois coaching staff. Every program is going to want this kid, including every in-state team. That makes it tougher for a team like the Illini to go into Florida and land a high-level recruit like Russell.

The Sunshine State has been a great recruiting ground for Illinois, though. In the class of 2023, we secured five recruits from this state, which was the second highest among all locations. The state of Illinois was a the top with nine recruits.

Florida recruits have made a huge impact on the program in the past few years. Last season, true freshman Gabe Jacas, from Fort Pierce, Florida, had a freshman All-American campaign at outside linebacker. Pat Bryant is probably going to be our No. 2 wide receiver this season. He is from Jacksonville, Florida.

Let’s not forget the crown jewel of the state of Florida. In the class of 2019, Illinois went into Florida and plucked out a kid who had zero stars and zero power-five scholarships. This kid was from Pensacola, Florida. He ended up playing cornerback, becoming a consensus All-American, and got selected No. 5 overall by the Seattle Seahawks in the 2023 NFL Draft. Yes, that kid was Devon Witherspoon.

Florida is such a big state with a ton of great talent. Russell is one of those great players. Illinois will hopefully become a player in this recruitment.