2028 could provide two excellent cornerbacks for the Illinois football program

The motto of the Illinois football program is famILLy, and they are sticking with that when it comes to 2028 recruiting.

Bret Bielema has cast a wide net over the recruiting landscape, as the Illini tries to land some of the best recruits in the country. On Friday, we started targeting Adrian Woodward, a top cornerback from New Jersey.

While adding one top cornerback would be great, how about adding his brother as well? On Friday, Amiir Woodward took to social media to also announce that he has received a scholarship from Illinois.

Woodward is a 5-foot-11, 165-pound cornerback from Bergen Catholic High School in New Jersey. Much like his brother, he isn’t rated or ranked yet due to being in the class of 2028. But he does have around the same number of scholarships, so both brothers will have their choice of just about any team in the country when the time comes.

The Illinois football roster should have plenty of room for the Woodward brothers in 2028

Back in the day, you could kind of tell who was going to be on the team in a couple of years. The transfer portal wasn’t a thing, and when a player transferred, they had to sit out a year. That dissuaded a lot of departures.

In the current college landscape, you don’t know who is going to be on the team next season, let alone in 2028. One thing is for sure, Illinois likes to load up on defensive back depth.

Illinois’ previous regime was always so thin at nearly every position. That isn’t happening in the Bielema era. Entering the 2025 campaign, Illinois has 22 defensive backs on the roster. That is a lot of bodies to help keep the defensive secondary strong.

In 2028, adding the Woodward brothers would be huge. Illinois is always going to need to add depth each season, and these two are going to be four-star recruits. Bielema getting in on both of these recruitments early is smart. Let’s see how the next few years play out.