A top Illinois football recruiting target is heading to Alabama

The Illinois football team has taken a backseat the last couple of days with the NBA Draft going on, but make no mistake about it, there are big recruits still to be had.

While the Illini are targeting numerous recruits, there are two giant fish who would be great to land. Well, one of these big recruits made a decision on Thursday night.

According to Hayes Fawcett of On3.com, Mack Sutter has picked Alabama over Ohio State, Ole Miss, and Illinois. In the post, Sutter is quoted as saying, “T-town let’s do ittt. ROLL TIDE!”

Sutter was a big-time recruit who Illinois was after for quite some time. He is a 6-foot-5, 230-pound tight end from Dunlap High School in Illinois. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 80 player in the class of 2026. Sutter is also the No. 6 tight end in the country and the best player coming out of Illinois.

This decision by Sutter is a surprise to no one. While he was down to four programs, the feeling for much of the recruitment was that Alabama was going to do their Alabama thing and land the kid. At the end of the day, they are a football school, and their war chest is massive.

All resources need to be dumped into another Illinois football tight end target

While it would have been nice to land Sutter, there has always been a more realistic target. JC Anderson is a name that has been on the top of Illinois’ list for a while, and he is now the main focus for the program.

One thing to keep an eye on is the fact that 247Sports just submitted a Crystal Ball Prediction on Tuesday for Anderson. They have him landing with Ole Miss with a confidence of seven out of 10.

Illinois has a great class of 2026 still brewing, as it is a top 15 group right now. But losing both of these top 150 recruits and top 10 tight ends in the country, who were both in-state recruits, would be painful. Let’s hope something changes between now and when Anderson makes a decision on July 1.