Brad Underwood locks in another 5-star official visit with Navarro Bowman Jr.

Official visits are crucial for a recruit deciding where they want to spend their college career. Whether it is just one year or multiple years at the college level, official visits can make or break a school's chances of landing top talent. Brad Underwood clearly understands that, as he will have a busy couple of months leading up to the 2026-2027 season, with multiple official visits scheduled.

In years past, Underwood has not been known to land a lot of five-star talent, actually only two 5-star recruits since 2020. His most recent does come in the Class of 2026, five-star shooting guard Quentin Coleman, who will make his Illinois debut in a few months. However, in the last week, Underwood and the Illini have been a magnet for five-star talent interested in Illinois.

It all started with five-star 2028 combo guard and Illinois native Brady Pettigrew setting an official visit in early October with the Illini. Then it was five-star 2027 center Darius Wabbington showing interest in Underwood and his squad, with an official visit set for the end of October. Now, 2027 combo guard NaVarro Bowman Jr. is the latest five-star recruit to set an official visit to Champaign.

Brad Underwood is starting to solidify Illinois as a real recruiting threat with multiple five-star OVs

It isn't surprising to see Illinois getting a lot of love on the recruiting trail after a Final Four finish to last season for the first time since 2005. Underwood proved what he could do with talent that wasn't the highest-rated in their recruiting class, and now he has the chance to show what he could do with five-star talent on his roster.

Quentin Coleman will be the first look at how five-star talent really fits into this roster that Underwood carefully crafted in the offseason. Not only was Underwood able to bring in Coleman, but he also brought in two four-star recruits and three three-stars in the 2026 class. It looks like Underwood is going after some big fish now, though, with his official visits in the fall.

Bowman is just another addition of five-star talent that will be in Champaign this fall. The California native will now be the first recruit to officially visit Illinois, making his appearance on September 10. While there won't be a ton going on basketball-wise with Illinois, the team should still be getting good work in on the court and in the weight room.

With Illinois likely losing Andrej Sotjakovic and potentially even Stefan Vaaks after this season, Bowman would be a great addition at combo guard, ranked No. 13 nationally and No. 3 at his position in the class of 2027, according to 247Sports.

Underwood will be very busy before the basketball season starts, but that is what it takes to be a recruiting threat, and Illinois is certainly starting to compete with the big boys on the recruiting trail.

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