Illinois football is looking to secure victories while also giving the recruiting trail a ton of attention.
Bringing in and developing running backs has been a big thing for Bret Bielema since he joined the Orange and Blue. We have had some pretty good ball carriers during his tenure.
The Illini are now looking to add another big-time running back to the mix. On Wednesday, Ammar Banire took to social media to announce his visit schedule this fall.
Banire has plans to visit six programs, which include Indiana on September 5, Iowa on September 12, Notre Dame on September 19, Iowa State on September 26, Illinois on October 3, and Northwestern on October 10.
Excited to announce the schools I’ll be visiting this fall! Grateful for every opportunity and looking forward to building relationships and experiencing what each program has to show! @Oswego_Football @CooneyPanthers @DIAMONDdavelee @1OF1FOOTBALL @AllenTrieu @EDGYTIM pic.twitter.com/hUMXW5lbcg
— Ammar Banire (@AmmarBanire) September 3, 2026
That October 3 game is against the Purdue Boilermakers. This is a great decision to have recruits come to a game that Illinois should put up a victory. Having him come to a game like the Oregon contest just three weeks later might have been a bad choice.
Regardless, Illinois is definitely in the mix for this huge in-state recruit. Banire is a 6-foot-2, 190-pound running back from Oswego High School in Illinois. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 370 player in the class of 2028. He is also the No. 22 athlete in the country and the No. 15 player coming out of Illinois.
Banire’s recruitment is only going to get tougher as time goes on. He has roughly eight scholarship offers right now, and most of those are from big programs like Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. The big boys haven’t joined the party, though. Just wait for Notre Dame, Ohio State, etc. to join the mix.
Illinois football running backs had a good week one performance against UAB
Bielema has done a good job with running backs at Illinois. He developed Chase Brown into an elite ball carrier, and he has been the starter with the Cincinnati Bengals for a few years.
Josh McCray had a good year under Bielema, and he got paid by Georgia and departed. This past game against UAB shows how good the Illinois backfield could be in 2026, too.
Ca’Lil Valentine was patient but explosive. He had 88 yards and a touchdown on 8.0 yards per carry. I love Aidan Laughery’s explosion through holes, too. He is shot out of a cannon each time he touches the football.
As a team, Illinois had 26 carries for 150 yards and two touchdowns. That is 5.8 yards per carry. I will take that every day and twice on Sundays. The Illini should be looked at as a good running back destination, and we can prove that to Banire this fall.
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