Illinois eyeing rising cornerback from the class of 2028

Recruiting has been a wild ride for the Illinois football program, and hopefully, the train won’t slow down anytime soon.

Bret Bielema has done an incredible job building the Illini. The roster right now is impressive, and what we are bringing in for the future is exciting.

The recruiting cycle never stops, though. Bielema and the Illinois coaches know this, and that's why they continue to recruit for all recruiting classes.

On Friday, Adrian Woodward took to social media to announce that he had received a scholarship offer from Illinois.

Woodward is a 6-foot, 165-pound cornerback from Bergen Catholic High School in New Jersey. He isn’t rated or ranked just yet, as he is from the class of 2028, but he already has roughly 19 scholarship offers. Just think about that for a second. He just finished up his freshman year and already has the ability to go to roughly 19 schools for free because of his talent on the field.

Illinois is looking to continue the push for young defensive backs who can help the program

Throughout the Bielema era at Illinois, we have done a great job finding and developing defensive backs. It all started with the development of players like Sydney Brown and Devon Witherspoon.

Bielema and the Illinois coaching staff have helped transform Miles and Xavier Scott. We have great defensive backs across the board, and the depth is only improving. One of the top commits in 2026, Almirian Thomas, is a cornerback.

So, adding someone like Woodward would be big for the program. He is going to be a top 250 recruit for 2028, as he already has numerous offers on the table. Hopefully, Illinois’ early entry in the sweepstakes wins us some points when a decision comes down in a few years.