While the quantity isn’t there yet, the Illinois football team has the start to a great recruiting class.
As of right now, the Illini have two commitments for the class of 2027. Kamden Lopati was the first domino to fall, as he committed in July 2025. He will be Illinois’ star quarterback in the future. On the defensive side of the ball, Illinois also landed Justin Johnson. The talented in-state cornerback pledged just weeks ago.
More talent obviously needs to join these two in the hunt for a spot in the College Football Playoff. One player who could end up joining is Eli Thornton.
On Tuesday, Thornton took to social media to announce that he has cut his list down to just six teams. He has Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Wisconsin, Kansas State, Vanderbilt, and Illinois all alive for his commitment.
In the social media post, Thornton also said that he will be making a commitment on July 4.
‼️Commitment Date set for July 4th‼️ https://t.co/cnWEGfA0DH
— Eli Thornton (@EliThornton27) March 17, 2026
This would be a good addition to any of those six programs. Thornton is a 6-foot-3, 315-pound defensive lineman from Arkansas. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 934 player in the class of 2027. He is also the No. 105 defensive lineman in the country and the No. 3 player coming out of Arkansas.
It looks like Thornton has four official visits set up right now. He is visiting Wisconsin on May 29, Oklahoma State on June 4, Kansas State on June 12, and Arkansas on June 19. My assumption is that a visit to Illinois is in the works, but there has not been confirmation of that just yet.
Illinois would be bucking a trend of using the transfer portal on the defensive line
Ever since Jer’Zhan Newton emerged as one of the best defensive linemen in the country, Illinois has been trying to find that same spark again. We have been going hot and heavy in the transfer portal for talented defensive linemen.
The result has been meh. Illinois’ defensive line hasn’t been great the last couple of seasons. Last year, we had players like James Thompson Jr., Tomiwa Durojaiye, Eli Coenen, and Gentle Hunt, among others, on the defensive line. They were all transfer portal additions throughout the past couple of seasons.
Landing someone like Thornton would buck that trend. We could actually land and, hopefully, retain a talented defensive lineman. It is harder and harder to develop players in today’s game with the transfer portal, but this would be a step in the right direction. It would be nice to pull in a player like Thornton and build depth on the Illini defensive line.