Illinois football receives huge news from massive 4-star recruit

The good recruiting vibes keep coming, as the Illinois football team has landed another massive recruit.

Coming into Thursday night, the Illini had a great class of 2026 brewing. We had landed 22 commitments with a national recruiting ranking of No. 10 in the country. That has all changed.

On Thursday, Nick Hankins Jr. announced live that he is committing to Illinois. In the video, Hankins mentions, “I am ready to be a part of the ILL family.”

This commitment sends shockwaves throughout the college landscape. Hankins had roughly 26 scholarship offers, but Illinois ended up being his choice. Now, the Illini are getting another elite defensive player.

Hankins is a 6-foot, 190-pound cornerback from Belleville West High School in Illinois. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 352 player in the class of 2026. He is also the No. 28 cornerback in the country and the No. 10 player coming out of Illinois.

Bret Bielema is doing a pretty good job cleaning up in the state of Illinois. We now have two of the top 10 recruits in Nasir Rankin and Hankins. Not to mention, the Illini have a legitimate chance to pull in either or both JC Anderson and Mack Sutter, the No. 3 and No. 1 players in the state, respectively.

The Illinois football class of 2026 has cracked the top 10 nationally once again

Like I said earlier, coming into Thursday, the Illini had the No. 10 class in the country. With the addition of another four-star recruit, Illinois now sits at No. 8 nationally.

According to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, Illinois now has four four-star pledges for 2026. We also have a total of 23 commitments, and 19 of those players are ranked inside the top 1000.

Illinois has a solid chance to pull in the best recruiting class we have ever seen in the rankings era. The class of 2026 is incredible, and Hankins added to it on Thursday night.