Illinois football locks in top-10 Indiana recruit for an official visit

Illinois football is trying to tap into the Indiana market, as we have a big official visit coming up.

The Indiana market has been decent to the Illini over the years. Ted Karras came out of Cathedral High School in Indianapolis and had a great Illinois career. He is now dominating on the offensive line in the NFL.

Illinois was able to land a transfer in the late 1980s by the name of Jeff George. You may have heard of him. He started his football career at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis as well.

There is potential Illinois is on track to land another Warren Central product in 2025. On Monday, Tyrone Burrus Jr. announced on social media that he is locked into an official visit to Champaign on May 31-June 2.

Burrus is a 6-foot-4, 225-pound edge from Warren Central High School in Indiana. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 626 player in the class of 2025. He is also the No. 49 edge in the country and the No. 8 player coming out of Indiana.

The competition is heating up for Burrus. He cut his list down to just five teams back on May 15 and kept Indiana, Louisville, Kansas, Michigan State, and Illinois alive for his commitment. The official visit schedule as of right now is Illinois on May 31, Louisville on June 7, Michigan State on June 14, and Indiana on June 21.

Illinois football has done some impressive work getting in the Tyrone Burrus Jr.’s top five

Burrus is a talented recruit who has a lot of teams vying for his services. Illinois offered him a scholarship back in January, and since then, there have been some coaching changes.

Illinois’ linebackers coach Andy Buh was fired. Our outside linebackers coached departed for the NFL. There was a major transition. In steps Archie McDaniel from Houston as the linebackers coach for 2024. Illinois then hires Clint Sintim as the outside linebackers coach. He was Virginia’s linebackers coach.

Sintim has been the main recruiter for Burrus. He has been able to get Illinois squarely in the mix in this recruitment.

Usually, you can tell by a player’s social media account which way he is leaning, but that isn’t the case here. There isn’t a leaning one way or the other. I think Illinois is legitimately in contention for this top-700 recruit.

Illinois could always use more help at outside linebacker too. We don’t have much depth, and the depth we do have is unproven at this point. I like Seth Coleman and Gabe Jacas to start in 2024. Coleman is a senior, though, so he is gone after this season. Jacas, and his backup Alec Bryant, are both juniors, so 2025 is their last season. Mix in the transfer portal, and who knows what the Illinois roster will look like in the next couple of seasons.

Burrus could have a chance to play early and often. He is a quick edge rusher who will cause chaos at the next level. Hopefully, that chaos is for the Illini and not against us.