Top class of 2025 athlete in Michigan keeps Illinois football in top 8

Illinois football is in the hunt for another top recruit in the class of 2025.

Bret Bielema has the Illini on the right track for the 2025 class. We currently have five players committed and a national recruiting ranking of No. 36 in the country.

It has been a nice mixed bag of talent as well, with two players committed on the defensive side of the ball and three committed to playing offense for the Orange and Blue.

Illinois is currently recruiting another player who can not only be a great offensive specialist, but he has great defensive abilities as well. That player is Elijah Dotson.

Dotson is a 6-foot-2, 175-pound athlete from Belleville High School in Michigan. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 531 player in the class of 2025. He is also the No. 38 athlete in the country and the No. 8 player coming out of Michigan.

On Wednesday, Dotson took to social media with some recruiting news. He decided to cut his list down to just eight teams. The eight programs vying for his commitment include Tennessee, Purdue, Kansas, Michigan State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Michigan, and Illinois.

It is an uphill climb for the Illinois football team to be competitive in the Elijah Dotson sweepstakes

Illinois making the top eight for Dotson is nice to see. It is exciting to be considered by such a great athlete. But I think this is going to be a tough battle for the Illini to be competitive in, let alone win.

Back on January 30, Illinois offered Dotson a scholarship. Out of the top eight, we were the last program to come in with an offer. But that also shows you the impact the Illini coaching staff has made in a short amount of time.

Dotson has made trips to Michigan State, Penn State, and Pittsburgh. Michigan is also in the lead according to multiple recruiting sites.

With that being said, Dotson could have easily cut his top list to just five if he wanted to, but he didn’t. He kept Illinois alive for his commitment, so there might be a strong connection between the two.

If Illinois made that big of an impact in the last two months to make Dotson’s top eight, then who knows what could happen in the coming weeks. Let’s get him to Champaign to show him what this program is all about. That is the next big hurdle to jump.