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Top Illinois commit finds new “home” and flips commitment to SEC

It was a brutal Saturday night, as the Illinois football team lost the top commit for the class of 2026.
ByRees Woodcock|
Nov 5, 2022; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema reacts during the first half against the Michigan State Spartans at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images
Nov 5, 2022; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema reacts during the first half against the Michigan State Spartans at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

Everything had been going so well for the Illinois football program when it comes to the class of 2026.

Coming into Saturday, the Illini had 14 commitments and a national recruiting ranking of No. 7 in the country. This was going to be the best recruiting class the program has seen in decades. Well, that took a bit of a hit late Saturday night.

According to Hayes Fawcett of On3.com, and later confirmed by the recruit, Victor Singleton has flipped his commitment from Illinois to Texas A&M.

This is a massive hit to the Illini. Singleton was a big commitment for the Orange and Blue at the time, as he is a four-star recruit who is ranked as the No. 84 player in the class of 2026. He is also the No. 11 cornerback in the country and the No. 2 player coming out of Ohio.

While the loss of Victor Singleton hurts the Illinois football class of 2026, we still have some impressive talent committed

Singleton’s departure is going to hurt. There is no sugarcoating the loss of him to an SEC program. It is frustrating, but I imagine the Aggies backed up the Brinks truck and gave him a boat-load of money.

With that being said, Illinois still has 13 commitments for 2026. All 13 commits are ranked inside the top 1000, which is impressive and rare for the program.

On top of the class of 2026 still having a lot of talent, Illinois has nice depth in the secondary. On the roster right now, we have seven defensive backs who played over 130 snaps in 2024. Illinois has a nice war chest of young talent, too.

From the class of 2026, Illinois has a cornerback already committed. Almirian Thomas, the No. 566 player in the 2026 class, just committed within the past week. He will help fill the void left by Singleton.

At the end of the day, Illinois just lost the highest-rated recruit since the late 2000s. Singleton was going to be special for this program, but Bret Bielema and the coaching staff will be able to recover. I trust what they are doing.

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