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Top Illinois football commit is still rising up the national rankings

Illinois football has a special group coming in for 2026, and we also have one of the top players at his position.
ByRees Woodcock|
Toledo Central Catholic's Victor Singleton Jr. intercepts a pass intended Bishop Watterson's Cal Mangini ending the Eagles' final drive during the Division III state final Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Canton.
Toledo Central Catholic's Victor Singleton Jr. intercepts a pass intended Bishop Watterson's Cal Mangini ending the Eagles' final drive during the Division III state final Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Canton. | Bob Rossiter / Special to The Canton Repository / USA TODAY NETWORK

There is a lot of optimism heading into the future for the Illinois football program.

Coming off the first 10-win season since 2001, the Illini have continuously had top 50 recruiting classes in the Bret Bielema era. On top of that, Bielema has proved to be a good college coach, and the record at Illinois has shown that to be a fact.

In 2025, Illinois continued the solid recruiting with the No. 44 class in the country. While that is a good haul, the 2026 class has the potential to be special.

247Sports has the Illini currently sitting with the No. 7 class in the country for 2026. The unanimous top player in this group is cornerback, Victor Singleton.

Singleton is an elite talent, and the recruiting sites would agree. While 247Sports has Singleton as the No. 46 player in the class of 2026 and the No. 3 cornerback in the nation, a site like On3.com is starting to come around.

On Wednesday, On3.com released updated rankings for the cornerback position. They published their top 10 cornerbacks, and Singleton registered on the list at No. 6. They also have him as the No. 56 player in the class of 2026.

Illinois football is about to have a nasty defense in the near future

When Bielema first arrived on the scene, Illinois had some players who could play well. Bielema and his coaching staff helped develop this talent into some of the top defensive backs in the NFL.

The crazy part about these NFL Draft picks and success is that those players weren’t highly rated. They were sub-1000 recruits and in some cases, they were two-star players.

Bielema hasn’t had a top-tier defensive back in the program straight out of high school. Singleton is one of the best players in the country, and with the way Bielema can develop players, there is no doubt in my mind that he can become an All-American early on at Illinois.

Singleton made a great choice by coming to Champaign. What we are going to see in the coming years is something special.

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