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Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 23, 2022

Mason Muragin made the visit to Champaign, Illinois, a visit which has been different from other schools recruiting Muragin.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

May 23, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Dante Barone's Twitter page)

Illinois has been very successful when it comes to landing high-profile linemen as of late. The Illinois staff and track record of player development and NFL products is an easy sell and they're hoping that continues this summer.

The Illini are in a battle for the services of Dante Barone, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound defensive lineman from Princeton, New Jersey.

Barone already has a great relationship with Illinois linebackers coach Andy Buh and defensive line coach Terrance Jamison.

"I'm grateful for all my offers. When Illinois did, I wouldn’t say I was surprised, I expected it. I had been talking to coach Buh and Jamison for a little while; they let me know I was very high on their radar so I was definitely hopeful," Barone said.

Brad Sturdy, IlliniGuy

May 22, 2022

The NBA Draft Combine is over and now the ramifications of player reactions to the information they received from NBA scouts and executives will play out over the next few days.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting 

May 22, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy TJ McMillen's Hudl page)

The Illinois football program is light years ahead of the recruiting game compared to recent years. The Illini are no longer the team waiting until the spring to get commitment from players.

TJ McMillen is a 6-foot-3, 270-pound strong-side DE from Wheaton, Illinois, who verbally committed to Illinois on Friday, but made it official Saturday on his Twitter account. 

We caught up with McMillen to find out what made Illinois so special to him considering all the offers he was able to choose from; for example, Arizona State, Boston College, Duke, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue, and Texas Tech.

Here is our Q and A session with the three-star in-state commit Saturday afternoon:

Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year Steffany Dickerson tosses an 82-pitch complete game shutout to eliminate Illinois softball from the NCAA Columbia Regional. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

May 21, 2022

The 2022 season is over for the Illinois softball program. 

The commitment of three-star offensive lineman TJ McMillen continues the trend of in-state prospects pledging to the Illini’s 2023 class. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

May 21, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The commitment of TJ McMillen continues the rebuild of in-state relations and the rebuild of the offensive line room at Illinois. 

McMillen, who is a 6-foot-3 and 270-pound interior offensive lineman and defensive tackle at St. Francis High School in Wheaton, announced his verbal pledge to the Illini’s 2023 class on Saturday afternoon. McMillen now joins four-star tailback Kaden Feagin from Arthur and three-star Antwon Hayden from East St. Louis as the three commitments to the Illini’s 2023 class.

“From a young age, I’ve always dreamed of playing college football - it’s in our blood,” McMillen wrote in his commitment announcement on social media on Saturday. “So many people have helped me reach this goal.” 

The guidance sent out by the NCAA Division I Board of Directors plainly states somebody is getting hit and hit hard with violations.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

May 21, 2022

Three messages were sent out through the NCAA office on Monday evening. Two were subtle and the final one was not.

Let’s take a moment to break down each of them through the past, present and future of what the NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors stated in what they’re called “guidance”.

NCAA Message No. 3 (A blunt one): Somebody is getting investigated and hit hard by the NCAA enforcement staff.

In part one and part two of this series, we’ve already established how this “guidance” has identified why the NCAA Division I Board of Directors thinks we’re here (name, image and likeness) and what is the problem (NIL collectives), the final message was simple. What are they going to do about it? The answer is the same thing the NCAA always does. Identify the worst case scenario and punish them in the hope that the rest of the institutions see the immediate and future damage caused and fall in line.

“For violations that occurred prior to May 9, 2022, the board directed the enforcement staff to review the facts of individual cases but to pursue only those actions that clearly are contrary to the published interim policy, including the most severe violations of recruiting rules or payment for athletics performance,” the NCAA statement reads.

“This is the time we have to put our stake in the ground. Enough! This is not acceptable,” Colorado athletic director Rick George, who is a former University of Illinois football player and alum, said emphatically to Sports Illustrated. “What we’re doing is not good for intercollegiate athletics, and it has got to stop.”

One of the highlighted examples of possible future exploration and investigation by the NCAA enforcement staff would almost certainly be John Ruiz, a lawyer in Miami whose current NIL payroll includes more than 100 Hurricanes athletes across a variety of sports. Ruiz has publicly on social media professeed that he expects to spend $10 million this year to have players endorse his two companies, LifeWallet, a healthcare application, and his boat racing operation called Cigarette Racing Team. Ruiz created a recent firestorm over social media when he used his own Twitter account to announce that Miami received a commitment from Kansas State transfer guard Nijel Pack after Ruiz had signed the hoops star to a two-year contract for $400,000 a year.

Arizona hits four home runs in a 8-3 victory […]

Jonah Morris’ college football journey through seven seasons and four schools will conclude at Illinois for the upcoming 2022 season. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

May 20, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois added a 24-year-old wide receiver from the transfer portal ready to prove that his seventh season and fourth school will be his best situation. 

Jonah Morris announced his verbal pledge to the Illini program on Friday afternoon after announcing his intention to enter the transfer portal for his final season of college football. His arrival at Illinois for fall camp in August will complete a journey for the Akron, Ohio native that has seen him go from Indiana, Akron, Northern Colorado and now Illinois. 

Morris, who was primarily recruited by Illinois wide receivers coach George McDonald and Illinois head coach Bret Bielema, took an official visit to the Champaign campus last weekend and told IlliniGuys.com earlier this week that while he’d been contacted by several FBS schools, Illinois was the top option on his list. 

“I’ve talked a lot with Coach Geo, Coach B and the new offensive coordinator Coach (Barry) Lunney and I just think this offense is going to work out perfectly,” Morris said. “I can make plays when the ball is in the air. I’m not a primadonna wide receiver who doesn’t like to block for the solid running game Illinois is going to have and after talking with Coach Lunney, I believe Illinois is going to be set up to throw the football more than people think.”

Despite three unofficial visits to Illinois and the planning of an announced official visit for next month, three-star defensive line Roderick Pierce from Brother Rice H.S. commits to Wisconsin. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

May 19, 2022

Roderick Pierce’s verbal pledge struck a serious blow to Illinois’ plans for its 2023 recruiting class at a critical rebuilding position. 

The three-star defensive tackle prospect from Chicago’s Brother Rice High School announced his verbal pledge to Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon. This commitment comes less than a week after Pierce, who has toured the Illinois campus three times for unofficial visits including being at State Farm Center for a basketball game during the Illini Junior Day weekend on Jan. 14, announced he’d be taking his official visit to Champaign on the weekend of June 17-19. 

Pierce was seen by the Illini coaching staff, specifically Illinois defensive line coach Terrance Jamison, as a high priority prospect after sending out their offer to the 290-pounder last June. 

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

May 19, 2022

Jaheim Clarke is a three-star recruit from Riverdale High School in Ft. Myers, Florida. 

IlliniGuys caught up with the 6-foot-1, 165-pound defensive back from the class of 2023 to get the latest with his recruitment.

Illinois has a lot of offers out on the table, but nothing like several previous staff members. The philosophy appears to be to go after what their needs are and players the staff feels can help turn Illinois into a consistent winner each year and avoid long droughts after a successful season.

Clarke said, "The recruiting process is going great for me so far. I'm at 13 scholarship offers, and Illinois is giving 100 percent effort with me right now."

For the first time since 2008, a NCAA Men’s […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

May 18, 2022

Just when you thought there will never be another Kofi Cockburn at Illinois, well...hang onto that! Peyton Marshall is a 7-foot, 310-pound center from Marietta, Georgia who grew up in St. Louis.  He tells IlliniGuys.com that one of his favorite games to watch each year is the Braggin' Rights game between the Illini and Missouri.

Marshall became a big fan of Cockburn's just watching that game alone.

Marshall said, "I know a little bit about Illinois due to the Border War game versus Mizzou in my hometown every year. I know Kofi gave Mizzou 25 and 14 in last year's game."

A 2-over-par round on Tuesday saw Mike Small’s Big […]