Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

December 2, 2023

Clay Patterson, courtesy player X page.

For the second consecutive week, Fighting Illini football secured a football commitment. Today, it came from Yale transfer Clay Patterson. 

Last week, Illinois secured commitments from Edge JUCO product Daniel Brown, Kansas City, Missouri and Andrew Dennis from Mount Pleasant, Michigan.  

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema pursued Patterson himself and made sure Patterson knew how important he could be for the 2023-24 Illini.

Patterson is 6-foot-3 and 290 pounds, originally from Frisco, Texas. He has spent the last three years at Yale. The big defensive lineman will give Illinois much more depth at a position of need. 

The Lone Star state prep earned second team All-Ivy last year. Patterson was a third-team All-American two seasons ago after totaling 44 tackles and 11.5 sacks, also recording six sacks on the season.

Patterson made it official via his X page that he committed to Illinois.

This commitment shows the rest of the country that Bielema can recruit with the big boys, as Illinois beat out the Colorado Buffaloes for his services. Keep in mind that Colorado is an up-and-coming team, and recruits are flocking to their new head coach Deon Sanders.

Follow me on Twitter a @KedPrince4 

email: KedIlliniGuys@gmail.com