The Fightings’ Head Coach Listed Reasons Why He Chose Johnson as………..more
The Illini are bringing in one of the top recruits in the country for 2024 with the addition of Morez Johnson Jr. The big man is going to be great for the Illinois frontcourt.
Brad Underwood and the Illinois coaching staff have already landed the point guard of the future in 2025 as well. Jeremiah Fears is a top-30 recruit and a high four-star talent who will be sensational for the program.
In addition to Fears and Johnson joining the program, Illinois is in serious contention for five-star forward Will Riley. The incredible big man is the No. 12 player in the 2025 class, and he is set to make a decision on June 23.
Illinois has been recruiting at a high level, and it doesn’t seem like that level of recruiting is stopping any time soon. In fact, Joe Tipton of On3.com reported on Wednesday that Illinois is getting an official visit from Jasper Johnson.
Johnson is a 6-foot-4, 170-pound shooting guard from Link Academy in Missouri. He is rated as a five-star recruit and ranked as the No. 10 player in the class of 2025. He is also the No. 4 shooting guard in the country and the No. 1 player coming out of the state of Missouri.
In the post by Tipton, he also mentions Alabama as getting an official visit as well.
It has been a crazy last few months for the Illini. We lost nearly our entire roster to either the transfer portal or the NBA. On top of that, one of our assistants, Chester Frazier, departed for West Virginia and took a couple of players with him.
Fast forward to today, and that departure now seems like it could be a blessing in disguise. As much as I loved Frazier, his departure opened the door for Orlando Antigua to come back into the mix. Since Antigua was brought back to Champaign from Kentucky, Illinois has been hustling on the recruiting front.
The Illini have been able to snag a few solid recruits who are going to build great depth on the roster, but moreover, the level of recruiting has increased.
I mentioned Riley earlier in the article, and he wasn’t even looking at Illinois until Antigua was hired. Now, I believe Illinois is the projected landing spot for the five-star recruit.
Back nearly a year ago, Riley was only rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 39 player in the class of 2025. He has slowly started to rise with each update 247Sports made.
By the end of 2023, Riley found himself ranked as the No. 30 player in the 247Sports composite rankings. By March, he cracked the top 20 nationally. Now, the five-star small forward is ranked as the No. 15 player in the country.
Illinois started to get in contention for Riley in the past month. We hired Orlando Antigua as an assistant coach, and he started to work his magic. After three official visits – Illinois on June 3, Kentucky on June 4, and Alabama on June 6 – Riley is set to make a commitment.
On Thursday, Joe Tipton of On3.com reported that Riley has a date set for his big decision. He is going to make a commitment on June 23.I am not going to lie, typing that Riley has a decision gives me goosebumps. It seems that Illinois is not just squarely in the mix for this five-star recruit, but it seems that we are in the lead to land him.
This past Tuesday, the first 247Sports Crystal Ball Prediction was submitted for Riley in favor of Illinois. Friday was a big momentum swinger, though. While there was already one prediction in, 247Sports’ Basketball Analyst Travis Branham also submitted a Crystal Ball Prediction. Who is he thinking will land Riley?
There are two Crystal Ball Predictions in favor of the Illini, and one is from a bigwig at 247Sports. Landing Riley would be one of the biggest gets in program history