Illinois Football is Trying to Close on its 2024 QB

Illinois Football is trying to close on its QB for the class of 2024.

This past weekend, Illinois Football hosted Trey Petty for an official visit. Petty is a 6 foot 1, dual-threat quarterback from Starkville, Mississippi. Petty is an impressive recruit who holds power-five offers from West Virginia, Indiana and Georgia Tech. Petty hails from the same high school as current [likely] starting QB, Luke Altmyer. Altmyer was a senior while Petty was a freshman at Starkville High School.

Petty put up some impressive numbers during his junior season. He threw for 30 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, all while rushing for 17 touchdowns.

A look at the Illinois Football QB room.

Adding Petty would be a nice boost to the foundation of the QB room. Luke Altmyer is expected to have multiple years of eligibility, however outside of Altmyer, the room is very young. The backups look to be Donovan Leary, Kirkland Michaux (walk-on) and True freshman Cal Swanson. Petty fits the mold that Swanson is in. Both are long, lanky and athletic dual-threat quarterbacks. Petty is a more polished thrower based off of his film.

Barry Lunney Jr has been rather selective in who he offers in the QB position. Last year, it seemed that he was only after Cal Swanson. Swanson projects as a prospect that will require a few years of development, however it is clear what Lunney Jr is looking for: Fast, long and athletic Dual Threat Quarterbacks.

Pushing hard before the heat of the summer.

Illinois seems to have got Petty on campus quickly. Additionally, hosting a prospect for an Official visit during the spring of his junior year shows that there is an urgency to close this recruitment down before summer camps and senior seasons. After digging around, Illinois has not hosted too many prospects for late April official visits. Due to this, there is a crystal ball on 247 currently for Trey Petty to commit to Illinois.

Trey Petty fits the mold, and the fact that he chose to visit shows a mutual interest. If Petty does choose Illinois, they will certainly have some interesting talent in the room with Luke Altmyer during the 2025 season. Illinois has improved its sell for defensive players given its recent success translating to NFL draft picks. Bielema and Lunney Jr have to start upping the ante in terms of getting some offensive players to the NFL. Though they have some impressive Offensive linemen who will make the jump, landing skill players like Trey Petty is a strong start towards achieving those goals.