Illinois Football lands 2025 In-state Linebacker Jack Paris

Illinois football has made a last-minute addition to their class of 2025 with the commitment of in-state linebacker Jack Paris. Paris is a linebacker from Oak Park, Illinois who has been committed to Air Force since last August. His commitment is an intriguing in-state move for Bret Bielema and the Illini as they make yet another last minute addition to their class. In past years, players like Matthew Bailey and Mac Resetich were all late additions to their class. They were all underrecruited, in-state kids that the Illinois football staff wanted to keep under wraps. In the past, certain evaluations such as linebacker Jimmy Rolder went public and a bigger fish came in (Michigan) to swoop the prospect from the Illini’s grasp.

Since that experience, Bret Bielema and his staff have kept their evaluations pretty close to the vest. Paris seems to be the latest example

Impact?

Linebacker is a huge position of need for the Illini, however, they have done pretty well to add some solid pieces. Outside of Paris, Illinois football signed four-star linebacker Grant Beerman. Additionally, they currently trend well for highly touted 2026 prospect, Cam Thomas. Thomas holds offers from a number of power-five schools and would be quite the recruiting win for Bret Bielema and the Illini. It looks like Illinois will continue to swing big as they most recently landed top-50 prospect, Victor Singleton. However, Bret Bielema clearly does not forget his roots of strong evaluations and finding underrecruited in-state prospects.

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