Illinois Football Lands its QB in the Class of 2024

Illinois Football Lands its QB in the Class of 2024

Barry Lunney Jr has landed his QB for the class of 2024. On Thursday evening, Starkville QB, Trey Petty announced his commitment on social media to Illinois Football. Illinois acted quickly on Petty as they just hosted the Mississippi QB for an official visit this past weekend. Petty went to the sane high school as the current front-runner to start at QB this season, Luke Altmyer.

Petty chose the Illini over offers from Indiana, West Virginia and more. He is the third commitment in the class of 2024. OL Brandon Hansen and D-lineman Angelo McCollum round out the class. This is an impressive win for Illinois Football as they successfully secured Petty’s commitment prior to the start of summer camps and visits.

The fit with Illinois Football

Petty put up some impressive numbers during his junior season. He threw for 30 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, all while rushing for 17 touchdowns. Petty is a different prospect than most of the current QB room and he will certainly add a diverse skill set. 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.

Lunney Jr has been selective in his pursuit of a prep QB, however it is clear what he wants. Long, athletic dual-threat QB’s who have skilled arms.

What’s next?

Illinois will certainly start the summer off with some key official visitors. They currently have three players in their class of 2024 and I expect that number to increase by the start of the summer. Illinois has always been keen on securing the first visits for most prospects in hope of closing their recruitments down in a quick nature.

Additionally, I expect Illinois to continue to be active in the transfer portal. Specifically, they will certainly look to improve the Center, nose-tackle and corner back positions. These are the spots in which the team is the most thin and/or young at. Center seems like a massive priority after losing former commit, Avery Jones to some tomfoolery involving NIL.  There are also some intriguing wide receiver prospects in the portal including AJ Henning and Zakhari Franklin.

Illinois native, Kaleb Brown recently committed to Iowa and Illinois has not really garnered much buzz for Henning. Despite this, look for the Illini to continue its activity to round out this roster.