Football
Illinois Football lands top 2027 Lineman Mason Halliman
Halliman is the second prospect committed in the Illini’s class of 2027.
Illinois football has landed another in-state prospect to its class of 2027! On Saturday morning, three-star offensive lineman Mason Halliman announced his decision to commit to Illinois over offers from Michigan, Wisconsin, Ole Miss, Iowa, and more. Halliman is a 6-foot-5-inch, 280-pound offensive lineman who currently plays at Lincoln-Way East High School. Per 247sports, Halliman was on campus from April 10th to April 12th for an official visit, and was supposedly scheduled to visit Iowa in June. This is major news for Illinois, who continue to add talent on its offensive line. On top of that, the Illini seem to consistently land in-state linemen with other Power Five offers.
Mason Halliman is the second prospect committed to the Class of 2027 for Illinois Football. He joins Evanston Athlete Justin Johnson in the class.
What does it mean?
Kudos to Jeremy Werner of Illini Inquirer for pulling this statistic. Illinois Football has landed 30 top-30 in-state prospects over the past six recruiting cycles under Bret Bielema. In the six cycles prior to Bielema? Illinois had only landed 10 of those prospects. The Illini may not own the state; however, there are plenty of talented prospects. They may not grab the ones ranked 1, 2, or 3 that often, but they do an outstanding job of getting guys within that top 30. All prospects in that top-30 have multiple power-five offers, and Illinois is winning out.
Mason Halliman is a major prospect to join the Illini, and Bret Bielema and his staff deserve a lot of credit for pulling this one off over Iowa and other Big Ten programs.
Notably, Illinois has had multiple offensive linemen drafted in the NFL over the past few seasons. Most recently, J.C. Davis was selected in the sixth round by the New York Giants.
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