Illinois football news: Three-star Floridian LB Tony Williams commits to the Illini

NEWS: Illinois football landed the commitment of three-star linebacker Tony Williams after an official visit to campus. Williams chose the Illini over impressive offers from the likes of Iowa State, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, and Nebraska. Per the 247sports Class of 2026 rankings, Williams is No. 453 overall prospect and the No. 37 linebacker in the class. His commitment is the third linebacker commitment in the class of 2026. Alongside Williams, Texas three-star linebacker Kaedyn Cobbs and four-star prospect Cam Thomas, are the two other linebacker commits.

In the class of 2025, linebacker coach Archie McDaniel added four-star linebacker Grant Beerman and intriguing prospects Jack Paris and Ismael Kante. After a historic 2024-2025 season, it was pretty clear that Illinois football needed to beef up its linebacker room. Outside of Malachi Hood and James Kreutz, there was not much in terms of depth, especially with upperclassmen Dylan Rosiek and Ryan Meed. Archie McDaniel has put his foot to the pedal, however, and added some impressive talent to the linebacker room.

Illinois football in the Recruiting rankings?

Again, the recruiting rankings ultimately do not mean much; however, the Illini currently have the 7th overall class per the 247sports rankings. All of their 13 commitments have other power-five offers, and Illinois is winning a lot of these prospects over. It goes to show how well the Illini staff recruits their players and how well they build relationships. After a historic 10-win season, Bret Bielema has Illinois buzzing and is making full use of the buzz on the recruiting trail. As time goes on, look for the Illini to continue to win over power-five prospects to add to their impressive class.

Williams is an impressive athlete that brings speed and physicality to a competitive, Big Ten linebacker room. Look for the linebacker room to be a huge strength of Illinois in just a few years.

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