Illinois Football Makes Top 5 for In-State DB

Illinois Football Makes Top 5 for In-State DB

On3’s Chad Simmons reported that Marian Catholic DB Austin Alexander has cut his list to five. The four-star prospect will be choosing from Illinois, Kansas, Iowa State, Purdue and Indiana. Illinois officially offered Alexander in February, and he has since blown up with multiple power-five offers. He is one of the top-10 2024 recruits in the state of Illinois and has recently earned a fourth star on 247.

Based off of Alexander’s top-5, this is one of those recruitments that Illinois should consistently win. He was previously committed to Wisconsin, however now he is going to be a hot commodity for the five aforementioned schools.

The Recruiting Profile:

Alexander is a 6 foot 1, 165 pound defensive back. He is a no-doubt power-five prospect who all Big Ten schools have tried to recruit. He would prove to be an interesting prep add to the class of 2024. Recently, Illinois Football has added a lot of JUCO prospects that can fill in at the defensive back position. With Taz Nicholson possibly playing his last year at Illinois and the amount of JUCO prospects, Illinois has a young defensive back room that could use some big time talent.

Austin Alexander would fit that bill as he is long and rangy for his size. He is also an in-state prospect. Alexander, Luke Williams and Darrion Dupree are the type of recruitments Illinois needs to start to win. They have started winning more often, and can also sell the NFL level development that Bret Bielema and his staff have achieved the past years. After three Illinois Defensive backs were selected in the 2023 NFL draft, Illinois Football has some momentum that they need to cash in on.

The other schools.

As always, power-five recruitments are difficult to win. Being in these type of recruitments is kind of a new pattern for Illinois given the lack of success Lovie Smith had in general. Illinois has won some of these with the recruitments of Jared Badie, Aidan Laughery, Eian Pugh and Malik Elzy. However, to really continue the path of success, they must win these types of recruitments.

A similarly ranked and recruited prospect is Naperville North’s Luke Williams. Illinois is also recruiting Williams as a defensive back. If Illinois can land both Alexander and Williams, they will have quite the foundation going forward. Per 247, Austin Alexander will visit Illinois on June 23rd This will be the Chicago native’s last scheduled recruit. Illinois will hope that he makes it to that visit without having committed to another school. Purdue is also one to watch as Austin Alexander really highlighted his strong relationship with the coaches there. He also has visited West Lafayette twice.