{"id":133513,"date":"2025-06-16T04:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T04:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/133513\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T04:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T04:19:09","slug":"illinois-flips-2026-edge-jaylen-stewart-from-oklahoma-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/133513\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois flips 2026 EDGE Jaylen Stewart from Oklahoma State"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pearland<\/a> (Texas) three-star EDGE Jaylen Stewart<\/a> has flipped his commitment from Oklahoma State<\/a> to Illinois<\/a>, he announced on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Pledged to the Cowboys since February, Stewart is now in the mix for the Illini following an official visit to Champaign.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder is the No. 521 overall prospect and No. 52 EDGE in the 2026 cycle, according to the\u00a0On3 Industry Ranking<\/a>, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He\u2019s also the No. 72 player in Texas.<\/p>\n

In 12 games as a junior last season, Stewart had 52 total tackles and six sacks, according to MaxPreps<\/a>. Pearland finished the year as the No. 81 team in the state, per the On3 Composite Rankings<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Stewart is the second Texan to commit to Illinois this cycle, joining Denton Guyer three-star linebacker Kaedyn Cobbs<\/a>. The Illini\u2019s class ranks No. 26 in the nation, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings<\/a>. <\/p>\n

More on Illinois Recruiting this cycle<\/p>\n

Head coach Bret Bielema<\/a> and the Illini have now added three commitments this month. On June 9, Downers Grove (Ill.) North three-star tight end Will Vala<\/a> joined the class. One day later, Omaha (Neb.) Millard South three-star running back Nelsyn Wheeler<\/a> did the same.<\/p>\n

Seven in-state commits are in the class, headlined by Chicago Morgan Park four-star wide receiver Nasir Rankin<\/a>. The 5-foot-11.5 pass-catcher is the No. 195 recruit and No. 30 WR in the nation. He pledged on May 21 and also plans to play basketball in Champaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan it\u2019s just ever since I went down there they treated me like I was already at the school,\u201d Rankin told On3\u2019s Steve Wiltfong<\/a>. \u201cIt was crazy. I knew it was home \u2026 It was my first offer. They were the first people to take a chance on me and they never stopped believing in me \u2026 It was perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rankin is one of three blue-chippers in the class. West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West four-star athlete Cam Thomas<\/a> committed in February. Tampa Bay Tech On300 running back Javari Barnett<\/a> joined in April and is On3\u2019s No. 26 RB this cycle.<\/p>\n

Other top commits in the class include: Olney (Ill.) Richland County three-star offensive tackle Casey Thomann<\/a>, Jacksonville Raines three-star linebacker Tony Williams<\/a>, Orlando Bishop Moore Catholic three-star WR Kenyon Alston<\/a>, Omaha (Neb.) Millard South three-star interior offensive lineman Landen Von Seggern<\/a> and Chicago Brother Rice three-star defensive lineman King Liggins<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pearland (Texas) three-star EDGE Jaylen Stewart has flipped his commitment from Oklahoma State to Illinois, he announced on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,31673,49,48,31674,1461],"class_list":{"0":"post-133513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jaylen-stewart-26-pearland","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-pearland-oilers-pearland","13":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114691123662559361","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}