{"id":868960,"date":"2026-04-18T07:00:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T07:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868960\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T07:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T07:00:39","slug":"vip-illini-hosting-a-trio-of-official-visitors-this-weekend-more-notes-on-class-of-2027-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868960\/","title":{"rendered":"VIP: Illini hosting a trio of official visitors this weekend + more notes on Class of 2027 targets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following four-star QB <a href=\"https:\/\/247Sports.com\/Player\/Kamden-Lopati-46148735\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kamden Lopati<\/a>s flip to Michigan, <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/college\/illinois\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Illinois<\/a> football has just one commitment in the Class of 2027 \u2014 four-star Evanston DB <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/Coach\/justin-johnson-4387\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Justin Johnson<\/a> \u2014 which is the lowest in the Big Ten.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, Illinois continues to get really good talent on campus.<\/p>\n<p>Last weekend, Illinois hosted six uncommitted Power Four prospects on campus, including two four-star prospects: New Jersey DL <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/Player\/aidan-oneil-46153666\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Aidan O&#8217;Neil<\/a> and Georgia OL <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/Player\/timi-aliu-46161065\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Timi Aliu<\/a>. The Illini also hosted three-star in-state OL <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/Player\/mason-halliman-46155221\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mason Halliman<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/college\/illinois\/article\/mason-halliman-illinois-fighting-illini-football-recruiting-official-visit-lincoln-way-east-281510453\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">recap here<\/a>), three-star Texas WR <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/Player\/brody-knowles-46153338\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Brody Knowles<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/college\/illinois\/article\/brody-knowles-illinois-fighting-illini-football-recruiting-official-visit-southlake-carroll-282004228\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">recap here<\/a>), three-star Arkansas DL <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/Player\/eli-thornton-46163675\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Eli Thornton<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/college\/illinois\/article\/eli-thornton-illinois-fighting-illini-football-recruiting-official-visit-jonesboro-valley-view-281575522\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">recap here<\/a>) and three-star Oregon DL <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/Player\/josh-christensen-46155573\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Josh Christensen<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/college\/illinois\/article\/josh-christensen-illinois-fighting-illini-football-recruiting-official-visit-recap-lake-oswego-281774017\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">recap here<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>This week, the Illini also made the top-four for four-star St. Joseph-Ogden OL <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/Player\/cameron-wagner-46148737\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cameron Wagner<\/a> and the top-three for Nazareth Academy OL <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/Player\/luke-injaychock-46154262\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Luke Injaychock<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So the Illini continue to appeal to highly sought-after recruits. Now, the Illini will just to reel them in.<\/p>\n<p>That effort will continue this weekend with three Class of 2027 prospects expected to take official visits to Champaign this weekend. Illini Inquirer breaks down those recruitments, plus more Illini football recruiting notes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following four-star QB Kamden Lopatis flip to Michigan, Illinois football has just one commitment in the Class of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-868960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116424428740105267","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868960","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=868960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}