Illinois football wants a nasty front seven on defense, and we are looking to add an in-state talent to help with that cause.

For the 2024 season, the Illini are patching together a defensive line via the transfer portal. We have some young players who came into the program, but they will be fully unleashed on the Big Ten in 2025.

Illinois also has a few solid outside linebackers who will tear apart opposing offenses. I am excited to see what Alec Bryant, Seth Coleman, Gabe Jacas, and Company can do this season.

Depth is an issue for the outside linebacker position moving forward, though. Illinois has seven outside linebackers on the roster right now, and four out of the seven outside linebackers are at least a junior. The Illini need to bolster the position with more incoming young talent.

Landing someone like Cameron Brooks would be great for the Illini. He is a 6-foot-3, 258-pound edge from Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Illinois. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 1053 player in the class of 2025. He is also the No. 78 edge in the country and the No. 30 player coming out of the state of Illinois.

Brooks seems to be narrowing the scope of his recruitment. He has official visits set up to Kansas State and Kansas on January 21 and January 14, respectively. Brooks also has one more visit set up. That visit is to Illinois on June 7. We get his first visit of the summer.

Brooks is a fun football player to watch. Most of the high school athletes are so big and physically overpowering that they are going to look good on tape. Brooks’ hudl tape is different.

What stood out to me is the football IQ. There was a clip early on that the offense was running a screen play, and Brooks was able to sniff it out. If he didn’t realize it was a screen, the play would have gone for a touchdown. Instead, he made the tackle and forced a fumble.

When I look at the Illinois roster, I can see Brooks getting early snaps at Illinois. Coleman is a senior, so he is gone after this season. Bryant, Daniel Brown, and Jacas are all juniors, so 2025 will be their last year at Illinois.

The Illini then have Mason Muragin, Joe Barna, and Pat Farrell on the roster, all of whom are freshmen.

I imagine Brooks comes in and redshirts in 2025. That would make sense because of the roster construct. As a redshirt freshman, who knows what the roster looks like at outside linebacker. There are only three players on the roster who would be on the team in 2026, and those players haven’t proved anything.

I like Brooks’ game. This kid could be pretty good at the next level. Honestly, I am surprised he isn’t more highly touted. I think he has a ton of potential.