Illinois
In-state official visit coming up is huge for the Illinois football defense
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.
Illinois visit was 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 #ILL @CoachJamison @CoachGriffith3 @Recruit2Illini pic.twitter.com/6AKtzgKIut
— Cameron Brooks (@cambrooks2025) February 1, 2024
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.
Next. Illinois football adding a wrecking ball defensive lineman from the transfer portal. Illinois football adding a wrecking ball defensive lineman from the transfer portal. dark
CENTRALIA, Ill. – An investigation is underway after multiple people were shot Sunday in Centralia, Illinois, according to a report from WFCN News in southern Illinois.
FOX 2 has confirmed the Illinois State Police is investigating a shooting and taking over the investigation, but ISP could not confirm many further details as of 9 p.m. Sunday.
“The investigation is in its infancy and to protect the integrity of the investigation, no additional details will be released at this time,” ISP said in a statement to FOX 2.
According to WFCN News, the shooting happened around 5 p.m. near the 900 block of East Kell Street in Centralia. Multiple law enforcement agencies have since responded to scene and multiple victims are hospitalized, according to the report.
It’s unclear how many people may have been injured and what led up to the shooting.
Centralia, Illinois is about 70 miles, or just over an hour, east of St. Louis.
This is a developing story. FOX 2 will update as more information becomes available.
The National Weather Service has teams of storm surveryors in the field April 18 investigating several reports of severe storms and tornado touch downs across eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois and northeast Missouri.
According to the weather service’s website, windgusts of up to 60 to 70 mph along with teacup-sized hail and several tornadoes were reported April 17.
Many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees were uprooted and power lines were downed in Lena, Illinois, where the most significant damage occurred, the site pointed out.
Very strong winds also were reported near Washington, Iowa, and Colmar, Illinois, where several outbuildings and grain bins were destroyed.
The weather service received reports of confirmed and possible tornadoes in the areas of Lena, Pecatonica, Shirland, Rockton, Roscoe and Capron.
The teams will be assessing damage this weekend into next week along with county emergency management teams to determine what types of storms occurred and their paths.
Dozens of power outages were reported, as well.
As of the afternoon of April 18, ComEd was reporting 85 active power outages across northern Illinois, down from 241 on April 17, and 6,751 customers affected, down from more than 18,000.
The bulk of those outages and the most customers impacted are concentrated in Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties.
Freeze Watch
from MON 12:00 AM CDT until MON 9:00 AM CDT, Lake County, Kankakee County, La Salle County, DuPage County, Northern Will County, DeKalb County, Southern Will County, Kendall County, Southern Cook County, Northern Cook County, Grundy County, Eastern Will County, Kane County, McHenry County, Lake County, Newton County, Jasper County, Porter County
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