Every week, BTPowerhouse’s Big Ten Morning Power Bar details what’s going on across the league on the recruiting trail.
With the majority of 2018 prospects and classes settled, Big Ten coaches have turned to 2019 and 2020 to see what prospects match their recruiting needs. We’ve highlighted more and more 2019 offers over the past few weeks, and this week, Illinois, joined in the offering frenzy. Check out who the Illini offered below, plus a 2018 decision that didn’t go the Big Ten’s way and Iowa offering a talented 2020 guard.
Illinois Sends Out Multiple 2019 And 2020 Offers
Things might not being going well for the Illini this season, but coach Brad Underwood is looking to turn it around on the recruiting trail.
The Illini are not done with their 2018 class (more on that below), but sent out a bunch of new offers this week to 2019 and 2020 prospects.
First up is guard Jahmius Ramsey. According to Andrew Slater, Ramsey was offered by the Illini on January 15th. Check out the tweet below.
6’4” Jahmius Ramsey @JahmiusRamsey of @IMGAcademy just earned an offer from #Illinois . Has offers from Texas A&M, Virginia, Baylor, Kansas St., UNLV & Florida as well as Villanova, Maryland, LSU & UConn interest. Physical, 2-way wing from TX enjoying strong junior season pic.twitter.com/wn4nXhZ85Q
— Andrew Slater (@Andrew__Slater) January 16, 2018
As you can see from the offer list, Illinois will have to fight for Ramsey’s talents. We’ll keep you up-to-date as this top-50 guard continues in his recruiting process.
According to VerbalCommits, other 2019 offers out this week include 2019 power forward Tre Mitchell and point guard Mario McKinney Jr. Mitchell is ranked no. 107 (Rivals) in his class and holds offers from such schools as UConn, Wake Forest, Penn State, Tennessee, Minnesota, Seton Hall and Georgia Tech amongst others. McKinney Jr. is ranked no. 71 (Rivals) and has an offer list that includes Auburn, DePaul, Iowa, Missouri and Xavier.
The 2020 offer went out to top 50 wing Cam’Ron Fletcher. The Missouri native holds offers from Kansas State and Missouri State. Expect an offer from Missouri as well. Fletcher projects to be one of the best wings in the 2020 class, and so kudos to Underwood’s staff to making Fletcher such a high priority.
Flo Thamba Chooses Baylor Over Illinois and Nebraska
Despite all that activity in 2019 and 2020, Illinois still has spots to fill in 2018.
The Fighting Illini have five-star Ayo Dosunmu committed, but need other pieces such as a big man. One of their key targets was three-star defensive presence Flo Thamba. Things did not go the Illini’s way as Thamba spurned Illinois and fellow Big Ten school, Nebraska, and chose Baylor.
It is a disappointing outcome for coach Underwood, but Illinois will continue to monitor available big men in 2018 and in the graduate transfer market.
Iowa Offers 2020 Small Forward
The Illini weren’t the only team to extend 2020 offers this week. Fran McCaffery’s Iowa Hawkeyes offered 2020 wing Andre Jackson. The 6-foot-6 New York native is rated as a four-star prospect according to Rivals. This is the second Power 5 offer for Jackson as he also has scholarships extended from Syracuse, George Washington and Massachusetts. Expect many more scholarship offers to come. Some highlights from Jackson are below.
Check back next week for the latest in Big Ten recruiting news.