The Florida native had well over a dozen scholarship offers.
Big news for Lovie Smith and the Fighting Illini! After members of the coaching staff began celebrating a commitment, three-star cornerback Antwan Collier announced his verbal to Illinois via Twitter. The Florida native is the No. 1078 overall player in 247Sports’ class-of-2017 composite rankings.
Committed to Illinois pic.twitter.com/EpGG8vMCqc
— Antwan Collier (@9millyy_ac) August 1, 2016
“I want to thank all the coaches that gave me scholarships to their school and I would like to thank God, my parents, teammates, and coaches for supporting through the recruiting process. At this time I will be committing to the University of Illinois #WeWillWin #Illini”
~ Antwan Collier
Great start to the first day of official offer letters! Go Illini! #keepaniontheillini! pic.twitter.com/lwWegnbnyp
— Lovie Smith (@LovieSmith) August 1, 2016
I-L-L-I-N-I! The columns are hot! #WEWILLWIN pic.twitter.com/8E9CZ3SfEM
— Josh Sternquist (@kta1927) August 1, 2016
According to his 247Sports’ profile, Collier also had additional scholarship offers from the following programs (Power 5 bolded): California, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Iowa State, Louisville, Maryland, Middle Tennessee State, N.C. State, Nebraska, Oregon State, Purdue, Southern Mississippi, Central Florida, South Florida, and Utah.
The Fighting Illini now have seven verbal commitments for the class-of-2017. The Orange and Blue are still last in the Big Ten, but the they’ve drawn just about even with Purdue.