Hood breaks down his Fighting Illini offer

Joliet (Ill.) Catholic Academy 2022 athlete recruit Malachi Hood (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) made an on campus unofficial visit and a private workout at the University of Illinois on Tuesday and came away with his first Power 5 scholarship offer from the in-state Fighting Illini. Hood breaks down his big day in Champaign and much more in this latest recruiting news update.

"It's been a really long and stressful day today (Tuesday) but it's also a good problem to have," Hood said jokingly. "It's just an amazing feeling to add an offer from Illinois and I had a great day."

Hood walked us through his Tuesday at the University of Illinois.

"I went down to Illinois in the morning and I had a meeting with the Illinois coaches. I had a facility tour and they filled me in on what I would be doing during the private workout. I ended up doing a lot of different positional work for the Illinois linebackers coaches Adam Buh and Kevin Kane. After the workout I went back upstairs and sat with head coach Bret Bielema and we had a good discussion. The Illinois coaches said I did well during the workout and that I was worthy of an offer from Illinois. Coach Bielema talked about the significance of adding an offer from Illinois and the importance of recruiting and signing in-state players."

So what stood out to Hood on his visit to Illinois on Tuesday?

"I didn't get the whole campus experience at Illinois since school wasn't in session, but outside of that Illinois was highly impressive with everything else they have to offer. I loved the facilities at Illinois along with the campus layout and everything was just really impressive. It would be hard to imagine any other schools offering what Illinois has to offer to be honest. Plus Illinois is also in my backyard which also make it standout even more in my eyes."

One thing was certain after his Illinois offer landed on Tuesday, and that is Hood's recruiting stock has gotten a sudden boost.

"My phone just really blew up after Illinois offered me a scholarship. I heard from the coaches ay Temple, Iowa, Northwestern and several other schools. I honestly lost track of all of the coaches who reached out to me today on my phone and on social media. Illinois was also really great about the offer and said they won't pressure me right now to make a decision. A lot of other schools will pressure kids right away to commit once they are offered a scholarship. Coach Bielema said the offer has no expiration date and that they are willing to wait on my time frame to make a decision. Illinois said they are taking two linebackers in this class and even if they get two early linebacker commitments, they will then take three linebackers if I decide to commit to Illinois."

So what's up next for Hood this summer?

"A lot of college reached out today so I want to get back to those coaches. I was looking at camping with some schools but I'm pretty certain I'm done with camps for this summer. I'm just going to go back to work, look at all of my options and move forward with everything this summer."

Malachi Hood has a scholarship offer from the University of Illinois.