O'Malley pledges to Illinois

Libertyville (Ill.) junior defensive tackle recruit Ryan O'Malley 6-foot-4, 255 pounds) moments ago announced that he has given the University of Illinois his verbal commitment. O'Malley was offered by the Illini recently and talked previously about his first offer along with his Fighting Illini family ties to the school below.

"It's pretty exciting to get my first offer from Illinois." O'Malley said. "Both of my parents went to Illinois and it just feels great to have an offer from the Fighting Illini."

O'Malley talked about how he wound up adding his first offer from Illinois.

"I went to the Illinois Junior Day a a few weeks ago. The Illinois coaches really liked my height and weight and they really gave me a lot of attention at the Junior Day. Once I got back home the Illinois coaches contacted me on Twitter and told me that they wanted me to come back to visit them as soon as I could make it back down. I went back down on Friday and that's when Illinois offered me. I was able to take a big tour of the campus and I just learned more about the campus and the academics at Illinois. Illinois has a lot to offer and they are rebuilding the program and focusing on in state kids and recruiting. I was hoping that they had plans to offer me and they hinted that an offer could be coming soon, but it still felt great to finally get that offer on Friday."

Ryan O'Malley is verbally committed to Illinois.