Brad Underwood keeps stacking up five-star traffic on the recruiting trail, and the latest name headed to Champaign is 2027 combo guard NaVarro Bowman Jr.
Bowman has set an official visit to Illinois for September 10, giving Underwood another shot at one of the class’s top players. The 6-foot-3 guard is coming off a summer surge and is ranked No. 13 nationally and No. 3 at his position in the class of 2027, according to 247Sports.
Illinois is one stop in a loaded fall schedule for Bowman. His other official visits are set for UConn on September 4, Texas on September 19 and Arizona on September 25, according to Sam Kayser.
That visit list is the latest sign that Illinois is drawing serious attention from elite prospects. In the last week alone, the Illini also picked up official visit buzz from five-star 2028 combo guard and Illinois native Brady Pettigrew, who is set to visit in early October, and five-star 2027 center Darius Wabbington, who has an official visit scheduled for the end of October.
For Underwood, that kind of momentum matters. He has not typically been a frequent winner in the five-star market, with only two five-star recruits since 2020, but that trend is starting to shift. The most recent of those is Class of 2026 five-star shooting guard Quentin Coleman, who will make his Illinois debut in a few months.
Coleman gives Underwood the first real look at how five-star talent fits into a roster he shaped carefully in the offseason. Illinois also added two four-star recruits and three three-stars in the 2026 class, but the fall official visit run suggests Underwood is now aiming even higher.
Bowman would be a natural fit for that next step, especially with Illinois likely losing Andrej Sotjakovic and potentially Stefan Vaaks after this season. And with the Illini coming off a Final Four run - their first since 2005 - the program has clearly become a more attractive landing spot.
The broader picture is hard to miss: Underwood is busy, Illinois is getting in the conversation with top-tier talent, and the Illini are starting to look like a real recruiting threat.
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Illinois Freshmen Are Already Drawing Some Intriguing Former Illini Comparisons
The early look at Illinois 2026-27 freshmen class is already inviting some familiar Brad Underwood-era comparisons, which is usually a good sign that the roster has both length and upside worth talking about. Lincoln Williams, Landon Davis, Ethan Brown and Quentin Coleman all bring different skill sets to Champaign, and the broader point of the breakdown is less about projecting a finished product than about sketching what each player might become once they get into the programs system.
What makes the exercise useful for Illinois fans is how easily these freshmen can be lined up with former Illini who helped define the Underwood era in different ways, from physical wings to shot-making guards to versatile pieces who found their roles over time. The comparisons are still speculative, of course, but they offer a basic read on how this group could fit, and which newcomers may be the kind of players who start looking very familiar once the season actually gets here. [Read more 🡒]
Illinois Just Earned A Real Shot At An Elite 2027 Big Man
Darius Wabbingtons recruitment has started to take on the shape of a real national chase, and Illinois is right in the middle of it. The 2027 five-star big man has lined up official visits to six finalist schools, giving the Illini a chance to make their pitch against a strong group that also includes Indiana, Louisville, Arizona, North Carolina and Texas. Wabbingtons background already stands out, too, with both high school and international experience adding to the intrigue around a prospect whose ceiling has made him one of the more closely watched young frontcourt players in the country.
For Illinois, the encouraging part is not just being included, but being included at this stage after the list tightened. Wabbington comes in as a major target with plenty of room for the next wave of recruiting momentum, and his profile suggests the kind of big man every program wants to keep in the conversation. The visits will matter, and so will the impression Illinois makes when the dust settles on this round of evaluation. [Read more 🡒]