Brad Underwood’s run of landing elite visitors just keeps rolling, and Illinois has added another major name to the board.
Five-star small forward Moussa Kamissoko has locked in nine official visits during his senior year, and Champaign is on the list. Illinois joins Florida State, Syracuse, UConn, Virginia, Oklahoma State, BYU, Baylor and Louisville as the schools set to host the 6-foot-7 wing.
Kamissoko, the No. 20 overall prospect in the class of 2027, is rated No. 15 nationally and the No. 5 small forward in the class by 247Sports Composite rankings. His visit to Illinois will make him the second 2027 five-star recruit to arrive on campus, following NaVorro Bowman Jr., who is set to be in Champaign the week before.
For Underwood, this latest visit fits the bigger picture that has been building in Champaign. Illinois had gone 19 years without reaching a Final Four before the 2026 NCAA Tournament, then Underwood finally got the program back there in his eighth season. The Illini had been one game shy in 2024, falling in the Elite Eight.
What made that Final Four run stand out even more was the fact that Illinois did it without a five-star recruit on the roster. Freshman Keaton Wagler, the team’s top performer, was a three-star prospect with only a handful of Power Four offers. That showed Underwood could take Illinois deep into March without relying on blue-chip talent.
Now the question shifts to what happens if he gets that kind of talent in the building. Underwood has coached five-star players before, and he’ll do it again this season with freshman Quentin Coleman. But with three official visits from 2027 five-star recruits and another from a 2028 prospect, Illinois could be looking at a serious talent haul after this season.
Kamissoko’s visit list leans heavily toward Big 12 and ACC programs, with Illinois and UConn standing out as the exceptions. Still, the fact that Illinois is in the mix for so many high-end prospects says plenty about where the program stands right now.
If Underwood can turn even two of those three 2027 targets into commitments, Illinois would be in position to keep pushing the recruiting momentum that has already taken the program to new heights. And with 2028 five-star combo guard Brady Pettigrew already showing interest early in his process, the runway could get even longer.
In Other News...
Illinois Just Addressed A Tight End Problem Fans Were Watching
Illinois got a little more help at a position that had been thinned out by offseason injuries, with Bret Bielema announcing that fifth-year transfer Peyton Smith from the University of San Diego has joined the program. The tight end will wear No. 40 and arrives as an experienced option in a room that needed another body, giving Illinois some relief as it continues through preseason work.
Bielema also said there could still be more movement to come, depending on eligibility decisions tied to ongoing litigation. For a team trying to shore up depth while keeping an eye on what the legal process might open up, Smiths arrival feels like one piece of a larger roster picture that is still not fully settled. [Read more 🡒]
Illinois Suddenly Has A Roster Problem It Cant Yet Solve
Illinois had already planned around two incoming veterans when the eligibility landscape changed again, and the timing could hardly be worse for Bret Bielemas roster construction. Peyton Smith and Josh Lorick were added under a prior federal ruling that had opened the door for Class of 2022 athletes to gain a fifth year, giving programs a chance to treat those players as immediate additions for the 2026-27 season.
Now a federal court in Colorado has stayed that injunction, leaving most of those athletes ineligible while the legal fight continues. Some players in separate cases still have temporary protection through individual lawsuits, but Smith and Lorick are not among them, and Illinois is left waiting for clarity on two roster pieces it had already counted on before the latest ruling scrambled the picture again. [Read more 🡒]
Illinois Has One All-Decade Snub Fans Will Want To Argue About
Pro Football Focus rolled out its All-Decade Big Ten Team covering the span since 2016, and Illinois landed two familiar names on the list in Devon Witherspoon and Kendrick Green. It is a solid nod to a program that has pushed more talent into the league in recent years, but it also left room for debate, especially when you look at how much impact the Illini have gotten from the defensive front.
JerZhan Newton is the obvious omission fans will circle back to, because his production and game-wrecking presence made a strong case against some of the players who did make the cut. His stock has only gotten more complicated after Washington Commanders coach Dan Quinn said Newton is expected to miss significant time following surgery for a torn pec, a setback that adds a new layer to a player Illinois supporters already felt belonged in the conversation. [Read more 🡒]