Good Morning, Illini Nation: Illinois offers 2027 guard Scottie Adkinson
Sep. 4—Welcome to "Good Morning, Illini Nation," your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He'll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood's team:
Illinois has followed a similar pattern when it starts to recruit a new class of players. Start local (or at least in state) and then branch out. That's been the case with the Class of 2027. Yes, high school freshmen.
The latest offer in the Class of 2027 went to Marion native Scottie Adkinson. Of course, like fellow 2027 target Jaylan Mitchell, Adkinson isn't actually going to start his high school basketball career in Illinois. Mitchell will play the 2023-24 season at Evansville (Ind.) Reitz, and Adkinson will be at Webster Groves (Mo.).
Arguably the top two freshmen in the entire state, and they're already gone. Not that they're the first to do so. Two-thirds of the state's top seniors aren't finishing their high schools careers in Illinois. Morez Johnson Jr. stayed, albeit with a transfer to Thornton, as the St. Rita program blew up with UNC-bound James Brown going to Link Prep (Mo.) and Iowa State-bound Nojus Indrusaitis at Brewster Academy (N.H.).
The state's best have left in droves in recent years. Adkinson and Mitchell are simply the latest (and maybe youngest I can recall). Of course, there's always guys like Bryce Heard. The Class of 2025 prospect left Kenwood after his freshman season and played last year at Montverde Academy (Fla.). Now he's back at Homewood-Flossmoor.
Anyway, Adkinson is a 6-foot-2, 170-pound point guard. He holds one other offer from Lindenwood with several years of recruitment still ahead of him, of course. And, believe it or not (you should), Chester Frazier is the lead recruiter for Illinois.
