Illini 2021 4-Star Target Brandon Weston To Commit On Sept. 1
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois fans now have a date when they'll learn whether the basketball pipeline built from Chicago Morgan Park High School to the University of Illinois will continue.
Brandon Weston, a four-star 2021 wing who named the Illini in final six college choices earlier this month, confirmed on Twitter Tuesday afternoon he'll make his college verbal commitment on Sept. 1.
The 6-foot-5 wing forward, who is a consensus four-star prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, named Illinois along with Michigan, Seton Hall, Western Illinois, Wake Forest and Pittsburgh as his final six college choices.
The Illini offered Weston in June 2019 in order to continue a tradition of successfully recruiting high level Morgan Park products starting with All-Big Ten guard Ayo Dosunmu and Top 50 incoming guard Adam Miller. Weston played alongside Miller on the Nike EYBL circuit with the Mac Irvin Fire team based out of Chicago, the same EYBL team that Dosunmu starred on as a prep prospect.
Western Illinois hired Morgan Park head coach Nick Irvin as an assistant and that move has been followed by Marcus Watson, a prospect previously committed to Wake Forest and was a Morgan Park teammate of both Weston and Miller, UAB transfer and Morgan Park grad Tamell Pearson and former Morgan Park guard and Eastern Illinois signee Cam Burrell.
Michigan has appeared quickly in this group thanks to head coach Juwan Howard trying to use his Chicago roots to attract another Top 100 recruit. Howard was named by ESPN.com reporter Adrian Wojnarowski as a potential NBA head coach candidate earlier this week but the ex-Wolverines great tried to quash those rumors with a public statement/tweet expressing his desire to stay at his alma mater.
Weston, who is being primarily recruited by Illini assistant coach Ronald ‘Chin’ Coleman, averaged 24 points and 10 rebounds last season at Morgan Park High School in the Chicago Public League last season and he accompanied Miller, who officially signed with the Illini this summer, for the March 1 home game in Champaign when Illinois defeated Indiana 67-66 in State Farm Center. Miller had constantly spoken about trying to get Weston to graduate early and become a freshman at Illinois starting this fall but Weston’s mother, Ebony Weston, quickly put a stop to those rumors openly confirming her son would remain a 2021 product.
Brandon Weston, who will finish his prep career at Hillcrest Prep School in Phoenix, averaged 24 points and 10 rebounds last season at Morgan Park High School in the Chicago Public League last season.
Jon Lopez/Nike
Weston is originally from Brooklyn, New York but has been enrolled at St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, Wis., and Lake Forest (Ill.) Academy prep school before playing this past season at Morgan Park. Weston will finish his prep career this season at Hillcrest Prep School in Phoenix, Ariz., which is noted for producing Deandre Ayton, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. Despite all the movement in his career, fans would consider Weston the kind of in-state priority recruit that Illinois head coach Brad Underwood has publicly said should sign with the Illini.
After producing a four-star signee in each of the first four recruiting classes under Underwood, Illinois got a verbal pledge from Fort Wayne shooting guard Luke Goode on April 17. Goode is currently the only commitment to the Illini’s 2021 class but the program is also high on the list of St Louis Christian Academy four-star wing Jordan Nesbitt.