Illini Hit Sunshine State For Another 2021 Class Commit In Three-Star Safety Joriell Washington

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The verbal commitments keep on coming for the Illinois football program and they keep coming from the Sunshine State.

Illinois received a verbal pledge Friday evening from three-star safety prospect Joriell Washington. The commitment of Washington, who is from Fort Myers, Fla., came just hours after the Illini received a verbal pledge from three-star Daytona Beach athlete Theodore Lockley.

Washington becomes the sixth Florida prospect of the Illini’s 10th verbal commitment of the 2021 recruiting class joining Lockley, three-star wide receiver Patrick Bryant, three-star defensive back Daniel Edwards, three-star linebacker Trevor Moffitt and linebacker Dylan Rosiek.

Washington, a 6-foot-2 and 178-pound prospect according to 247Sports.com, picked Illinois over scholarship offers from Oregon, Iowa State, Boston College, South Florida, Southern Mississippi and Florida Atlantic.

“I want to thank my mom personally for not giving up on me when times got hard for us when I was little," Washington said in his commitment announcement on Twitter. "You've always been my biggest role model and I'm extremely grateful to have the best mom on the planet!"

COMMITTED 🔹🔸 #LittyVille🔥 @IlliniFootball @LovieSmith pic.twitter.com/kX8WjJZisi
— Joriell Washington (@JWashing10n) June 19, 2020

Similarly to Lockley’s commitment, Washington’s primary recruiter was Illinois cornerbacks coach Keynodo Hudson. Washington is another prospect to commit to the Illini despite never having seen the Champaign-Urbana campus as the Illinois coaches didn’t send him an offer until April 5 and Washington needed just over two months of Zoom video conference calls and phone calls to decide Illinois was the right fit for him.

Washington does fill a major future need for Lovie Smith’s defense as the Illini can point to just one underclassman safety, redshirt freshman Joseph Thompson on scholarship but Washington will get the opportunity to learn from incoming Louisville transfer TreSean Smith and junior All-Big Ten selection Sydney Brown as the projected starting safeties for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

The dual Friday commitments of Lockley and Washington allowed the Illini’s 2021 recruiting class to spike up in the 247Sports.com team rankings from last to 12th in the Big Ten and now sits No. 59 in the nation just ahead of league rivals Purdue and Indiana.

Illinois only had one verbal commitment to its 2021 class before May 1 but in the last 49 days have seen nine verbal pledges roll in.