Tanner Heckel signs with Illinois football

CHAMPAIGN (WCIA) — Tanner Heckel signed his National Letter of Intent to play football at Illinois on Wednesday, the opening day of the February signing period. Heckel is a three-star recruit of Lyndon, Kansas, who led his high school team to an 8-man state title playing quarterback and defensive back. He’ll suit up at safety for the Illini, after winning his state’s 8-man Player of the Year award last fall.

Heckel is the second 8-man player in the Class of 2024 for Illinois, joining Tanner Hollinger, a tight end out of Nebraska. Heckel’s recruitment wasn’t in the limelight, he committed on Tuesday, before the 5-foot-11, 175-pound recruit signed his NLI on Wednesday. Finding under the radar players has worked for Illinois head coach Bret Bielema in the past (notably Matthew Bailey and Mac Resetich) and the now fourth-year Illini coach feels like it’s in his best interest to avoid other programs getting involved.

“I think the great thing about small schools is you’re usually three things: undersized, underrecruited and underdeveloped,” Bielema said on Wednesday. “And those are three things that you can literally change if you’re in the right program. In this conference, I realize a lot of people watch what we do. I just know enough not to put people on a path of too much of what we believe in.”

Illinois currently has the No. 51 ranked recruiting class in the country, according to 247Sports, 15th in the new look 18 team Big Ten Conference.

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