Illini making push for Louisiana DL

Three-star LaPlace (La.) Kennedy defensive lineman Dion Gales has wrapped up his senior season and is preparing to line up official visits.

“I’m starting to figure out which visits I want to take,” he said. “I don’t have any dates yet, but I have three of them in mind right now – Michigan State, Illinois and Miami. The others, I don’t know. It’s a hard decision.”

Illinois is a new team on the radar for Gales (6-5, 255, 4.9), who is rated the No. 24 strongside defensive end in the nation by Rivals.com.

“I have a cousin who plays up there,” he said. “He told them about me, and I found out that they weren’t recruiting me all that hard because they saw all the other top programs who had already offered me, and they didn’t think they had a chance. But I told him that I was interested, and they’ve been calling me a lot lately.

“I like what they have to offer as far as a Big Ten school playing great competition and smashmouth football, and also their academics. They have a good reputation there. I’ve said all along I’m not just looking at whoever has the best team. Education is very important, too.”

Gales said LSU also remains heavily in the picture, but he may not visit the Tigers since he is already so familiar with them.

He also has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Ohio State, Michigan and West Virginia, among others.

“Everything’s pretty open right now,” he said. “I want to take my visits before I say anything more about who is my leader and that stuff.”

Gales finished his senior season with 11 sacks, a blocked field goal and a blocked punt.