Interest in Chicago TE Jahleel Billingsley climbs
CHICAGO - The overall talent in the Chicagoland area has been depressed in recent classes, but there is still talent to be had in the Windy City. Class of 2019 tight end Jahleel Billingsley has been one of the more popular recruits from the city in the upcoming cycle, with a dozen offers to his credit.
THE LATEST
Maryland’s offer on Jan. 10 made it an even dozen for Billingsley. The three-star tight end knows NFC Playoff hero Stefon Diggs played from the Terrapins, but admitted his familiarity with the program ends there for now. It was his fourth Big Ten offer and he has tentative plans to visit one of the others, Minnesota, on Jan. 27 for the Golden Gopher’s junior day. Another Big Ten program, Purdue, is among the schools Billingsley has the strong strongest relationship with at this stage and he has made multiple visits to West Lafayette. Ole Miss also falls into that category of strong relationships. He has been watching the Rebels for several years because of Chicagoland native Laquon Treadwell.
IN HIS WORDS
“Ole Miss, they talk to me everyday almost, so they do a good job recruiting me. They are building something over there. They haven’t had a permanent head coach in a long time, but they have one now and they are moving forward.
“Purdue uses two tight ends. They throw the ball a lot, so I’ll be getting the ball a lot if that’s where I decide to go. They are recruiting pretty hard. I went down when they played Michigan and then I went down when they played Ohio. It was a pretty good experience with the atmosphere and how crazy the crowd was.”
RIVALS’ REACTION
Expect the recruiting interest to grow for Billingsley, who appears to be very early in his evaluation of most schools and will likely not decide his college future any time soon. Academics are a bigger consideration than football as Billingsley looks for his future home. He would like to major in medicine with a goal of being a pediatrician. The Minnesota junior day visit is the only one he has planned for now, but look for other trips to be scheduled in the near future.