Four-star quarterback Kamden Lopati has decommitted from Illinois on Monday, according to 247Sports.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder gave his verbal commitment to the Fighting Illini in July. However, 247Sports says the Utah Salt Lake City West senior-to-be ‘has received heavy interest recently from Notre Dame and Michigan under coach Kyle Whittingham, who recruited Lopati heavily when he was the head coach of Utah.’
During his junior season, Lopati threw for 2,671 yards with 34 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He added 730 rushing yards and 10 scores on the ground.
The Illini Inquirer asked Illinois coach Bret Bielema about the class of 2027 on Saturday, April 11. Bielema didn’t specifically talk about Lopati, but made reference to his potential future QB1 changing his mind.
“Recruiting in the world that we are in now changes every day,” Bielema told the Illini Inquirer. “So I think there’s a lot of things that go into play. There’s actually some rules around how we work the revenue share that are changing. There’s a proposal that could potentially give us a large number for retention. So if you have a larger number of retention, that could greatly affect what you can afford in guys that aren’t in your retention plan, guys that are coming in, as is the case with freshmen.”
Bielema also alluded to the Illini’s quarterback development as opposed to those signal callers from other schools.
“We were in a specific battle the other day where five of my last six quarterbacks have made NFL rosters are still playing,” the Illinois coach said, “and we’re in competition with the school that one coach has been there 20 years, never had a kid drafted. Another one, a new coach, but he’s had one in four years. The numbers would tell you one thing, but sometimes that number isn’t the one that matters.”
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Four-star QB decommits from Illinois Fighting Illini football team
Reporting by Adam Duvall, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
