Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

Illinois lands commitment from blue-chip 2024 running back

Derek Peterson

By Derek Peterson

Published:

Illinois has received a verbal commitment from Chandler (Ariz.) High running back Ca’Lil Valentine.

A 6-foot, 180-pound runner, Valentine is a 4-star prospect in the industry-generated 247 Composite and immediately becomes the top-ranked verbal pledge in the Illini’s 2024 class. He picked Illinois over Utah. Valentine also held offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Nebraska, Miami, Oregon, Michigan State, and Kansas State, among others.

He talked about his decision with Sports360AZ here:

Valentine took an official visit to Champaign the weekend of June 23. That was one week after a trip to Salt Lake City to see the Utes. He picked up an offer from Illinois in mid-May and things moved fairly quickly from then on.

In the industry-generated 247 Composite, Valentine is a 4-star recruit and ranked as the No. 30 running back in the class. He’s also the No. 8 prospect from the state of Arizona and the No. 350 overall recruit in the nation.

He runs track for Chandler, with a verified time earlier this spring of 10.80 in the 100m. As a junior last fall, Valentine ran for 1,347 yards and 18 touchdowns in 10 games while averaging 8.6 yards a carry. He added another 4 scores as a receiver. He got varsity snaps as a sophomore as well, recording 563 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns in 11 appearances.

Illinois now holds 17 known commitments in the 2024 class. You can see Valentine’s highlight tape below, via Hudl:

Derek Peterson

Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.