NCAA Grants Illini’s Transfer WR Brian Hightower Immediate Eligibility
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- If the University of Illinois plays football either in the winter or the spring, they’ll have the services of a highly touted transfer wide receiver.
Brian Hightower posted on Twitter Monday afternoon that the NCAA Eligibility Center granted him a transfer waiver to be immediately eligible after he left Miami (Fla.) for the Illini program this offseason. The Illinois athletics communications staff confirmed Hightower’s news Monday evening.
Hightower, a former four-star 2018 receiver prospect from IMG Academy, announced in late April his verbal intention to become the latest in a list of Football Bowl Subdivision transfers coming to Lovie Smith’s Illinois program. Hightower spent a few days on the practice fields at Illinois before the Big Ten Conference shut down operations for a fall season on Aug. 11.
However, with the new NCAA eligibility ruling last week, Hightower could play and treat a winter or spring season like a redshirt campaign but then still have the possibility of three additional seasons in an Illini uniform.
"Even though there’s no season, still want to give all glory to God and say I’m still grateful to have been granted immediate eligibility," Hightower wrote on Twitter Monday. "Stay grateful."
In 18 career games at Miami (Fla.), Hightower had 12 catches for 148 yards and one touchdown. Hightower's only career touchdown actually came in his college debut as he caught a 32-yard strike in a 2018 season-opening 33-17 loss to then-No. 6 LSU at AT&T Stadium in Texas.
Hightower is slated to meet with local and statewide media Tuesday afternoon for the first time since enrolling and arriving on the Illinois campus in August.
In 18 career games at Miami (Fla.), Brian Hightower had 12 catches for 148 yards and one touchdown. Hightower was granted instant eligibility by the NCAA to play at Illinois.
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The 6-foot-3, 210-pound wide receiver was a consensus four-star prospect by ESPN.com, 247Sports.com and Rivals.com and listed as 36th-best wide receiver and 32nd-best prospect in state of Florida by 247Sports.com after making the 2,600-mile journey to transfer from Calabasas (Calif.) High School to IMG Academy in Florida. Hightower was selected to 2018 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio after leading IMG Academy with 35 catches for 445 yards and five touchdowns and he choose Miami over scholarships offers from Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Florida, Auburn and Southern California.
Illinois is expected to ask for waivers for the immediate eligibility for Missouri transfer wide receiver transfer Khmari Thompson, a redshirt sophomore, and redshirt freshman offensive lineman Brevyn Jones from Mississippi State, who is expected to find a home at one of the tackle spots.