Big Ten Roundup (Sept. 13): Illinois Watching 2024 4-Star Mikey Lewis, Ohio State Names McCord Starter

Illinois coach Brad Underwood was seen at a Prolific Prep basketball game on Tuesday, watching 2024 four-star recruiting target Mikey Lewis. In football news, Ohio State coach Ryan Day finally named Kyle McCord as the team's full-time starting quarterback.
Big Ten Roundup (Sept. 13): Illinois Watching 2024 4-Star Mikey Lewis, Ohio State Names McCord Starter
Big Ten Roundup (Sept. 13): Illinois Watching 2024 4-Star Mikey Lewis, Ohio State Names McCord Starter /

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Even as football is the talk of town all around the Big Ten, Illinois men's basketball coach Brad Underwood made headlines on Tuesday. 

Underwood and an Illinois assistant were spotted watching a four-star prospect in the class of 2024 — Mikey Lewis — at a Prolific Prep game, as reported by Adam Zagoria. 

Illinois is the only Big Ten school in Lewis's top six, along with LSU, Ole Miss, Kansas, San Diego State and St. Mary's. 

In football news, coach Ryan Day finally ended all quarterback controversy in Columbus, naming Kyle McCord as Ohio State's full-time starting quarterback.

Here's everything you need to know in today's Big Ten Roundup:

Brad Underwood Watching 2024 4-Star Mikey Lewis

Underwood already has two commits in his 2024 class with in-state players Morez Johnson and Jason Jakstys. The Illinois coach is now trying to build an even more robust group of incoming players, pursuing the four-star Lewis from California. 

According to a source with Nike EYBL tracking data, Lewis averaged 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists during 24 games played for the Oakland Soldiers AAU team on the Nike EYBL circuit. 

Lewis also shot 36.1% from three over those 24 games for the Oakland Soldiers, splashing home 61 of his 169 total attempts from behind the line. 

247 Sports currently has Underwood and the Illini as the listed favorite to land Lewis, though the 6-foot-3 guard also has visits scheduled for both LSU and Ole Miss. 

Ohio State Names Kyle McCord as Full-Time Starter

While Indiana's naming of Tayven Jackson as the full-time starting quarterback felt somewhat undecided until the Indiana State game, Day showed his hand early. He said it was going to be a two-quarterback system between McCord and the younger Devin Brown, only for McCord to almost exclusively take all the snaps against Indiana. Additionally, when Brown was given a bigger chance against Youngstown State in Week 2, he struggled mightily. 

Thus, it was no surprise when the Ohio State coach officially ended all hopes of Brown rising up take the job, and named McCord as the team's full-time starter on Tuesday. Ohio State has what should be another relatively easy outing for McCord to get his bearings in Week 3, before a monumental clash and road trip to Notre Dame takes place in Week 4.  

To read more on Day and Ohio State naming McCord as the Buckeyes' full-time starting quarterback, check out this story on our sister site Buckeyes Now

Related Stories on Big Ten:

  • WEEK 2 BIG TEN POWER RANKINGS: Michigan's grip on the top spot in the conference has only tightened, while Wisconsin went flying out of the top five following a loss to Washington State. CLICK HERE
  • WOULD B1G EVER KICK A TEAM OUT OF CONFERENCE: With Stanford, Cal and SMU joining the ACC in 2024, conference realignment has truly gotten out of hand. With all the movement up into new conferences coming, we ask the question — would the Big Ten ever forcibly remove a team from its own conference? CLICK HERE
  • IU USED WRONG PROCESS TO MAKE RIGHT CHOICE AT QB: Indiana named Tayven Jackson as its starting quarterback, and that was probably the correct decision. But the process coach Tom Allen took to reach that decision — using a run-heavy approach vs Ohio State, and playing both quarterbacks against a bad FCS team — was flawed. CLICK HERE

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Daniel Olinger
DANIEL OLINGER

Daniel Olinger is a Sports Illustrated/FanNation reporter for HoosiersNow.com. He graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in both journalism and economics.