By Nic Maksud
Morgan Park’s highly-recruited Tysean Griffin has committed to playing football at the University of Illinois. Griffin was recruited by 10+ schools with a few being Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Purdue.
“I visited there like 1,000 times and every time I visited there it was the same love, there was no fake love shown,” Griffin said when asked about what ultimately made him choose Illinois over some of his other offers.
The four-star made his college commitment announcement June 12th, his birthday. Griffin is staying home to play for his hometown team.
Griffin is a talented player who excels on both sides of the ball. While he does not have a specific position that he plays when he steps onto the field for Morgan Park, Illinois knows just what it is getting.
“They recruited me as an athlete so I can play offense and defense there, but they mainly want me in that slot position to fill in for Isiah (Williams) after he leaves,” Griffin said.
Since being hired in 2021, Illinois Head Coach Bret Bielema has made it a point to recruit in-state and now in back-to-back years has gotten commitments from Malik Elzy of Simeon, who was one of the top receivers in the state for his class, and now Griffin. They are looking to work together to bring in more recruits from CPS.
“Us committed to Illinois should bring others’ attention to want to commit to Illinois,” Griffin said.
Griffin is a member of the class of 2024 and made a commitment to play football in the Big Ten, one of the most competitive collegiate football divisions at the D1 level, before even entering into his senior season thanks to the help he has gotten at Morgan Park on and off the field.
Griffin says, “Morgan Park has helped me a lot to grow into an adult, young gentlemen, our head coach has taught us about life not just football…”
Before going onto playing with the Fighting Illini for the 2024-2025 season, Griffin has some goals he looks to achieve with his Morgan Park Team entering his senior season.
“Expand more in the state playoffs, possibly make it to state and possibly win state because we improve every year…”
