Illinois Football Players at NAIA Programs

Top Illinois High Schools Feeding NAIA Football

1. 01Andrew
   4Players
2. 02Plainfield East
   4Players
3. 03Crete-Monee
   3Players
4. 04Oak Lawn Community
   3Players
5. 05Boylan Catholic
   2Players

Top NAIA Programs Recruiting Illinois Football

One Brother, The Same Road

The 133 number above is not theoretical. Kevin's younger brother Kyle ran the same road out of Illinois, walked into Rutgers, captained a Big Ten roster, and got drafted in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

1. 01

   Don Bosco Prep

   Overlooked by Power-4

2. 02

   Rutgers

   Big Ten captain

3. 03

   2025 NFL Draft

   Round 7, Pick #233

4. 04

   Chicago Bears

   Active roster

How We Count

Numbers come from publicly available 2025 NAIA football rosters. We count any current player whose listed home state is Illinois, school by school, season by season. The decision a family makes here is too big to plan around guesses, so we put the rosters in front of you.

Parents Ask Us

Q.01

How many Illinois high school football players are currently on NAIA rosters?

Right now, 133 Illinois kids play NAIA football, spread across 23 programs and sourced from 103 Illinois high schools. Counts come from current 2025 rosters.

Q.02

Which NAIA programs recruit the most from Illinois?

St. Xavier (IL) leads with 90 Illinois players on the current roster, followed by Ave Maria (7) and William Penn (5). The top three are listed above with the head coach for each program when verified. A free account opens the rest of the top ten.

Q.03

Which Illinois high schools send the most players to NAIA football?

Andrew and Plainfield East lead with 4 current NAIA football players each, followed by Crete-Monee (3), Oak Lawn Community (3), Boylan Catholic (2). The full top 25 is on the page above.

Q.04

Is NAIA football a realistic path for a Illinois high school player?

Yes. With 133 Illinois kids currently on NAIA rosters across 23 programs, the path is busy and well worn. Scholarships at NAIA are partial in football, so families plan around stacking academic aid on top of athletic aid.

Q.05

How does RawRecruit count Illinois to NAIA pipeline numbers?

We pull current 2025 NAIA football rosters from public school athletics sites and count any player whose listed home state is Illinois. Coach names show up only when verified inside our 35-day freshness window.

Q.06

What does my kid actually do with this list of high schools and programs?

The list is the input. The seven-step playbook is the action. Profile your kid's real numbers, build a target list off the programs above, send the email coaches actually read, and run the visit on full information. The full playbook lives at /guides/football/diy-recruiting and was written by Kevin from the same road he walked his brother Kyle through.

Q.07

We are not in Illinois. Does the same playbook still apply for our state?

Yes. The seven-step playbook is sport-specific, not state-specific. The cohort and program list above are the Illinois cut; the work a kid and parent do to reach NAIA coaches is the same in every state. State pipeline pages for the rest of the country roll out next.

Q.08

What happens when a coach leaves a NAIA program mid-cycle?

Coach names on this page only show up when our pipeline has verified them inside the last 35 days. When a head coach leaves, the slot reads as a transition note instead of a stale name; the program count and player numbers stay intact because those come from the roster, not the staff page. The list refreshes monthly.

Q.09

Why is RawRecruit giving away the rosters and coach contacts for free?

Because the data is the easy part. The hard part is keeping a school list current, filtering programs by your kid's real fit, and tracking coach records as staffs turn over every cycle. The free profile saves the work; the paid tiers exist for families who want deeper fit analytics. The free profile is enough for most.