2024 point guard ZZ Clark decommits from Illinois

As first reported by On3 Sports on Monday, 2024 guard ZZ Clark has backed out of a commitment to Illinois and re-opened his recruitment.

Clark is the younger brother of current Illinois freshman guard Skyy Clark. He committed to Illinois back in April, joining Chicago St. Rita big man Morez Johnson in the Illini's 2024 recruiting class.

"After further thought and discussion with my family, I have decided to decommit from the University of Illinois," Clark posted to Instagram. "As much as I love the University of Illinois and its fanbase, I would like to reopen my recruitment to make sure I find the best fit for me personally."

Clark landed at No. 147 in the last update of the Rivals.com rankings for 2024. He chose Illinois over offers from Arizona State, Boise State, DePaul, Kansas, Rutgers, Tennessee State and Vanderbilt.

Illinois had some roster flexibility at guard after adding four-star combo-guard Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn to its 2023 class with a verbal commitment in September.

After transferring this summer, Clark is currently playing at Overtime Elite in Atlanta.

Illinois will now very likely pick up the pace in its recruitment of Chicago Curie point guard Carlos Harris, who was just on campus last weekend for an unofficial visit. Harris teamed with Johnson on the 16U Meanstreets squad this past summer.

Harris is similar to ZZ Clark in that he's an exceptionally strong power-guard and a downhill player who can bully defenders into the paint. He showed an improved jumper this summer.

With Clark no longer in the picture, Illinois has two open scholarships available for the 2024-25 season, though that number is expected to rise. The top recruiting targets in the class is Chicago St. Rita big man James Brown.

Illinois also could look to the transfer portal. They would like to add a shooter in 2023, most likely in the spring.