Ohio State has made another run at a senior who is already committed somewhere else. This time it is Bennett Konkey, a wide receiver from Geneva High School in the western Chicago suburbs who has been committed to Illinois since June.

Garrick Hodge of 247Sports reported on Saturday that Ohio State had offered “another flip target, this time at wide receiver” the day before. Dan Hessler of Land-Grant Holy Land named him on Tuesday, with Konkey’s own post showing the offer. 247Sports’ timeline for Konkey dates it October 23.

Where his recruitment stands

Konkey’s 247Sports page, read Tuesday night, still shows a hard commitment to Illinois stamped 6/16/2026. It carries one Crystal Ball prediction, for Illinois, logged by Nick Osen on June 16, the day he committed. The same page still lists Ohio State’s interest in him as “Cool”.

247Sports lists five official visits before he picked the Illini, all in June: Northwestern, Iowa, Wisconsin, Iowa State and then Illinois, four days before his commitment.

Hessler did not oversell the offer. He wrote that Konkey “has not mentioned anything about de-committing from Illinois,” and that Illinois can offer him a quicker path to playing time. His read is that Ohio State’s chances would rise sharply if it gets him on campus for a game day visit, ideally for the Oregon game on Nov. 7 or Northwestern on Nov. 14. Ohio State plays at USC first, this weekend.

The player

247Sports lists Konkey at 6-foot-1 and 189 pounds, and both of its rating blocks give him four stars. The 247Sports Composite, which averages the major services, has him No. 407 nationally, No. 55 at receiver and No. 16 in Illinois. 247Sports’ own rating files him No. 237 nationally, No. 35 at receiver and No. 12 in Illinois.

He has climbed fast. When Mike Clark of the Chicago Sun-Times reported his Illinois commitment in June, Konkey was a three-star and the consensus No. 19 prospect in the state. On October 2, Rivals made him the third of its in-season “Rivals Riser” moves: Cody Bellaire wrote that he went from a three-star, 89 rating to a four-star, 91 rating, and No. 33 among receivers nationally.

The speed came first. Clark reported that Konkey won the Class 3A state titles in the 100 and 200 meters this spring, and that his 10.25 in the 100 at Wheaton Warrenville South drew “gasps in the stadium,” in the words of Boone Thorgesen, who coaches him in track and football.

The catches have followed this fall. The senior statistics on his MaxPreps page, entered by the Geneva coach and last updated October 20, credit him with 70 catches for 1,397 yards and 19 touchdowns in nine games, 20 yards a catch. Hessler counts 20 touchdowns in all, and wrote that MaxPreps has his receiving yardage seventh in the nation. As a junior he had 41 catches for 739 yards and nine touchdowns.

Geneva finished the regular season 8-1 and 7-0 in the DuKane Conference, per MaxPreps. Its only loss was 44-42 to Oswego on August 28. The Vikings host Carmel in the IHSA playoffs on Saturday.

Where it fits

Ohio State’s 2027 class has 20 commitments and two receivers in it, Jamier Brown of Wayne in Huber Heights and Jordan Donahoo of Oviedo in Florida. This board also watches one receiver committed elsewhere, Benny Easter Jr. of Summer Creek in Texas, whose 247Sports page still shows a hard commitment to Texas Tech. The full room is on the wide receiver page.

Konkey is the latest in a line of these offers. Hodge wrote that Ohio State has offered a linebacker, a running back and an edge rusher in the past few weeks in hopes of a flip, and that one of them has already worked: Cleveland St. Ignatius linebacker James Conrad flipped from Buffalo on October 15. Ohio State also offered Kentucky commit Tristin Hughes, a Rocky River safety, on October 19, as we reported. With Konkey, the next thing to watch is whether Ohio State can get him to Columbus in November.