Nilijah Ballew
Indiana University will make a recruiting run this weekend at one of the University of Louisville football team’s top-rated commitments, even though he said he remains solidly pledged to the Cardinals.
Cincinnati safety Nilijah Ballew, who is U of L’s only four-star pledge, according to Rivals.com, said he will take his first official visit to IU this weekend. Ballew (6-1, 200 pounds) originally planned to visit U of L this weekend before Charlie Strong’s departure, but he said the Cardinals’ new staff has asked him to move that visit back to Jan. 31, the weekend before national signing day.
Ballew was one of U of L’s most loyal commitments under Strong and had no contact with any other schools, but after the coaching change he decided to explore other options in case things didn’t work out with Cards.
He is looking forward to seeing Bloomington.
IU is in a “good conference, and I could come in and make an immediate impact,” Ballew said. “My friend who goes there says the atmosphere is great, and I can’t wait to experience myself this week.”
Ballew added that he likes IU’s “very good” business school.
Ballew said he has not had much communication with new U of L coach Bobby Petrino’s staff but did have a conversation with new offensive line coach Chris Klenakis on Tuesday. Klenakis told him U of L’s defensive staff had just gotten settled on Tuesday and were going to meet and “evaluate things.”
Klenakis is expected to visit Ballew next week.
Ballew didn’t really like that U of L pushed his official visit back two weeks but said there is “still a great chance I will” sign with U of L.
Should Ballew take a visit the weekend of Jan. 24, he said is considering Minnesota, Illinois and West Virginia as possible destinations.
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