Illinois standout center Kofi Cockburn makes decision on future
Kofi Cockburn, who has put together a standout career at Illinois over the last three seasons, has made a decision on his playing future – choosing to enter his name into the 2022 NBA Draft and forgoing his remaining eligibility at the collegiate level.
“I would like to thank my coaches, mentors, teammates and family for supporting me throughout this journey and offering unconditional love,” Cockburn wrote. “I would also like to thank Illini Nation for welcoming me with open arms and bringing that electrifying energy every game.
“To play in the NBA has been a longtime dream of mine and I truly think it’s time for me to take that next step. With that being said I will be putting my name in the 2022 NBA Draft and signing with an agent.”
Cockburn, a former On3 Consensus four-star recruit out of the Class of 2019, averaged 20.9 points and 10.6 rebounds per game while shooting 59.3% from the field last season. He averaged double figures in each of his three seasons at Illinois while improving each year – from 13.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game in 2019-2020, to 17.7 and 9.5 in 2020-2021, and then 20.9 and 10.6 in 2021-2022.
In Cockburn’s final game with the Fighting Illini, a loss to Houston in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on March 20, he scored 19 points and pulled down eight rebounds. In two March Madness games this past season, Cockburn averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds each outing.
A 7-foot, 285-pound big-man, Cockburn – a native of Kingston, Jamaica – was heavily recruited coming out of Oak Hill Academy High School in Virginia. Alongside Illinois, he held scholarship offers from Oregon, Florida State, UConn, LSU, Indiana, Cincinnati, Kansas, Miami, Oklahoma State and Auburn, among many others.