After the de-commitment of Eric Gordon, it looked as if Illinois’ 2007 recruiting class would hardly be what the Illini had imagined. Six months later, though, things are looking up, compliments of last week’s addition of shooting guard Quinton Watkins (Dominquez/ Compton, Calif.) and Tuesday’s letter of intent from junior college forward Rodney Alexander. The 6-foot-7, 227-pound sophomore from Redlands Community College in El Reno, Okla., has two years of eligibility remaining.

“We’re pretty exited; it was one of the guys we had targeted midseason when we kind of realized had we had coming back,” head coach Bruce Weber said. “We really felt like we needed an athletic forward, and he was definitely considered one of the top junior college players in the country.”

Alexander’s signing comes after numerous schools made late pushes for the versatile forward, one of the best available players.

BCS powerhouses Indiana, Tennessee, Kansas State, Kentucky, Syracuse and Michigan all expressed interest in him at some point.

“When you have a talented kid like this, I think he pretty much had his pick of where he wanted to go,” Weber said. “We kind of fought some people off and felt pretty good the last couple weeks, but a lot of people started getting involved in the picture as we had coaching changes and people leaving for the NBA.”

In Weber’s time with the program, Illinois has never looked to signing junior college products. Even while at Southern Illinois, he said they only “did a little,” and in his years at Purdue “probably only had a handful.”

In fact, Illinois hasn’t signed a junior college player since Blandon Ferguson of the College of Southern Idaho signed in the spring of 2001. But with a need for a player of Alexander’s nature, it was a right fit.

With only two years left to play, Alexander won’t have the luxury of developing his game or getting his feet wet.

He wants to play right away, and Weber knows he will have that opportunity.

“The most important thing, we had the need, and he saw that,” Weber said.

Rivals.com rated Alexander as the No. 14 player nationally in the Junior College Top 125 and helped lead Redlands to a No. 2 ranking in the final regular season poll and an overall record of 29-2. During the season, he averaged 13.8 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 58.7 percent from the field.

In high school, Alexander led Benton Harbor High School in Michigan to an undefeated regular season and a No. 1 ranking in the state poll.

Weber, who made numerous visits to Oklahoma to see the JUCO player and to his home in Michigan, compared the new signee to former Illini Roger Powell, crediting Alexander’s ability to be a combo forward and take the ball inside and outside and guard numerous positions.

“He put some time in the gym working on his perimeter game and he went from being mostly an inside player his freshman year to go out on the court a bit more this year,” Weber said.

Even more than the upside Alexander brings to Illinois, Weber credited his family.

He called Alexander “a great kid,” and said his family wanted to see him play and was “sick of making the 15-hour drive to Oklahoma.”

Knowing that Alexander has been well-coached on both ends of the court, possesses a knowledge of the motion offense and hails from successful programs, Weber said the Illini coaching staff feels good about Alexander’s transition to playing in the Big Ten.

“From the outside looking in, you’re hoping he can have some success right away,” Weber said.