Watch now: Illinois gets final addition to 2022 class in Zachary Perrin | College

CHAMPAIGN — When Geoff Alexander got some recommendations from contacts overseas, the assistant and Illinois started looking into a skilled french big man.

Around six weeks later, 6-foot-10 big Zachary Perrin put pen to paper and the Illini had what is likely the final addition to its roster before the 2022-23 season.

In Perrin, Illinois gets a player who was the MVP of the U21 LNB Pro B League and played in three games for the Antibes Sharks in the second tier of pro basketball in France.

In a recruitment led by Alexander, who is currently doing more international recruiting in Malaga, Spain, Illinois beat UCLA, Texas and Florida among a group of interested Division I schools.

“His versatility fits everything that we’re about and what we’re looking for and that was the draw,” Underwood said.

A player who underwent a growth spurt after being 6-foot-4 a couple of years ago, Perrin has some passing, ball handling and shooting skills that will make him a big man who can operate on the perimeter similar to Dain Dainja.

“When you grow that quickly, you’re still trying to find your body but you see those perimeter skills, you see him step out, shoot it,” Underwood said. “The basketball piece of a guy who grows that quickly is really exciting. Because you know, there’s diversity and a lot of positionless basketball in his future.”

Underwood said there are some parallels to Coleman Hawkins’ game for an athletic and lanky big man. With Hawkins and Dainja, Perrin will be another player mixed into the depth chart at center.

It will be a transition for Perrin, Underwood said with his frame he can go from 220 points to 235 or 240 with strength training under Adam Fletcher. Perrin will also be traveling and then living in a new continent.

Champaign will be a lot different than his coastal home of Antibes, France.

“You’ve gotta be very sensitive to the fact that he’s coming to the states, the language issues,” Underwood said, “Basketball is kind of a universal language. But you know, our guys will have been conditioning for eight weeks and working and so it’s a it’s a gradual build up for him. But again, his IQ and all of that is something that excites me. He’s a terrific student. But still, there’s an adjustment when you’re someplace completely new, you’re a long way from home and fortunately for us, we have a very diverse campus that has a lot of international students, so we won’t be the only one that is going through that.”

He’ll join the team in August after competing with the France youth national team, and Underwood isn’t resigned to the idea that he’ll be strictly a developmental prospect. With Hawkins and Dainja, minutes will be competitive, but Perrin’s recent success makes him intriguing.

“We didn’t recruit him because he’s not talented,” Underwood said. “He’s very talented. You play on a world stage like he does against older people, and he’s had tremendous success. So that excites me, because that’s what the college game is. It’s 18 year olds playing against 20 and 21 year olds and having to find success. And he’s done that.”