Coach Lovie Smith said he learned to trust Epstein long before he ever put on at Illini uniform.

“He didn’t play like a freshman,” Smith said. “He wanted the ball. He couldn’t have had a better opening day.”

Epstein, who played for one of the top high school programs in Florida and led St. Thomas Aquinas to the state 7A state championship, had already verbally committed to Illinois when Bill Cubit was still the head coach.

The arrival of Smith in March of 2016 came at a time when other schools were already trying to convince him to reconsider his decision.

Miami (Fla.) was calling. So was UCLA. He couldn’t resist taking a visit to Michigan.

“When we got here, he was the one guy who had already committed,” McGee said. “We looked at the film the first day we were here and said, ‘We’ve got to do whatever we need to get this guy.’

“At the time I think he was on a trip to Michigan as I was watching the film and I was like, ‘OK, we’ve got to get to his parents immediately and make sure they know where we stand with him.’”

Before long, Epstein and his family were traveling to Champaign to meet Smith face-to-face.