Carson Bounds is entering his first season with the Leathernecks, serving as the Director of Player Personnel and Defensive Quality Control Assistant, working with Inside Linebackers. Before his time at Western Illinois, Bounds served as a player personnel and recruiting assistant with Illinois Football. In 2025, he worked as a remote defensive scouting assistant with Tennessee Tech football.
During the 2025 spring transfer portal window, Bounds helped Tennessee Tech achieve the No. 3-ranked transfer class in the FCS (Sports Illustrated). In 2026, the Fighting Illini signed the No. 24-ranked recruiting class in the nation, and No. 6 in the Big Ten; the program’s highest-rated recruiting finish since 2008 (247Sports). Bounds attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2021-2026, earning a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in recreation, sport, and tourism. During his time as a student, Bounds served three seasons as the Head Student Data Analyst for Fighting Illini Women’s basketball, while also working as a student equipment manager (2022) and a coaches video assistant (2022-2024) with Illini Football.
Outside of football, Bounds has also worked with Rivals/ON3 as a recruiting analyst, focusing on Illinois sports, and football recruiting in the Midwest.
