Ep. 1087 - Breaking down Illini's historic 2026 Signing Day haul
Illini Inquirer Podcast: An Illinois Fighting Illini athletics podcast
247Sports, Illinois, Illinois Football, Illinois Basketball, Illinois Athletics, College Football, C
4.9 • 575 Ratings
🗓️ 3 December 2025
⏱️ 87 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Illini Inquirer's Jeremy Werner and Joey Wagner break down the Illinois football 2026 signing class. The guys discuss what led to a historic class for the Illini, their top-5 biggest gets, the JUCO impact, "our guys," positional hauls and transfer portal needs.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS
- Go to OmahaSteaks.com to get 50% off sitewide plus an extra 20% off select favorites and more limited-time deals during their Cyber Sale. And use Promo Code ILLINI at checkout for an extra $35 off. Minimum purchase may apply. See site for details. A big thanks to our advertiser, Omaha Steaks!
- Columbia Street Roastery: Get 10% OFF your 1st order with the code GoIllini2025. Visit CSRcoffee.com
Follow the Illini Inquirer Podcast on:
- Apple: https://apple.co/3oMt0NP
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2Xan2L8
- Other: https://bit.ly/36gn7Ct
Go VIP for just 30% OFF: http://bit.ly/3FUGfIj
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | 300 years of expertise in every twining sleep blend. |
| 0:06.0 | 100 hours of craft in every cup. |
| 0:10.0 | Eight natural ingredients in every sip. |
| 0:14.0 | One night of winding down in every drop. |
| 0:18.0 | Your moment of serenity. Brought to you by twining sleep. |
| 0:23.6 | Twinings. |
| 0:25.6 | Alive in every drop. |
| 0:27.6 | You Welcome in to the O'Annequire podcast. |
| 0:45.3 | It's Jeremy Warner, Joey Wagner, with a special signing day edition of the |
| 0:49.7 | O'Lina Inquirer podcast. |
| 0:51.6 | And Joey, this one feels different. |
| 0:53.5 | As we're talking about Illinois |
| 0:54.4 | football class that ranks in the top 25 nationally of the team recruiting rankings. |
| 1:00.6 | And it's kind of a historic class. It is of the recruiting rankings era. Last 25, 26 years, |
| 1:06.4 | all the way we go back in the composite rankings, no class is ranked higher than this one for Illinois. |
| 1:12.1 | Coming in at number 21, narrowly beats out Ron Zook's few classes in 2007, 2008. |
| 1:19.1 | They were both ranked number 22. |
| 1:21.5 | That included the two five stars, Martez Wilson and Regis Ben back in 2007. |
| 1:27.1 | And, Joy, there's some headliners in this one, five, four stars in this one, including Champ Smith, who flips his commitment on signing day as Brett Bielma is at the podium. We got to see that announcement along with Brett Bielma. Obviously, he knew it was going to happen. And also, Javari Barnett, running back, three-star running back, snip, snap, snip, snap, goes from Illinois to Illinois, an eventful day, Joey, that started with you and I at 5.30 a.m. at Mary Ann's. |
| 1:53.7 | Always good to see you at 5.30 at Mary Ann's. The music was really on point. You had a little pink pony club. |
| 2:02.0 | What was some Katie Perry? |
| 2:03.6 | We had a really nice morning. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from 247Sports, Illinois, Illinois Football, Illinois Basketball, Illinois Athletics, College Football, C, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of 247Sports, Illinois, Illinois Football, Illinois Basketball, Illinois Athletics, College Football, C and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.