Signing Day

- The Zooker is excited apparently, if Asst. Coach Reggie Mitchell is to be trusted in measuring this man's moods. Mitchell is in the live chat now and being very diplomatic about his responses. When asked about negative recruiting: " Reggie Mitchell: There's not much you can do to combat it besides keep talking about ourselves because we have a great product."

- Coach Mitchell is out of there to make some calls, and the humble white guy storm that is Ron Zook is taking questions at noon.

- Today is of course not without its controversy. With such a great recruiting class coming into a school with a combined 4 wins in the last two seasons, some people are crying foul. Deadspin has a story with a link to the New York Times story (and more of water skiing Zook). Michigan St. Coach, oh, sorry, FORMER Michigan St. coach John L. Smith is one of the more vocal accusers. I think maybe he hit himself a little too hard after losing to Illinois.

- Zook chat is up and running. Remember to keep your water sports questions to a minimum. The Zooker is already pretty excited today, any mention of skiing might put him over the top.

- Looks like the coaches are moving the last recruit into the signed column. It's official, Illinois has a top 20 recruiting class.

- Chat with the Zooker is finished. He's not a man of many words, so there really wasn't much gleaned out of that chat. Some good questions were asked of Ron about next year and about some of the new recruits, but there were some softballs in there too (a congrats from his brother? Don't they have cell phones for that?). Then again, the question I got in there wasn't exactly hard hitting journalism.

- Juice Williams is up for chat at 2 p.m. Bonus points to whoever asks him about being the next sex cannon.

- The Juice is loose in a few minutes, queue up your questions boys and girls.

- Ron Zook is going to be on ESPNU/ESPN2's signing day show soon. Just watching it now, it looks like USC nailed the top 3 recruits in the nation. Insanity.

- ESPN is ranking Illinois' draft class at 10, with Florida at number 1.

- Here is some positive ideas on why Illinois has a great recruiting class on ESPN2. Zook will be on to discuss at 2:50 CT.

- Juice's chat was pretty much a broken record, mostly questions asking how excited he was to be playing with receivers who can catch a ball. It looks like he worked on his footwork, pocket presence and defensive reading so far this off-season. Those are definitely going to be big next year.

- Zook's television interview wasn't much more informative than his chat, but he at least got a national voice to get his say about all the rumors alleging inappropriate recruiting.

- Final Recruit List (From Rivals)

SIGNED LETTER OF INTENT	Pos	Stars	Ht	Wt	40	RR	Video	Hometown
Daryle Ballew	DT		6-3	285	5.15	5.5		Cincinnati, OH
Arrelious Benn	WR		6-1	210	4.45	6.1		Washington, D.C.
Josh Brent	DT		6-3	280	-	5.9		Bloomington, IL
Nathan Bussey	ATH		6-2	202	4.5	5.6		Washington, D.C.
Jack Cornell Jr.	OL		6-5	291	5.33	5.7		Quincy, IL
Daniel Dufrene	RB		5-11	205	4.45	5.6		Visalia, CA
Brian Gamble	DB		5-11	185	4.65	5.6		Massillon, OH
Mike Garrity	OL		6-6	255	-	5.5		Batavia, IL
Daries Hodge	RB		6-0	213	4.4	5.4		Harrisburg, PA
Mark Jackson	OL		6-6	312	5.1	5.8		Cincinnati, OH
Steve Matas	DE		6-5	270	4.7	5.5		Mentor, OH
D'Angelo McCray	DT		6-4	289	4.64	5.8		Jacksonville, FL
Anthony Morris	DB		6-3	200	-	5.8		Harvey, IL
Troy Pollard	RB		5-8	177	4.5	5.5		Jacksonville, FL
Darius Purcell	DB		5-10	210	-	5.0		Chicago, IL
Erique Robertson	LB		5-10	207	4.55	5.5		Maple Heights, OH
Ian Thomas	LB		6-0	206	4.7	5.2		Berwyn Heights, MD
Marcus Thomas	DB		5-11	157	4.5	5.5		Chicago, IL
Craig Wilson	OL		6-7	290	5.2	6.0		Chatham, VA
Martez Wilson	DE		6-4	230	4.58	6.1		Chicago, IL

- Thanks to anyone and everyone who read this today. Keep your fingers crossed for next fall.

Photo Courtesy of Deadspin