Richey Bielema's Signing Day evals a winner

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Dec. 6—Bret Bielema giving a full rundown of his recruiting classes with highlights running as a visual aid to his breakdown of each player has become a Signing Day tradition in Champaign.

It's unique to the current Illinois football coach, who just wrapped up his fifth full class in charge of the Illini this decade. A significant change in the normal Signing Day process from his predecessors.

Lovie Smith would never, couldn't be bothered and occasionally gave off the vibe he might have only been nominally familiar with the players just signed. Tim Beckman would choose to use his platform to chide the media as he argued why beating out almost exclusively MAC schools for recruits was actually a good thing.

Bielema knows good public relations when he sees it.

His atypical approach itself is worth noting, but what he delivers in roughly 35 minutes on the first Wednesday in December is informative and often entertaining. Has he used the same joke about some poor kid getting pancaked by one of his offensive lineman recruits each year? Sure, but it still hits.

Each series of highlights also includes one clip Bielema lets his newly-signed Illini pick. This year's most notable was 6-foot-6, 325-pound offensive lineman Champ Smith high-pointing a touchdown catch in a 7-on-7 tournament.

Wednesday's rundown took a little longer than usual with 30 players — 26 high school prospects and four junior college transfers — to spotlight. But Bielema didn't skimp on the evaluations of his highest-ranked class that checks in at No. 21 nationally.

A valuable session that informs a closer look at the Class of 2026.

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