The Illinois football program's week is already off to a fast start. Tuesday night, head coach Bret Bielema and select players, including quarterback Luke Altmyer, went on a Chicagoland media tour before partaking in "Illini Night" at Wrigley Field.
Not only did the Cubs beat the Brewers 5-3, but Bielema and Altmyer sang the seventh-inning stretch to the delight of a jam-packed stadium. Fifteen hours later, Illinois got some significant recruiting intel with four-star offensive lineman Kai Pritchard's commitment to the program.
This isn't just any commitment, however. Pritchard tops all offensive lineman commits who will play for Bielema. 247Sports ranks him the No. 12 offensive lineman for the 2026 class nationally and New Jersey's fourth-best player.
According to On3's predictor, landing Prichard once seemed like an afterthought. The recruiting service gave the Illini less than a 1 percent chance of landing Prichard, as they beat out Rutgers, Duke and Boston College.
Bielema hinted during a media availability before the first pitch that "good news" would be coming. The Pritchard pledge leading right in made a lot of sense.
With the addition of Pritchard, 21 commitments make up the 2026 class, which is good enough for a No. 10 ranking. As the finishing touches are being put in place, the Illini have certainly set themselves up for long-term success in the coming years.
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For now, though, there is still more work to do.