Feb. 8, 2006

University of Illinois assistant head football coach and recruiting coordinator Reggie Mitchell was named a top-25 recruiter by Rivals.com, which each year compiles a list of the nation's best football assistant coaches. This marks the second straight year an Illini assistant has been among the top-25 after offensive coordinator Mike Locksley won a year ago.

Mitchell, who directed his second signing class at Illinois, was instrumental in the recruiting strategy that rated the Illinois class as the fourth-best in the Big Ten. The group included two Top-100 recruits and six players who earned four-star status from many recruiting services.

WEBSITE NOTE: Thanks to all those fans who logged in for the 2006 Signing Day coverage on www.fightingillini.com/www.coachronzook.com. The website received over 48,000 hits on the blog and over 19,000 viewers to the signing day bios. Ron Zook's press conference traffic more than doubled any other press conference video feed on the 200-school CSTV.com system Feb. 1.