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Illinois football running back room gets stronger with Nebraska flavor

It was a great weekend for the Illinois football team, as we have landed another player for the class of 2026.
ByRees Woodcock|
Nov 2, 2024; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema gets a hand from the crowd before the start of a game with the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images
Nov 2, 2024; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema gets a hand from the crowd before the start of a game with the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

As the weekend ended and the week kicked off, Illinois football had plenty of recruiting momentum.

The weekend was big for the Illini. This was a chance for Bret Bielema to show off the program and what we are building by the day. Numerous recruits took in Champaign, and one of the players who seemed to be leaning toward the Orange and Blue was Nelsyn Wheeler.

Wheeler ended up canceling his official visit to Michigan State on Monday. This piqued the interest of Illinois fans, as he was coming off an official visit to Champaign. Around the same time, two 247Sports analysts put in a Crystal Ball Prediction in favor of the Illini.

On Tuesday, we finally got the good news. Hayes Fawcett of On3.com broke the news that Wheeler has committed to Illinois.

This was a nice get for the Illini. Wheeler is a 5-foot-9, 200-pound running back from Millard South High School in Nebraska. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 1178 player in the class of 2026. He is also the No. 75 running back in the country and the No. 9 player coming out of Nebraska.

With roughly 18 scholarship offers, Wheeler ended up picking Illinois over teams like Kansas and Michigan State.

Illinois football is loading up at the running back position

Wheeler is an exciting player on the football field. The biggest attribute that stands out is his speed. When he gets into open space, there is no one catching him. Getting into that space is a specialty, too.

It is impressive that Wheeler doesn’t just have straight-line speed. He can shift around in traffic and move just as well east to west as he can north to south. This is a great get for the Illinois football program.

Wheeler now joins fellow Illini running back commit, Javari Barnett, from Florida. He is the No. 478 player in the class of 2026. These two will then join the talent already on the Illinois roster.

Both Kaden Feagin and Aidan Laughery will be seniors in 2026. Ca’Lil Valentine will be a junior. Illinois also has John Forster and Cedric Wyche II coming in from the 2025 class.

Bielema has done a great job building out the running back room. We don’t just have depth, but we also have tremendous talent. This could be a massive strength for the Illinois offense for years to come.

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