Ron Zook had less than three months to prepare for his first Football Signing Day as Illinois’ head coach, and he’s happy with the class he put together in 2005. But as the Illini coaching staff finalized plans for the class of 2006 this week, Zook couldn’t hide his excitement for this year’s group behind an always-ringing cell phone and an endless list of pre-signing day tasks.

“I’m excited. It’ll be exciting,” Zook said. “But everybody’s worn out right now.”

Zook will announce his 2006 recruiting class today. It’s a group he says will do big things to take Illini football into a new era.

If all goes well, the newest Illini will include stud quarterback Isiah Williams, highly touted wide receivers Chris James and Marques Wilkins, and enough three-and four-star recruits to make any head coach anxious for September’s first kickoff.

But as coaches and support staff hurried to tie up all the loose ends in preparation for today’s events, Zook admitted he’s worried that some detail could go wrong.

“You worry a little bit about the things you can’t control,” Zook said. “We hope we’ve dotted all the ‘i’s and crossed all the ‘t’s, but sometimes it ain’t over until it’s over. We just have to finish her up. We’ve got to finish strong.”

Zook said his goals were to increase the team’s overall athleticism and to fill holes in the lineup. He said he’s confident those aims have been accomplished and that these players will be key contributors to the team’s turnaround.

“We addressed most of our needs as a football team,” Zook said. “We said we wanted to raise the athleticism of our football team, which we’ve done. We’ve brought in guys who are good people. So from that standpoint, I can’t say enough about that.”

Having a full year to get to know prospective players has made a huge difference this time around. When putting together the 2005 group, the coaching staff – itself still being finalized – had little time to get to know the players who would lay the foundation for the Zook Era. It turned out to be a success, but there was little way to predict that when Zook announced his first class just weeks after joining the program himself.

“In any relationship it takes time, so we did not know those guys the way we know these guys,” Zook said. “I look at it now and I feel pretty good about the guys we brought in here last year. They’re good people, they’re going to be good football players and some of them we have to get on, but I think they’re going to end up being pretty good students as well.”

As for the players who today are signing Letters of Intent, Zook and his assistants have had more time to become comfortable with them, as athletes and as people. The head coach says he can confidently claim they will be the exact remedy for Illinois’ struggling program.

“I’m ecstatic about this class,” Zook said.