Illinois Football news: 2026 RB Javari Barnett flips commitment back to Illinois Football

NEWS: Illinois Football has successfully pulled off a commitment flip! This time, it was a flip back to an original commitment. Three-star Javari Barnett originally announced his commitment to Illinois on April 6th, 2025. However, just a few months later, Barnett flipped his commitment to Alabama. It was certainly understandable, as Alabama is a tough place to turn down and is a bit closer to Barnett’s home state of Florida. However, Illinois and Thad Ward continued to pursue Barnett, who had an impressive senior season. Per 247sports, he started his senior season with a 160-yard rushing performance against Florida’s defending 7A Champions. He showed that he is a tough ball-carrier who can break tackles but can also make people miss in space. Barnett is the second running back commit in the class of 202,6 alongside speedster Nelsyn Wheeler.

The Illini Running back room

Illinois football felt pretty good about its running back room for the 2025 season. However, they struggled with injury and overall consistency. Aidan Laughery and Kaden Feagin both struggled with injury throughout the season and could never really establish a rhythm as an every-down back. Sophomore Ca’lil Valentine showed some impressive bursts; however, he struggled a bit with consistency and pass blocking. All three running backs still have eligibility; however, I would expect some pieces to move around, some given the fact that the Illini are adding two running backs in this class, on top of youngers like John Forster and Cedric Wyche.

Overall, it is impressive that Illinois maintained its relationship with Javari Barnett despite the flip to Alabama. Thad Ward is proving to be an Ace recruiter for the Illini.

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