Illinois Year in Review Top male athletes
· Yahoo Sports
Jul. 18—Another one-and-done NBA draft pick, a national champ gymnast and a standout decathlete. The list of Illinois' best male athletes in 2025-26 hits nearly every available sport. Beat writer Scott Richey spotlights the top 10:
1. Keaton Wagler, Basketball
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Wagler took the college basketball world by storm in what turned out be an unexpected single season in Champaign. An under-the-radar recruit, Wagler quickly established himself as one of the top young players in the country first as Big Ten Freshman of the Year then Jerry West Award winner and, finally, as a consensus Second Team All-American. Winding up as the No. 5 overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers capped his impressive 10 1/2 months as an Illini.
2. Brandon Dang, Gymnastics
Pommel horse has become Dang's platform to national team opportunities. The Illinois standout was named to the U.S. Men's Senior National Team again this year after a strong 2026 Winter Cup performance. Six pommel horse titles during the Illini's season for the San Jose, Calif., native included both a Big Ten title and a national championship. An NCAA title he won at State Farm Center in Champaign, too. The former marked Dang's third straight conference championship in the event.
3. Luuk Pelkmans, Track and field
Standout multi-event athletes have begun to flock to Illinois to train with Illini director of track and field Petros Kyprianou, who has a long history of working with Olympic-level athletes. The Dutch standout turned indoor success with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA championships into even more outdoors. Pelkmans closed out his first year with the Illini as the Big Ten decathlon champion and a third-place finish at the NCAA outdoor championships in Eugene, Ore.
4. Kenta Miyoshi, Tennis
What Miyoshi accomplished during his senior season was simply an extension of his strong 2024-25 campaign. It started with ITA All-American honors last fall after reaching the third round of the NCAA singles championship and continued into another spring leading a young Illinois team. Miyoshi went 26-11 in singles action and the Tokyo native also earned unanimous All-Big Ten First Team honors for the second consecutive season in his college finale.
5. Gabe Jacas, Football
Another late-season surge with 6 1/2 of his 11 sacks coming in Illinois' final four regular-season games helped Jacas finish his final season in Champaign as the Big Ten sacks leader and an All-Big Ten First Team selection. It didn't hurt his draft stock, either, with the powerhouse edge rusher from Bret Bielema's Illini program going in the second round to the reigning AFC champions in the New England Patriots after closing out his time with the Illini trailing only Simeon Rice in program history with 27 career sacks. Impressive.
6. Ryan Voois, Golf
Voois finished off his standout Illinois career leading the team with a career-low 70.31 stroke average — more than a full stroke better than his previous best and fourth lowest in program history. Voois also led the Illini with eight top 20 finishes, including five top 10s and a victory at the Hal Williams Collegiate in February. A senior season that earned the Ladera Ranch, Calif., native unanimous All-Big Ten First Team recognition.
7. Max Herendeen, Golf
Herendeen set the bar so high during his first two seasons at Illinois that even his own unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection didn't hit quite as hard as the last two times he accomplished it. Herendeen ranked second on the team with a 70.67 stroke average and won his fourth career collegiate tournament at the Duck Invitational in March to go with two runner-up finishes, but the Bellevue, Wash., native wasn't quite as consistent for the whole season.
8. Kannon Webster, Wrestling
Webster went from qualifying for the NCAA championships as a redshirt freshman in 2025 to earning All-American honors this spring at 157 pounds — a fifth-place finish that featured losses only to the top two seeded wrestlers. The Washington grad finished his second season on the mat for Illinois with a 25-6 overall record, including a 4-2 mark in Big Ten duals, a team-high nine top 20 wins and a third-place finish at the Big Ten championship.
9. Garrett Schooley, Gymnastics
Schooley won 11 individual titles during the course of his junior season, with vault his go-to event. Eight titles on vault alone were tied for the fifth-most in a single season in program history, as Schooley earned All-Big Ten First Team honors. The Sarasota, Fla., native and the Big Ten vault runner-up also earned All-American honors in the event with his fifth-place finish during finals at the NCAA championships.
10. J.C. Davis, Football
Keeping Luke Altmyer upright was Davis' primary responsibility after returning to Illinois for one more season last fall. The 6-5, 335-pound left tackle did just that, grading out as the third-best player at his position by Pro Football Focus during the 2025 regular season. Davis closed out his college career making 49 consecutive starts (25 of them for the Illini) and was an All-Big Ten First Team selection before being drafted in the sixth round by the New York Giants.