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By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

August 5, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Today’s “Double Dribble 2-1 Focus” begins with Illini women’s basketball center Hayven Smith and Mihailo Petrovic

Player Biography: Hayven Smith, a 6-foot-6 center out of Lincoln-Way East High School, was one of the first in-state players to commit to head coach Shauna Green and her staff following their arrival in Champaign. A standout in her prep career, Smith earned a long list of accolades in 2024 including Herald-News Player of the Year, SouthWest Suburban Conference Blue co-Athlete of the Year, IBCA All-State, Illinois AP All-State, and Southtown All-Area honors. She also reached the 1,000-point plateau. Her father, Greg Smith, was a football player at Vanderbilt in the mid-1980s.

What we know:

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

(Cover photo courtesy Eurospects.com)

Double Dribble 2-1 Focus: Mihailo Petrovic and Hayven Smith - Illinois Men’s and Women’s Basketball Player Breakdown

Player Biography: Mihailo Petrovic, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound point guard from Serbia, committed to Illinois in April. The 22-year-old brings international experience, having played for the Serbian national team and Mega Superbet, one of Serbia’s top professional development clubs.

Petrovic averaged 14 points per game and 7.3 assists, establishing himself as a floor general with vision and control.

What we know:

The Illinois fifth-year head coach believes the minor plantar fasciitis on JC Davis’ left foot might “be a blessing in disguise” because it’ll allow depth chart preseason to develop at offensive tackle. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

August 4, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — Good evening and welcome to the third preseason camp practice for the Illinois program for the 2025 season in the fifth campaign of Illini head coach Bret Bielema that is one of eight practices that will begin under the lights in Memorial Stadium.

This media viewing session was a little bit longer than the first two practices but it again did not involve any full-team activities. This was the first preseason practice in full pads for the Illini in August, so it was likely a more important evaluation day for the bigger players near the line-of-scrimmage. So it should come as no surprise that this practice is obviously one of the favorite days for Illini offensive line coach Bart Miller and defensive line coach Terrance Jamison. 

Let’s do a quick injury report after the first two days of preseason practice.

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By IlliniGuys Staff

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst Brad Sturdy was at Ubben this week and shared what he saw of the Illini men's basketball team with IlliniGuys members:

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

August 3, 2025

There's still nearly six months until the final Class of 2026 signing day on February 4, 2026, but Illinois jumped into the Class of 2027 already with what might be the highest rated recruit of the Bielema era when its all said and done.  Kamden Lopati of Salt Lake City West High School, who finished his sophomore year of high school with eye popping stats of 3,050 yards, 25 touchdowns, 4 interceptions and 647 rushing yards to boot against the toughest competition the state of Utah has to offer.  Not only that, but Lopati already has a college-ready physique at 6'2" and 215 pounds and plenty of arm strength to handle the windy days in Champaign.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

Jamison has seven new players in his defensive line room who were not on the Illini 2024 roster to get fully implemented into a three-man front before the Aug. 29 season opener vs. Western Illinois. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

August 2, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — Good evening and welcome to the second preseason camp practice for the Illinois program for the 2025 season in the fifth campaign of Illini head coach Bret Bielema that is one of eight practices that will begin under the lights in Memorial Stadium.

Exactly like Friday night, tonight was simply a 30-minute viewing period after the team stretching pre-practice period but, as per usual, did not involve any full-team activities but highlighted the individual positional work early in this camp. In accordance with NCAA and Big Ten Conference rules, Friday’s practice and tonight’s practice was just in helmets, shorts and spider pads (basic cushioned pads that are used on non-contact days) so there’s obviously nothing to be gleamed from the line-of-scrimmage play. 

Illinois third-year starting center Josh Kreutz has a reference of several filled notebooks based on his experience with the Illini in a tactic he learned from his NFL All-Pro father.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

August 2, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — If you walk into Josh Kreutz’s house near the University of Illinois campus, you might find stacks and stacks of notebooks over the last four previous years of his experience as an Illini football player.

“I don’t know everything, that’s for sure. I do think I’ve gotten a grasp of certain important things,” Kreutz said. “I can go back into my notebooks from 2023 if say, we play a certain defense like a boom defense or a two-gap defense. I have those notebooks that I can refer back to. I mean, I don’t think what kind of defense Western Illinois plays this season but I have (notebooks) where I can find my notes from when I’ve played against something similar. I know I’ll do that.”

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

August 1, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — Good evening and welcome to the first preseason camp practice for the Illinois program for the 2025 season in the fifth campaign of Illini head coach Bret Bielema, which is one of eight practices that will begin under the lights in Memorial Stadium.

Tonight was simply a 30-minute viewing period after the team stretching pre-practice period but, as per usual, did not involve any full-team activities but highlighting the individual positional work early in this camp. Per NCAA and Big Ten Conference rules, tonight’s practice and Saturday’s practice was just in helmets, shorts, and spider pads (basic cushioned pads that are used on non-contact days) so there’s nothing to be gleaned from the line-of-scrimmage play.

Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer is at his highest playing weight after putting on 25-30 pounds of strength in this offseason and finally weighing in at between 215-220 pounds.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

August 1, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN — Before Luke Altmyer got on Shad Khan’s private plane to head for Las Vegas for the 2025 Big Ten Football Media Days at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, he was very happy at what he saw looking down as he weighed himself inside the Smith Family Football Complex.

No, it wasn’t the mental outlook for most non-athlete citizens, the Illinois third-year starting quarterback wanted to see a bigger number.

Illinois will have 15 players from the transfer portal and incoming first-year players that will be experiencing the routine of Bret Bielema’s practice program for the first time starting tonight.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

August 1, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — When the calendar flips to August 1, Bret Bielema treats this moment like everybody else feels about Christmas morning.

The Illinois fifth-year head coach simply can’t wait to open up the brand new pieces of his roster and quickly install them into his home as a completed set.

“I can’t ever forget this even when we have a lot of guys returning because as a coach you are always excited to, not that they’re possessions, but you love to work with new people, new toys, new opportunities and see what they are,” Bielema said on Thursday in a preseason media session inside the Smith Family Football Complex.

University of Illinois officials confirm to IlliniGuys.com the aid agreement signed by the 22-year-old Serbian guard has no correlation to his admission status or international student visa status.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

July 31, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — While the University of Illinois athletics department may be touting Mihailo Petrovic as the “final piece to the 2025-26 puzzle”, what was announced Thursday regarding the 22-year-old guard is far from the finishing task.

In fact, the Big Ten Athletics Aid Agreement that Illini athletics announced Thursday was signed by Petrovic, a 6-foot-3 and 180-pound point guard from Prokuplje, Serbia, is the first of a multiple step process that Illinois head coach Brad Underwood and his coaching eventually hope will involve university admissions and the U.S. State Department.

Multiple sources inside the Illinois athletics department and inside the Illini men’s basketball program confirmed to IlliniGuys.com that Petrovic has yet to be granted admission as an undergraduate student to the university and therefore, has not yet completed the process to obtain a F-1 visa required by the State Department for international students to study abroad.

‘Ready to Roll’ - Illinois head coach Bret Bielema confirms all of the players held out of spring practices have been medically cleared for contact to be active for preseason practices in August.

By Matt Stevens - July 31, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — Illinois head coach Bret Bielema will be making six more cuts to his 2025 roster between the Friday night start of preseason practice and the season-opening game against Western Illinois on Aug. 29.

When the initial settlement of the House v. NCAA settlement was made a few months ago, Bielema thought he’d be operating with a roster as small as 105 players, which he said was actually 10 players less than the last three seasons he’s been leading the Illini football program. However, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken denied the initial settlement forcing both sides to agree to a clause where roster opportunities for non-scholarship athletes would be allowed to be legislatively grandfathered in (in a “designated student-athletes” title) for the duration of their college careers. Every university that wishes to opt in to the revenue-sharing payments from the House vs. NCAA settlement, will be allowed to submit the names of those “designated student-athletes”, who will not be counted toward the roster limits rule for college football.

“After spring ball, I thought I was going to have to get to 105, so that’s why I had some conversations, which moved some guys on,” Bielema said on Thursday in a summer media session inside the Smith Family Football Complex. “Then literally like two weeks later they said, ‘Ruh roh, we might be able to add more guys.’ Super excited about these 116. They’ve been with us all summer.”