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James Thompson Jr., a two-year defensive lineman starter at Wisconsin, has elected to spend his final season of college football playing for Bret Bielema’s Illini as a graduate transfer in the upcoming 2025 season. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

December 25, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Christmas Day represented the biggest and most important gift for the Illinois football program. 

Steve Sturm, IlliniGuys Football Analyst

December 25, 2024

Illinois took its time before jumping into the transfer portal waters, but now that they're in, the portal commitments are coming rapidly.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

December 24, 2024

One of the glaring options on Illinois' offseason football shopping list was an additional wide receiver, and the Illini checked off that item when they took a commitment from Ball State wide receiver Justin Bowick on Saturday.  Bowick is a big and fairly fast wide receiver at 6'4, 200 and would make a nice target for Luke Altmyer in 2025.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst & Co-Host, IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

December 24, 2024

The Illini are Braggin’ again, which means the turkey will taste much better on Christmas Day. As we look back at this game, and the other 10, certain things begin to stand out and we can see this team growing.

Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular and Big Sports Radio […]

The addition of Tomiwa Durojaiye continues the philosophy of finding developmental talent who have yet to reach their potential out of the transfer portal.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

December 23, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Ben Spicer/Warchant)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Illinois football program continue to show the philosophy of being a developmental power conference program can and should also exist with transfer portal additions.

Illinois added to this ideology of slow, multi-year program building Monday with the reported addition of defensive lineman Tomiwa Durojaiye.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

December 23, 2024

I hope you're all enjoying the first part of portal season as Northern Illinois' Ethan Hampton switched his commitment from Wake Forest to Illinois to provide Illinois with some veteran depth at quarterback for at least the 2025 season.  Hampton started at NIU for a memorable 2024 season that featured the only victory over Notre Dame this year.  Most Illini fans will look at fellow senior MAC transfer John Paddock from the 2023 season and like Hampton's switch to that situation.  However, the truth is Hampton is a bigger addition than Paddock.  Much bigger.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

Kylan Boswell grew up watching the Braggin’ Rights game as an Illini fan but his 36 efficient minutes led Illinois to a second straight win over Missouri.

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

December 22, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When asked to describe his backcourt mate on this Illinois team, Kasparas Jakucionis needed just one word to accurately depict Kylan Boswell’s value. 

By IlliniGuys Staff December 22, 2024 (Cover photo courtesy […]

Brad Sturdy, IlliniGuys Illini Insider and C0-Host IlliniGuys Sports […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

December 21, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois head football coach Bret Bielema, who gained national recognition during his tenure leading the Wisconsin Badgers to several successful seasons, has continued tapping into his former program’s talent pool this week as defensive lineman Curtis Neal committed to the Illini on Saturday.

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema speaking about his recruiting frustrations involving financial inefficiencies in the sport of college football and institutional hurdles at his current employer.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — As the highest paid state employee in Illinois, Bret Bielema elected to use part of his local media session Tuesday to point out what he would consider institutional inefficiencies affecting his ability to recruit talent.

When asked Tuesday inside the Smith Family Football Complex if he felt he had the proper resources from the university’s athletics department to acquire top-level talent in the transfer portal, the Illinois fourth-year head coach didn’t hold back on his frustration with specific institution issues to restrict his program’s ability to recruit out of the transfer portal.

“One of the biggest battles we fight here at the University of Illinois is being able to get kids (out of the transfer portal) enrolled in school,” Bielema said on Tuesday.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

December 21, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois secured an important commitment from Ball State transfer Justin Bowick.

By Larry Smith - Co-Host & Executive Producer, IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

December 21, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch)

It was December 10, 2007. I joined dozens of other journalists on a brisk morning outside the federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia awaiting the sentencing of Atlanta Falcons Pro Bowl quarterback Michael Vick on dogfighting charges.  Sports writer Dan Wetzel and I had enjoyed friendly sports debates over the years and, as we struck up a conversation, we realized that we had independently put together very similar ideas for a 16-team college football playoff, not just the one-game affair that was decided partially on the field and (still) partially by a committee.

Dan and I agreed that the money would be staggering and we both couldn't understand how people smarter than us hadn't figured that out. Basketball is fun, but football is king. A month-long, 16-team tournament with games on Fridays and Saturdays in December? Nothing would get done in millions of households across the country as the affair would be a money-printing machine for colleges and TV networks alike.

I have shared my version many times over the years including in this space, asking 'what might have been?' if we had a March Madness-like postseason national college football tournament.

By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst & Co-Host, IlliniGuys Sports Spectaculr

December 20, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

Every time a team loses, and many times when they win, fans and spectators want to know why this guy is playing and this guy is not. It’s human nature. ‘If player X had played, we would have won.’ They could be right. They may be wrong, and the reality is that we will never know what the outcome of the hypothetical would have been, so you can’t be ‘wrong’.

The Illini basketball team has found themselves on the losing end of a couple of key games late and much has been made of the substitution patterns. With that in mind, let’s look at the most productive groups for the Illini on the season. The numbers are what they are, so let’s dive a little deeper.

There are two ends to the floor, and to be successful teams must be good on both ends. So, when looking at the performance it is important to compare how they fare on both offense and defense.