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Matthew Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

July 27, 2025

Since IlliniGuys.com was not asked to participate in the league's unofficial annual Cleveland.com poll/selections, we thought we'd do our own

LAS VEGAS — One of the more interesting factoids about Bret Bielema’s coaching career is when and the number of times he’s been selected as a conference coach of the year. 

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 26, 2015

(Cover photo courtesy Brian Mahoney/News Sun)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – In the late 1990s, Illinois basketball introduced fans to Lucas Johnson, a 6-foot-7 forward out of Des Plaines and Maine West High School. Johnson didn’t overwhelm fans with scoring or flashy play, but few wore the Illini jersey with more grit. Over time, he carved out a role as a starter and earned a reputation as one of the toughest players to ever suit up in orange and blue.

Now, a new Johnson is starting to make waves, and this time, it’s Liv Johnson, Lucas' daughter. The 6-foot-2 scoring combo guard from Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein is rising fast through the ranks and is already considered one of the top prospects in the Midwest.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 26, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Anoke Deitg-Blanchard)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – One of the best decisions Brad Underwood made during his time at Illinois was convincing Orlando Antigua to return to Champaign as associate head coach again. Known as one of the top recruiters and closers in college basketball, Antigua brings a deep web of connections across the country, and lately, those ties are paying off on the East Coast.

Illinois has shown steady interest in more than 10 high school prospects from the New York area, and the latest target is Lucas Morillo, a rising 2026 combo guard from The Newman School in Boston, Massachusetts.

Big Ten Conference coordinator of football officials Bill Carollo contends, unlike the presentation given by the Southeastern Conference, late defensive substitution patterns aren’t a typical problem.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 24, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy ESPN)

LAS VEGAS — It appears the contention between the Big Ten Conference and Southeastern Conference is not just limited to a future College Football Playoff format but also involves the folks in stripped shirts as well.

One week after John McDaid, the SEC coordinator of football officials, gave a presentation to media in attendance at that league’s media day in Atlanta over what he called “rule changes” within his conference beginning with the upcoming 2025 season, Big Ten Conference coordinator of football officials Bill Carollo had his say on the matter of handling defensive substitution patterns through the course of a game.

A big portion of McDaid’s lecture was how the SEC would address in the immediate future where a defense is intentionally trying to force down the play clock on the offense with its final chance at a player substitution before the football is snapped. McDaid’s video demonstration highlighting what his office has determined is an issue that demands attention included clips of Illinois executing defensive substitutions in the 2024 Citrus Bowl resulting in a 21-17 win for Illini over South Carolina.

“What we’ve seen over the last couple years — and we definitely saw it at a high volume or a higher volume in the 2024 postseason

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 24, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Quality big men with skill sets that fit today’s fast-paced, positionless game can be hard to find. At Illinois, under head coach Brad Underwood, players are expected to shoot, pass, defend, and play with high energy. That’s part of what has made Aliou Dioum, a 6-foot-10 forward/center from Scottsdale, Ariz., an attractive 2026 prospect.

The Illini are actively recruiting Dioum, and this isn’t your standard scholarship offer. Illinois views Dioum as a key priority in their 2026 class and are making a serious push for the high-motor big man.

IlliniGuys caught up with Dioum to get his thoughts

Illinois third-year starting quarterback Luke Altmyer believes Barry Lunney Jr. deserves to soon be a head coach in college football but is grateful to be paired with him one more time in 2025.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 23, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

LAS VEGAS — Since the moment Barry Lunney Jr. knew Luke Altmyer was the transfer portal quarterback target in December 2022 ,he’s been able to share his on-field and off-field vision for the then-Ole Miss transfer prospect and the current Illinois offensive coordinator and quarterback have been connected.

As the Fighting Illini enter the 2025 campaign, it will mark the third year for both Altmyer being the starting quarterback and Lunney running the quarterback room and calling offensive plays in Champaign-Urbana. The importance and value of the partnership is not lost on the 22-year-old quarterback as he was honored this week at Big Ten Football Media Days at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas as a preseason all-conference selection. 

“I think our relationship, our communication, is at a really high level,” Altmyer said on Tuesday in Las Vegas when IlliniGuys.com asked him about Lunney. “I’m able to understand what he’s thinking (and) he’s able to tap into my thinking…We just understand each other at a high level.”

Sources close to the Altmyer’s representation confirmed

IlliniGuys.com spoke to multiple sources close to the Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer about details involving the third-party recruitment attempts of numerous college programs.
By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 23, 2025

LAS VEGAS — Luke Altmyer got a crash course this past spring in the pay-for-play era of college football. 

Altmyer never believed he would have make two announcements that he was returning to the University of Illinois for the 2025 season. The Illini quarterback wasn’t always believed the money would get too ridiculously high that the result would be rumors of him transferring away from would stop. Altmyer quickly realized that was a bad plan. 

“It was stressful. Stress, stress, stress,” Altmyer said. “There’s a lot of talks and communication that has to happen behind your back. That’s part of it. A lot of sleepless nights where I didn’t know what was coming the next day or what the next hour would look like. I’ll say this, I wake up everyday knowing I did the right thing for me.” 

No matter the consequences, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema has become a self-appointed social media warrior fighting for himself, his employer, his players or values of the game he loves.

July 23, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Matt Stevens/IlliniGuys)

LAS VEGAS — There are still times Jen Bielema will give her husband a side-eye glance followed by a version of a consistent ‘Why did you tweet that?’ type of question.

Ranging from a variety of topics, the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has taken to becoming a social media warrior to defend what he consistently calls “the best time to a head coach in college football right now”.

As he enters his fifth season at Illinois, Bret Bielema does not believe he and his current employer can survive using the concept of shutting up and letting your play do your talking for you any longer. Following a 10-3 record last season, Bielema stood at the main podium of the 2025 Big Ten Football Media Days at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas knowing just several hundred feet away at the MGM Sportsbook, his team had +500 odds to be in the College Football Playoff field. And Bielema’s current policy seems to be that if he knows it and believes it, everybody in the outside world should know it too.

Following a 10-win season, Illinois predicted to finish fourth in the unofficial Big Ten Football Media poll.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 22, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

LAS VEGAS — A panel of 24 reporters throughout the Big Ten Conference selected Illinois to finish fourth in the 18-team conference going into the 2025 season.

The panel of league media members organized by Cleveland.com is an annual tradition as, unlike most every other Football Bowl Subdivision conference in college football, the Big Ten does not organize a preseason media or coaches poll. IlliniGuys.com was not asked to participate in the poll and I’ll be coming out with a IlliniGuys.com preseason poll shortly.

Coming off a 10-win season in 2024, Illinois was aggregated by the 24-reporter panel to finish fourth in the league in this upcoming season, which is a nine-spot jump in this Cleveland.com preseason poll from one year ago.

IlliniGuys.com addresses five issues and/or topics that Illinois head coach Bret Bielema and/or his three players (Luke Altmyer, JC Davis and Xavier Scott) might want to address in Las Vegas.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 21, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy MGM Hotels)

LAS VEGAS — After Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti steps off the podium for his introductory address and media Q&A session, the very next face you’ll see at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas for the league’s football media days will be Illinois’ head coach entering his fifth season leading the program.

Bret Bielema follows Petitti as the first Big Ten head coach to take the mic Tuesday at the main stage's press conference. Bielema's appearance will be live on Big Ten Network at 1:30 p.m. CST.

Bielema will then be on Sirius XM B1G Radio at 4:00 p.m. CST and then will finish his day on the Big Ten Network studio set joined by a host of panelists including former Illini tailback Howard Griffith at 5:45 p.m. CST.

We at IlliniGuys.com thought we’d detail five pressing storylines that we’d like to hear from Bielema and/or the three All-Big Ten players (quarterback Luke Altmyer, left tackle JC Davis and defensive back Xavier Scott) the Illini fifth-year leader brought with him to Las Vegas.

After a lot of public talk from the Southeastern Conference since late May, Big Ten Conference commissioner Tony Petitti will get his chance to present his public case in Las Vegas.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 21, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Big Ten)

LAS VEGAS — To steal most of this line from the late radio host Paul Harvey, after Tuesday we’ll know the rest of the story.

Last week, the Southeastern Conference - led by its commissioner Greg Sankey and a parade of football head coaches made their way through the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta to make its position very well understood on two critical issues currently holding up an approved proposal for a future College Football Playoff format.

As per tradition, Big Ten Conference commissioner Tony Petitti will have the first opportunity to address issues and take questions likely surrounding his viewpoint on a CFP playoff format that is drastically different than the rest of his conference commissioner colleagues. At 1 p.m. CST, Petitti will address media on the first day of his league’s football media days from the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in the Big Ten’s first visit to the Las Vegas Strip since accepting the four West Coast programs (Southern California, UCLA, Washington and Oregon) into the conference membership.

Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular July 21, 2025 The […]

Illinois head coach Shauna Green still doesn’t have a fully healthy and active roster to work with in July. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

July 20, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.  — Shauna Green must eventually believe there will be a time where she’ll actually get to coach a healthy roster at the University of Illinois. 

One might think that time would be the summer months where athletes are supposed to be part of offseason workouts. Well, Green’s answer right now would be: think again. 

As Illinois conducts on-campus workouts with a new 2025-26 season roster that has removed four graduated key starters, Green has already acknowledged she will likely still be learning the nuances of her new team once classes begin in August. 

“This is almost like the first year (at Illinois) for me because you know what you have when you watch a recruit but until you get them in our system, it’s about constantly learning things,” Green said. “It’s all about how they learn, how they adapt and how they then go put that into a live situation. Those answers don’t always come in the summer.” 

Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 19, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A question that continues to surface in recruiting circles and among Illini-Nation is: Will Illinois return to building through high school recruiting or continue leaning on the transfer portal?

That answer, as IlliniGuys learned

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

July 19, 2025

Illinois has had a strong start to its Class of 2026, but after a couple of painful misses on in-state tight ends Mack Sutter and JC Anderson, the program really needed to close the deal on its last big priority for 2026: Jacob Eberhart of Kirkwood (Missouri).  The four-star St. Louis area product is the son of former Illini Jason Eberhart, but with a strong offer list Jacob was far from a lock and in fact had not let the Illini staff know which way he was leaning until the morning of his commitment date.  I'm sure there was a massive sigh of relief in the Smith Football Offices that day as the 6'3, 205-pound athlete chose to follow in his father's footsteps.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?