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Illinois head coach Bret Bielema has repeatedly said he and his staff are using this off week to answer questions about specific problem areas of a his football team after seven straight games.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

October 18, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The obvious lesson from the 63-10 loss at Indiana for Illinois offensive line coach Bart Miller was something he says he learned at six years old when dealing with a school bully.

Miller says one day after school he told his parents that he got physically dominated by the bully and instead of punishing him for being in a fight, his mother gave him a quick directive.

“You have to deal with it and she told me ‘Do you think the fight is over just because you got knocked down?’,” Miller said on Sept. 30 just days following the Illini’s 34-32 win over Southern California. “I thought our guys were pretty resilient in learning from that experience and responding like the veteran mature group that we thought they were.”

As Illinois (5-2, 2-2 in Big Ten Conference) finally approaches its first off weekend of the 2025 season, they went into Friday night still last in the 18-team Big Ten Conference in sacks allowed with 23 in seven games. However, this statistic may not adequately represent the improvement of Miller’s veteran five-man operation in the last three games following the 53-point blowout loss in Bloomington.

By Zeno Jo - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

October 17, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Entering his second year in the Orange and Blue and his fourth overall as a college basketball player, Kylan Boswell has had a unique journey. An Urbana native with family ties to the University of Illinois, Boswell’s basketball career has taken some twists and turns, but staring down his senior year of college basketball, he says he wouldn’t have wanted it to play out any differently.

After graduating from Urbana Middle School, Boswell moved to AZ Compass Prep in Chandler, Arizona, and committed to play for the Arizona Wildcats, classing up a year early to play as a freshman in college when he would have been a senior in high school. After competing for the Wildcats for two years, Boswell entered the transfer portal and committed to play for his hometown team in Illinois.

By Kedric Prince – IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

October 16, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four-star offensive tackle Cameron Wagner, one of the top prep prospects in Illinois’ 2027 class, continues to draw major attention on the recruiting front. The 6-foot-6, 300-pound standout from St. Joseph-Ogden High School in St. Joseph, Illinois, has quickly become one of the most sought-after linemen in the Midwest.

Wagner, who recently visited Memorial Stadium to watch then-No. 17 Illinois take on Ohio State, said the trip was another reminder of how close he is to home, and how much the Illini mean to his community.

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema has repeatedly said he and his staff are using this off week to answer questions about specific problem areas of a his football team after seven straight games. We’ll first start with an issue Bielema has mentioned multiple times as a point of impact during this off weekend - third-down defense.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

October 16, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Bret Bielema can still clearly see Ohio State’s first third-down conversion in his mind from last weekend’s loss.

On a third-and-8 situation, Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin found Jeremiah Smith on a crossing pattern for 18 yards on a play that allowed the Buckeyes to cross midfield for the first time during what would eventually be a 34-16 victory over the Illini for the top-ranked team in the country.

“You just can’t ask for a better scenario on an opening drive than a third-and-8,” Bielema said on Wednesday. “In my opinion, we did some things in the rush and we did some things in the coverage that are just little details that result in big things in the end.”

As we detailed earlier this week in the IlliniGuys.com Film Review, Ohio State did an excellent job of taking away Illinois pass rusher Gabe Jacas and challenged the rest of his Illini teammates near the line-of-scrimmage to make plays.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

(Editor's note: Ked delivered this on the IlliniGuys premium message boards on Tuesday.)

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

The season is right around the corner, and here’s an IlliniGuys exclusive message board update on how things are looking. The players mentioned below are the ones I was able to gather information on.

The first two names were senior Kylan Boswell and freshman Keaton Wagler

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

October 16, 2025

Player Biography: Gisela Segura, a 5-foot-11 guard, arrives in Champaign as a transfer student from Franklin Pierce and LIU. At LIU, she totaled 112 points, 67 rebounds, 28 assists, 23 steals, and 11 blocks. Before that, at the Division II level with Franklin Pierce from 2020-24, Segura appeared in 60 games, scoring 414 points while adding 263 rebounds, 119 assists, and 107 steals.

What we know:

With seven games already played before its first off weekend, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema had to go to some ‘Plan B’ decisions on first-year talents showing special teams contributions.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

October 15, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — After a month-long preseason camp and seven consecutive regular season games before its first off week, Bret Bielema knew he’d long have to decisions made on the four-game redshirt threshold for first-year players.

In his Wednesday Zoom media with media, Bielema confirmed that he and his coaching staff have made up their minds on which freshman will likely be participating in more than four regular season games and obviously not be receiving a redshirt season.

The fifth-year head coach gave examples of linebacker Grant Beerman and defensive back Andre Lovett Jr. as players who have impressed so much they’ve reached the status of being on the 74-player travel roster as depth pieces in their positional groups but more so on specific special teams units.

By Kedric Prince – IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

October 15, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Kedric Prince/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - One of the most coveted four-star recruits in the country was on campus when Illinois hosted defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Ohio State this past weekend. Jordan Haskins, a 5-foot-11 cornerback from Bryan Station High School in Lexington, Kentucky, was among the visitors.

Rivals.com/On3 lists the 2027 prospect as the fourth-best player in the state of Kentucky for his class and the No. 32-ranked safety in the nation. Co-Host of the IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular syndicated radio show, Mike Cagley, said previously, “Illinois recruits well, but if they want to take the next step, they must recruit more speed. All of the really good college football teams have it.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra6r-J1FwDE    

By IlliniGuys Staff

(Cover photo courtesy Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette)

Illinois has been blessed with some immensely talented basketball players over the years.  All-Americans, Big Ten Players of the Year, and those who have reached the penultimate level in college hoops.

IlliniGuys co-owners Mike Cagley, Larry Smith, and Brad Sturdy and IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting Kedric Prince all grew up in the 1970s and 80s, so we posed the question - who is the greatest Illini center in your lifetime?

That was the debate in this recent edition of the I On The Illini podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/illiniguys-top-5-fighting-illini-cs-in-our-lifetime-493/id1548299600?i=1000720671211

A major factor in the Illinois being unable to get any kind of pass rush Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin is the Buckeyes doubled and sometimes tripled-teamed Gabe Jacas.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

October 14, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Give credit to Ohio State’s trio of coaches that scheme up their passing attack including head coach Ryan Day, offensive coordinator Brian Hartline and co-offensive coordinator & tight ends coach Keenan Bailey.

What these three coaches do so very well when they’re playing the likes of Illinois, Washington or another opponent where they’re a significant favorite (mostly because the Buckeyes have acquired a severe talent advantage on its roster) is identify and initially slow down the defensive disruptor who can individually wreck a drive, quarter and game on that underdog team.

The identification part is relatively easy. As No. 1 Ohio State approached the preparation for a road test at Illinois, Gabe Jacas had Plan A, B and probably C to converting big plays and staying on the field on third down. It’s also likely most of the sold-out capacity crowd at Gies Memorial Stadium knew Jacas was the player who needed to be highlighted and kept out of the Buckeyes backfield for a large portion of success for the road team to consistently happen.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

October 14, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Not ready for prime time. That was my and most people's take after the painful loss to Ohio State Saturday. Illinois outgained the Buckeyes. They played them evenly on the line of scrimmage and held their own at the skill positions. Luke Altmyer probably outplayed Julian Sayin. But Illinois lost 34-16 and was generally out of reach of the win because of 3 turnovers and a punting foible that was basically a turnover too. In other words, Ohio State looked like a CFP team, while Illinois looked like a team that isn't quite good enough for that. Still though, despite the odd voting that left Illinois out of the AP poll with losses to the 1st and 3rd best teams in the nation, Illinois continued to look like a top 20 type of team. And really, if they take the right lessons away from Saturday's loss, they can still reach that next level.

This play was destined for a loss from the start. Sometimes you can get away with not blocking the end man on the back side of a running play if you create a threat with the quarterback. However, that works a lot better on the wide side of the field, and more importantly, Ohio State's Kenyatta Jackson is just too athletic to be delayed by that type of minor influence. He eats this TFL up like he's back in high school. Note that Collin Dixon has a rare lack of effort on this one. Ohio State's Davison Igbinosun takes inside leverage on this one so it's going to be a tough block, but Dixon lets him free after a token shove.

By Kedric Prince – IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

October 14, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Fighting Illini women’s program has long sought to keep top in-state talent at home, especially Miss Basketball, a feat not accomplished since 1998 with Taylorville’s Allison Curtin. This year, Chicago Whitney Young guard Destiny Jackson is changing the narrative.

Standing 5-foot-6, Jackson is bringing her elite skills and athleticism to Illinois under the direction of four-year head coach Shauna Green. Jackson is already making an impression on her coaches and teammates as she prepares for her freshman season. She was ranked No. 29 nationally by ESPN and is part of a top-10 recruiting class for 2025.

During summer workouts, Jackson sustained a minor wrist injury, but she appears ready to go as the season nears, and Green appears to feel she's ready to go.

IlliniGuys.com football writer/analyst gives his outlook of the college football world as we enter the month of October.

October 13, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — We’ve reached the first off weekend for the Illinois football team and after a month-long preseason camp and seven straight weeks of games, the proverbial pause button has likely come at the perfect time for Bret Bielema’s bunch in Champaign-Urbana.

However, without an immediate game to look forward toward and discuss, IlliniGuys.com realizes with its midseason Top 25 poll and College Football Playoff projections realizes that the there is still potential for a best case scenario for the Illini (5-2, 2-2 in Big Ten Conference) regarding the 2025 Big Ten Championship Game. Is it the Illini being a participant for the first time in school history? No…not directly.

With losses to both No. 1 Ohio State and No. 3 Indiana, two programs that failed to play each other in the regular season, there is a multiverse world (for all my comic book lovers out there) that could easily become a reality where the undefeated Buckeyes and undefeated Hoosiers meet in Indianapolis in the final game of the college football regular season to decide who will likely be the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff bracket when it’s revealed on the next afternoon. If that scenario were to play out,

By IlliniGuys Staff October 13, 2025 CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - […]