Featured

By IlliniGuys Staff

November 27, 2025

Like a surprise pecan pie you might discover behind the serving dishes of green bean casserole and cranberries, IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst Brad Sturdy delivered some eye-popping goodies this week on the premium message boards.

An under-the-radar campus visitor this week, who NBA scouts have their eye on and why this might be a December we'll remember come March.

Here's what he said:

By Zeno Jo - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

November 27, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Standing at 6-1 with the season in full swing, the 13th-ranked Illinois basketball team has picked up its first commitment of its 2027 recruiting class. With the staff’s 2024 and 2025 classes bringing in flavors from all around the world, the first name on the 2027 class will be an in-state guy.

6-foot-6, 215-pound forward Quinton Kitt has committed to play for the Illini. Hailing from Peoria and playing for East Peoria High School, Kitt has been a frequent traveler to Champaign in recent months. He was on campus for his fourth visit for Illinois’ November 7th matchup against Florida Gulf Coast, and he has spoken with the IlliniGuys team several times before.

By Zeno Jo - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

November 26, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Zeno Jo/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – We’ve all heard of “two birds, one stone,” but the Illini coaching staff may be looking to take down three birds with one Illinois-shaped stone.

Head coach Bret Bielema has taken a liking to in-state recruiting since arriving in 2021, and as of late has also been heavy in recruiting players who have family ties to the program. His next target? A player playing football right out of Northwestern’s backyard.

Illinois forces 25 turnovers and holds Western Kentucky to […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

November 26, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois’ most recent loss to Wisconsin left a sour note across Illini Nation, but the future of the program remains steady. The recruits who have pledged themselves to the Orange and Blue are standing firm, none more than quarterback Michael Clayton.

Clayton, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound quarterback from Edison High School in Miami, Fla., is slated to arrive on campus in 2026. Even with the ups and downs of the current season, he’s excited to get his college career going.

Clayton said his commitment is rooted in his belief in the staff and the direction of the program. "Coaching and development that I know I’ll get there, and I believe we’ll be able to bring Big Ten championships to Champaign," he said.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

November 26, 2025

Bart Miller and Bret Bielema love their offensive line play, and with four of five starters leaving this offseason, we've seen quite a few recruits coming through Champaign this season to make sure there are enough quality options to ensure that the Illini have the quality line play in 2026 to which we've become accustomed.  To that end, Northeast Mississippi tackle Alfred Washington flipped his commitment from Marshall to the Illini last week after a prior visit to the Illini.  I like what I see from Washington, but I'd hold off on buying this jersey because he's a real wild card.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

IlliniGuys.com uses a film review this week to show how the scheme wasn’t necessarily the problem but a lack of execution and effort was the culprit in Wisconsin.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

November 26, 2025

MADISON, Wis. — In the midst of the obvious disaster that was Illinois’ 27-10 loss at Wisconsin, the two most troublesome items of concern were likely offensive line play and the defense’s inability to get third-down stops. Therefore, we’ll attempt to address both of those issues in depth in this film review piece.

Let’s start with the offensive line issues that allowed Wisconsin to generate five sacks and pressure on Luke Altmyer in 22 of the quarterback’s 42 dropbacks on Saturday night. Illinois head coach Bret Bielema painted the picture on Saturday night that Wisconsin’s edge rushers (Darryl Peterson and Mason Reiger) just flew around and won way too many 1-on-1 battles on the outside against the Illini’s tackles and tight ends. Of course, a further in-depth look at what transpired realizes that, as is usual, it’s not at all that simple.

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

November 25, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Brent Zinkmann/IlliniGuys)

The Illini beat UT Rio Grande Valley 87-73 on Monday night as they prepare for UConn on Friday, but they also showed they are far from a finished product. The ups and downs are normal for early season basketball, but this is different. The Illini have played 7 games but literally have only had a full roster available (sans Ty Rodgers) for three of those games and five practices. And even then, they are far from 100% and do not have conditioning up to speed.

So it makes sense that there are inconsistencies, some communication issues and even a coaching staff struggling to figure them out.

Things We Know:

Stojakovic Can Score 

While the talent, creativity and moments of athleticism from Mihailo Petrovica re impossible to ignore, Brad Underwood remains baffled on what to do with his 22-year-old point guard.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

November 25, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The biggest mystery for Illinois’ 2025-26 season continues to be 22-year-old Mihailo Petrovic.

Following what the layman might perceive as an uplifting effort from a player who was the last Illini option used off the bench, Petrovic remains this unlocked talent that his own leader admittedly doesn’t know how to properly use already seven games into this campaign.

“I don’t know. If you want me to be honest, we’re still working through all of that,” a perplexed Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said following the 87-73 win over Texas-Rio Grande Valley. “He was the first player off the bench on Saturday (in the 98-58 win over Long Island) and I think we have depth. It’s nice to have him and be able to go to him.”

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

November 25, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Every loss is tough when you've built a good football program. The Ohio State and Indiana losses hurt because they were the program's best chance to take a big leap forward, yet Illinois wasn't up to the task. The Washington loss hurt because the Illini probably had more talent but had some coaching mishaps and some bad luck. However, this loss hurt even more, because the thing Bret Bielema could really hang his hat on this year was that this was a physically and mentally mature group that came to play in every game and wasn't going to lose an easy one...or so we thought. The Illini players and coaches both came out flat on Saturday and, despite having the more talented and experienced team, lost by 17 points in Madison. There's no real excuse for this loss either, and even if there were, this is the one that has the potential to hurt the program more than the others.

I'm going to start with the offensive highlights this week, and while we spent a lot of time talking about the poor pass blocking that led to 5 sacks on Saturday night, on re-watch I have to say a couple of these sacks were the result of Luke Altmyer getting confused both because of good defensive scheming and Altmyer's own indecision. We saw Luke double and triple pump on plays on Saturday like we haven't seen before and that was the result of Wisconsin disrupting his passing lanes and flooding short zones with defenders. On this first play Altmyer has four seconds before he starts to run outside and you can see Cole Rusk come up just before Altmyer looks for him. You can see Altmyer start to dump it off to Rusk but Daryl Peterson, who would go on to deflect two passes and get two more sacks Saturday night, gets his hands up and causes Altmyer to hold the ball. Wisconsin had Altmyer off schedule all night and they deserve credit for the scheming. I marked this down as a coverage sack after re-watching.

Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular Cover Photo Courtesy Wisconsin […]

By IlliniGuys Staff November 24, 2025 (Cover photo courtesy […]

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema addressed the overlying feeling that the College Football Playoff spots has overtaken the whole sport assuring Illini fans that “we’ll get there”.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

November 24, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A 17-point loss to a sub-.500 Wisconsin team just two days earlier hasn’t at all dampened the long-term outlook for Illinois head coach Bret Bielema.

When asked Monday in his final weekly regular season media conference inside Gies Memorial Stadium what his viewpoint on a ‘College Football Playoff berth or bust’ mentality among nearly all power conference programs in the current landscape of the sport, the Illini fifth-year head coach wasn’t shy about making promises to his fanbase.

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

November 24, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

The Illini open their Thanksgiving Feast Week schedule with a bit of a test when they take on UT Rio Grande at the State Farm Center before they head to New York to take on the UConn Huskies at Madison Square Garden. It is sometimes easy to look ahead and this would be a game they definitely do not want to overlook.

Here’s a look at the matchup.

Setting the Stage
#8 Illinois (5-1) vs. UT Rio Grande Valley (2-3)
Monday, Nov. 24, 2025 // 7 p.m. CT // Champaign, Ill. // State Farm Center
TV: BTN – Jason Ross Jr. (Play-by-Play) & Bruce Weber (Analyst)
Radio: Busey Bank Illini Sports Network – Brian Barnhart (Play-By-Play) & Doug Altenberger

Notable
*No. 8 Illinois (5-1) continues its stretch of four games in 10 days across three different cities, hosting UT Rio Grande Valley on Monday night at State Farm Center (7 p.m. CT/BTN). This is Illinois’ lone one-day prep of the regular season, following Saturday’s 98-58 win over Long Island.

*Monday marks Illinois’ sixth home date among its first seven games to start the season. The Illini will not play at State Farm Center for nearly three weeks following the UTRGV game, returning Dec. 13 vs. Nebraska. Illinois has won all five of its home games thus far by outscoring opponents by an average of 32.8 points. The Illini are shooting 52% at State Farm Center, including nearly 36% from 3-point range Illinois carries a seven-game home winning streak into Monday’s game vs. UTRGV. Under head coach Brad Underwood, the Illini have won 34 consecutive nonconference home games against unranked opponents.

*After leading the Big Ten in scoring last season (83.6 ppg), Illinois is currently averaging 95.8 points. If able to maintain this early pace, it would surpass the program’s all-time scoring average of 92.2 ppg set in 1964-65.

*The Illini have opened with six straight games of 80+ points for the first time since the 1988-89 Flyin’ Illini did so in each of its first 12 contests.

*The Fighting Illini offense features six players – Kylan Boswell (17.8 ppg), Andrej Stojakovic (17.4), Keaton Wagler (16.2), David Mirkovic (16.0), Tomislav Ivisic (11.0), and Ben Humrichous (10.0) – averaging double-figures scoring, tied for the second-most in the nation.

If you want to place blame to why Saturday night’s disaster in Madison happened, look no further than the man who has his hands in every single aspect of the program - Bret Bielema.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

MADISON, Wis. — The cold, harsh reality of what transpired on Saturday night inside Camp Randall Stadium is the person most responsible can’t and logically shouldn’t be replaced.

Bret Arnold Bielema is the one who has to wear every bit of this three-score loss to a then-three win Wisconsin football team because everything that happened is something the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign not only allowed to happen but was the one who encouraged and championed it to happen.

You want to play the blame game after this 27-10 debacle? Lord knows the IlliniGuys.com football message boards are saying “hell yes” to that request. Well, you better start with the guy who carries an $8.2 million salary and has a current buyout of his contract that totals $49,491,667 - the guy with that big corner office inside the Smith Family Football Complex next to Gies Memorial Stadium. Yeah, that guy who Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman is financially tied to and is incapable of (and, of course, has no desire toward) replacing anytime soon.