Featured

Connor Cagley, IlliniGuys Basketball Writer December 18, 2021 Today […]

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

December 17, 2021

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Do not expect to see Andre Curbelo playing in games before the end of the Christmas holiday season.

While still holding details back from the public on the nature of the ongoing condition of his sophomore point guard, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood did make it clear his staff is not aware of a current timeline for Curbelo’s active return to not only games but practices.

Illini head football coach Bret Bielema reflects on his […]

The marriage of Bret Bielema’s return to the Big Ten Conference at Illinois coincided with everything Donovan Leary wanted at the college level. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

December 17, 2021

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Tony Petersen was sold on Donovan Leary as the quarterback of the future for the Illinois program by watching him struggle. 

Bret Bielema’s Illini Program Flipped Gabriel Jacas’ Commitment on National Signing Day and beat SEC programs by doing it. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

December 17, 2021

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Radio silent. 

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- While it wasn’t exactly a mission from God, Bret Bielema’s first full recruiting class at his new program was built to put his version of the Illini band back together.

The 2022 recruiting class for the Illinois head coach was always going to have the look and foundation of what he wants this football program to be and early in this process it was the commitments of big, tough and athletic offensive linemen who stayed loyal throughout the fall months that will define the success or failure of this recruiting class.

“What is significant about this first class? I think it embodies what we believe in,” Bielema said in his Wednesday media conference. “We have a strong belief here in the importance of offensive linemen and defensive linemen. We need numbers…so to get (the offensive linemen) and have the chance to mold them was critical.”

2022 Georgia prospect Tyson Rooks has parlayed one season […]

Gabriel Jacas, a three-star pass 2022 rusher from Fort […]

December 15, 2021

It's the day Bret Bielema has looked forward to since he was hired almost a year ago to the day; his first Signing Day after a full recruiting cycle.

It's a busy day full of excitement, as top prospects across the country - and the world - make good on their verbal pledges.  And the Illini's international recruit - 6'8", 300-pound offensive lineman Magnus Moller of Denmark - wasted no time getting his signed letter of intent into the Illinois football office just after midnight.

Check back with IlliniGuys.com and follow us on Twitter at @Illini_Guys for updates throughout the day!

Here are the newest Illini:

December 14, 2021

Illinois head football coach Bret Bielema is making waves in the recruiting business. Bielema built a house in Champaign, making it known this is his home state and he’s going to win at Illinois and plans to be here for a while.  And considering his history of putting offensive linemen in the NFL, any big man has to at least pause if Bielema or anyone on his staff places a call. 

Tuesday night, three-star OL Isaiah Adams, who stands 6-foot-6, 325 pounds, from Garden City Community College in Kansas, answered the call and committed to Bielema's Illini.

December 14, 2021

This past weekend it was easy to be caught up in one of the biggest non-conference basketball games at the State Farm Center in decades.

If ever there was a time to have one of the nation's top prospects on campus, this was it. Akil Watson, a 6-foot-9, 200-pound forward from Roselle, New Jersey, saw one of the best college basketball games at the State Farm Center in a while.

IlliniGuys Staff December 14, 2021 CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Put […]

December 13, 2021

Oct. 19, 2017, is the date Illinois basketball changed for the better in the late 2000s. Former All-American guard Ayo Dosunmu committed on that date to the Fighting Illini.

Dosunmu, the five-star recruit, picked Illinois over Cincinnati, Florida State, Butler, Iowa State, Kansas, Marquette, Missouri, Oklahoma State, USC, Texas A & M, and Xavier.

Everything about Dosunmu, from my first conversation to my last, has been nothing but first-class; you do not expect an 18-year-old young man to have that kind of charisma and professionalism at the same time.

December 13, 2021

Illinois lost a 4 star grad transfer quarterback this year with the graduation of Brandon Peters, but Friday they added another one in Syracuse transfer Tommy DeVito.  DeVito was one of Dino Babers' first big recruit at Syracuse and he got off to a promising start before Babers benched him three games into this season for Mississippi State transfer Garrett Shrader.  Devito entered the transfer portal soon thereafter and Illinois made quick contact.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The word soft being thrown around after games at State Farm Center is becoming a little too common for Illinois head coach Brad Underwood to handle.

Following a 83-79 loss to No. 11 Arizona Saturday, the Illini fifth-year head coach found himself calling his team that four-letter word to describe his basketball team in clearly the most frustrated Underwood looked and sounded since the loss to Missouri in the 2019 Braggin’ Rights Game.

“Put it in all caps. Softness. Soft,” Underwood stated. “Have you guys ever known my teams to be that? And that I have a hard time with. When people are taking your ball and we’re not tough enough to get a stop on a good player when we need to, that’s something I gotta get right.”