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Take 1 - Illinois head coach Brad Underwood’s message […]

Steve Sturm, IlliniGuys Football Analyst

January 24, 2022

Cover photo courtesy Quad City Times

Illinois added another versatile defender to its '22 recruiting class when Matthew Bailey pledged to the Illini on Sunday.

January 24, 2022

Seven weeks until Selection Sunday.  Let's take care of a few things:

Resetting The Illini

Last week wasn't what Illinois fans were expecting a week ago.  A chance to prove they are the best team in the Big Ten followed up by another conference road win at lowly Maryland.  Neither happened.

Get over it.

Step back and look at the big picture.  With everything that's happened this season, Illinois enters the week one game out of first place in the Big Ten and that can be rectified with a home win Tuesday night over frontrunner Michigan State.  That's incredible and beating the Spartans is very doable.

Maybe you no longer believe that the Illini should be in the conversation as a national championship contender and maybe you're right.  But for me, it's far too early to write them off.  Few teams find extreme success without their two All-American caliber players getting the chance to play together.  AND potentially the nation's top defensive player gutting it out through a shoulder that needs surgery

Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

January 23, 2022

There is an old saying in recruiting: the best coaches have an eye, and rankings do not matter.

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting 

January 23, 2022

Cover photo courtesy of Quad City Times

Matthew Bailey Courtesy of the Quad City Times

The Illinois Football Program added another commitment for the Class of 2022

Steve Sturm, IlliniGuys Football Analyst

January 23, 2022

Illinois added another big body to its stable of incoming offensive linemen on Thursday when Zylon Crisler committed to the Illini. 

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

January 22, 2022

Getting student-athletes on campus to see what you have to sell is a big part in recruiting—Monday's instant classic between Purdue and Illinois

2021 Hall-of-Fame Class Honors Pre-1950s Legends DIA Press Release […]

Mike Cagley, IlliniGuy January 22, 2022 The Illini went […]

IlliniGuys Staff January 21, 2022 COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- […]

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

January 20, 2022

When Illinois head basketball coach Brad Underwood got here, his staff started to offer prospects like drinking water

Connor Cagley, IlliniGuys Basketball Writer January 21, 2022 Essentials: […]

For the first time since returning to action, Illinois sophomore guard Andre Curbelo described the feelings of his two-month absence that included physical, mental and emotional pain. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

January 20, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- While several people around him speculate and have questions about the difficulty of what he’s attempting on the basketball court now, Andre Curbelo believes the hard part is over. 

The sophomore point guard returned to the active lineup Monday in a 25-minute session during the double-overtime loss to Purdue but nothing he did in that afternoon was as taxing to his mind and body as trying to figure out the recovery from a long list of consistent symptoms from a severe head injury. 

“It’s scary when you don’t really have a lot of answers and you don’t have a lot of knowledge of what’s going on,” Curbelo said. “There was a time where I was like, ‘This seems like it’s going to be forever. This seems like I’m never going to be back.’ Typical college athlete mindset when you get an injury like this, you start thinking about the worst because you don’t want to be in shock when you get the news that either you can’t play or you can’t do this, you can’t do that for this long.”

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The title for largest human being on the Illinois 2022 football roster has now been handed to an offensive lineman named Zylon Crisler. 

Crisler, a native of Crystal Springs, Mississippi, has given his verbal commitment to Bret Bielema’s Illini football program and made the announcement official on Thursday afternoon. Crisler, who was named a Class 6A first team all-state selection by the athletics association for Mississippi’s private high schools two years ago, spent last season as a member of the starting offensive line at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

By Larry Smith - IlliniGuys Staff January 20, 2022 […]