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After being a starter on the Illini’s 2024 Elite […]

By Kedric Prince

April 1, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – IlliniGuys is where you need to be for Portal Kombat. My colleagues Brad Sturdy and Matt Stevens will work hard to keep you (Illini Nation) up to date with the most current news regarding Illinois athletics.

Let's get started with what I learned today in the transfer world.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 30, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Of all of the players who may opt to leave the Illinois basketball program this spring, the abrupt departure of Morez Johnson Jr. stings the most.

Illini Nation has been waiting since Christmas 2021 for the Chicago teen to arrive on campus. He committed during his sophomore season at St. Rita and continued to develop into an interior beast on both ends. Johnson was known for his athleticism and agility, playing with a passion that would land him as Illinois' Mr. Basketball last season.

Illinois head coach Shauna Green hopes her program can build off the first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years with an injection of youth and nationally-relevant talent ready to contribute immediately.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 31, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — The way Illinois head coach Shauna Green builds her basketball roster isn’t necessarily a champion of a ‘get old, stay old’ transfer portal era offseason theory of her sport.

With the second round loss to Texas in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, which followed the Illini’s first NCAA win in 25 years, Green and her staff knew an era of Illini women’s basketball was ending and a transition everybody in the Ubben Basketball Complex had been trying to push back as long as possible was coming.

March 31, 2025

It was a wild weekend for Illini Nation as fans across the globe withstood the shock of freshman power forward Morez Johnson Jr. entering the transfer portal.

Our sources tell us that Illinois upped its NIL offer significantly, but the Chicago native decided he can find a better fit - and perhaps a bigger bag - elsewhere.

Hence the world of Portal Kombat, where nothing is set in stone - even a player saying they want to return to the team next season - until the NIL contract is signed on the dotted line.

So...next up! IlliniGuys.com Insider/Analyst Brad Sturdy has an update on who the coaches are targeting for next season. Granted, recruiting is fluid and fast-moving, so this could be outdated next hour. So be sure to click the button above and sign up for IlliniGuys.com to get the most up-to-date recruiting news immediately inside our premium message boards!

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 30, 2015

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Former Rock Island standout Cole Rusk was an exceptional wide receiver in high school, but due to his 6-foot-5, 250-pound frame, he has developed into a major asset as a tight end.

Hopefully, he'll be able to do that for Illini Offensive Coordinator Barry Lunney Jr.'s system this fall.

Illinois doesn’t have many healthy safeties for the 2025 spring season is a major reason Bret Bielema doesn’t wish to participate in a intra-squad scrimmage due to depth concerns.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

March 30, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — With all the offseason surgeries affecting the defensive backs, Illinois defensive coordinator Aaron Henry doesn’t have a robust list of healthy bodies this spring in his safeties and nickel cornerbacks meeting room.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Good evening and welcome to the fifth spring football practice for the Illinois program for the 2025 season in the fifth campaign of Illini head coach Bret Bielema begins in the early hours at Memorial Stadium.

Tre White’s time in an Illinois jersey has come to an end after just one season and 32 games of the 2024-25 season.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March xx, 2025

Tre White has officially become the first consistent member of the Illinois starting lineup from the 2024-25 season to enter the transfer portal. 

The 6-foot-7 wing has informed the Illini coaching staff his intentions to entered the transfer portal after playing 32 games of the previous season at Illinois that ended with a second round loss to Kentucky in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. White started 31 games this past season with the Illini while averaging 10.5 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game while leading all consistent starters in field goal percentage (50.7) and free throw percentage (82.4) in 23.4 minutes per game. 

Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular March 29, 2025 Just […]

The one-year playing tenure of Morez Johnson, the 2024 Illinois Mr. Basketball selection, at the University of Illinois has ended as he has elected to enter the transfer portal.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 28, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Morez Johnson has entered the transfer portal after just one season at the University of Illinois.

The 6-foot-9 forward/center played in 30 games with eight starts in his first season of college basketball after signing with his home state program as four-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting class. Johnson averaged 7.1 points per game and was second on the team in rebounding at 6.7 per game on a team that advanced to the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

Johnson had five points and seven rebounds in the 84-75 loss to Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament second round game that ended the Illini’s 2024-25 season.

Former Illinois sixth-year linebacker Ryan Meed put up numbers comparable to the highest ranked draft-eligle linebackers at the Illini Pro Day workouts earlier this month.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

March 27, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The only thing more impressive than watching Ryan Meed perform the track and field drill portion of the Illinois Pro Day workouts was watching his Illini teammates react in real time to his numbers.

Whether it was Meed’s 4.51-second 40-yard dash time, which would've been third among all linebackers invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, or the 37.5-inch vertical jump, which would've been sixth among all linebackers at Scouting Combine) or the 25 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press, which would have been third among all linebackers at Scouting Combine, the vocal reaction by his peers to the show being put on by Meed inside the Illinois indoor facility of the Smith Family Football Complex was audible.

6-foot-10 forward Carey Booth’s one-year tenure at Illinois has […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 27, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Fighting Illini's head coaches, Brad Underwood of the men's basketball program and Bret Bielema of the football team, appear to be teaming up to land the state's top football recruit, Nasir Rankin. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound athlete, who stars as a wide receiver, is also one of Illinois' top five basketball prospects in his class.

March 27, 2025

The transfer portal continues to heat up.  We call it "Portal Kombat" as coaches battle to land the best talent within their NIL budgets. 

IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst Brad Sturdy has this update from recent conversations regarding the Illini program: