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By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 10, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – IlliniGuys confirmed Thursday morning through multiple sources that Destiny Jackson, the 2025 Illinois Ms. Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year, has suffered a minor thumb injury that will require surgery.

Jackson, a nationally ranked guard who starred at Whitney Young High School in Chicago, is part of Illinois’ heralded 2025 recruiting class. She averaged 21.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.8 steals per game during her senior season. ESPN ranks Jackson at No. 29 nationally, and she headlines a class ranked 9th in the country and 1st in the Big Ten.

By IlliniGuys Staff

July 10, 2025

The annual NBA Summer League in Las Vegas will have plenty of reasons for Illini fans to rune in, as five former Illinois players will be in uniform during the midsummer tournament, featuring recent draft picks and free agents.

Leading the way is 2024 Minnesota Timberwolves first round pick Terrence Shannon Jr., who came off the bench to score 35 points in 37 minutes in the T'wolves' final three games in the Western Conference finals against eventual NBA champion Oklahoma City. The spurt raised eyebrows and caused sports writers and broadcasters across the country to ask why the 24-year old hadn't seen more playing time prior to that stretch.

The former All-Big Ten performer is expected to dominate the summer tournament, after averaging 17.7 points in three games last summer and scoring an eye-popping 36.5 points per outing on 55 percent shooting during a four-game stretch with the G-League's Iowa Wolves last winter.

Shannon is projected to play a much larger role in his sophomore season in Minnesota, while last month's first rounders - Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley - look to make their mark for their respective Miami and Washington squads.

Former UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger has been added […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 9, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Austin Souvanarath)

For the next several days, I will break down one current men’s and women’s basketball player each day and discuss what expectations might be for the upcoming season.

Today’s Double Dribble 2-1 Focus features Illinois guard Kylan Boswell and women's center Naomi Benson

Player Biography: Naomi Benson, a 6-foot-2 wing from Streetsboro, Ohio, may be one of the most underrated preps in the country. According to ESPNW, Benson closed out the 2025 recruiting cycle ranked No. 96. But judging by the offers she received and the caliber of schools in her final 10, it’s clear Illinois head coach Shauna Green saw something special early. Green had been recruiting Benson since her sophomore year of high school.

Benson’s final 10 schools were: DePaul, Alabama, Cal, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Penn State, Wake Forest, Memphis, Mississippi State, and Illinois.

What we know:

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 9, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

During the course of this summer, I will break down one current men’s and women’s basketball player each day and discuss what expectations might be for the upcoming season.

Today’s Double Dribble 2-1 Focus features Illinois guard Kylan Boswell and women's center Naomi Benson

Player Biography: Kylan Boswell is no stranger to Champaign. The 6-foot-2 guard becomes the third player in recent years from the area to suit up for his home-state university, joining former Centennial High School standouts Rayvonte Rice and Trent Meacham.

Boswell, born in 2005, lived in Urbana-Champaign through eighth grade before moving out west and eventually starring at AZ Compass Prep in Phoenix. He reclassified in the summer of 2022 and went on to play two seasons at Arizona before transferring to Illinois this offseason.

What we know:

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 8, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's Hudl page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois football program continues to build a strong recruiting pipeline to Florida, and its latest offer shows that trend. The Illini recently extended a scholarship to Noah Renes, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound linebacker from Melbourne, Florida.

To date, Illinois’ 2026 recruiting class already includes five Florida natives:

A first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks was on an unofficial visit in Champaign at the Memorial Stadium Rededication game that the Illini won 21-7 over Michigan.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 8, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Fargo Force)

One of the 32 first round picks in the first round of the 2025 National Hockey League Draft was intently scouted as a 2026 class prospect by the University of Illinois football coaching staff.

Mason West, a 17-year-old athlete from Edina, Minnesota, was in attendance as an unofficial visitor at Champaign’s Memorial Stadium for the 100th season ‘Rededication Game’ that Illinois won 21-7 over Michigan on Oct. 19.

Late last month, West became one of three first round picks by the Chicago Blackhawks with the 29th overall selection when he heard his name called at the draft by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. West, a 6-foot-6 and 218-pound forward, attended the draft as a highly-ranked prospect at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles in order to do the ceremonial shaking Bettman’s hand and putting on a Blackhawks sweater on the stage.

Morton offensive tackle Soren Fifer says he targeted the Illini summer camp dates in order to get the individual instruction that he can bring more dominance to his Class 5A high school program. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 7, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.  — Soren Fifer was convinced he needed to circle June 11th on his calendar if he wanted to improve his offensive lineman skills. 

What the 2027 prospect, who had already received an offer from the University of Illinois football program, didn’t realize was what he’d be taught on the Memorial Stadium field during the Illini’s Big Man Camp would easily translate to his offense at Morton (Ill.) High School.

Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular July 7, 2025 The […]

Brian Campbell, a former Big Ten Player of the […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 6, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Last week, the Illinois women’s basketball program hosted one of the top 45 recruits in the country, according to ESPNW. Gigi Battle, a 5-foot-11 guard from DME Academy in Florida, is ranked No. 42 in the 2026 class.

Illinois has become a destination for elite talent under head coach Shauna Green. The program recently secured one of the top recruiting classes in the nation, and sources close to the program note that in just four years, the Illini have gone from building a roster to selecting from a deeper talent pool, its fueled by a winning culture and roster stability, it's why players like Battle are making Champaign a stop on their recruiting journeys.

With the previously slated home game against Missouri being moved off Illinois’ 2026 non-conference, IlliniGuys.com looks into possible non-power conference opponents to fill that spot.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 6, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Now that Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman has confirmed the 2026 home game against Missouri will not be happening, the obvious issue is Bret Bielema’s football program has an open non-conference slot on that schedule.

In his summer media roundtable on June 27, Whitman said what he was “a mutual decision” between Illinois and Missouri to remove the 2026 game from their schedules was a desire to subtract one power conference opponent from each of their slates. Illinois was slated to host both Missouri and Duke in its 2026 schedule along with scheduling a home game against Southern Illinois. With the Big Ten Conference continuing with its nine-game league schedule, Illinois was slated to play 11 power conference opponents in the 2026 season.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 4, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Mack Sutter)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – In a span of less than a week, the Illinois football program lost two of the state’s top prospects, both tight ends, as Mack Sutter of Dunlap and Mt. Zion's JC Anderson committed elsewhere. Ranked No. 2 and No. 5 in Illinois, respectively, according to Rivals.com, Sutter chose Alabama while Anderson committed to Ole Miss.

Both were heavily recruited by Illinois, and head coach Bret Bielema and his staff did everything by the book. They tracked their multi-sport performances, went to watch those events, built relationships with their families, and welcomed them to campus more than five to seven times each. The Illini left no stone unturned.

Sutter made his decision first. Anderson followed with his announcement on Tuesday. But what stood out this time wasn’t just the losses; it was the strong backlash across social media, message boards, private group chats, and text threads. And in many ways, that’s a sign of progress.

After declining the invitation last summer to stay in Champaign to work out with his Illini teammates, Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer returned to the Manning Passing Academy last weekend.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 4, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

As a native Mississippian who began his college career at the University of Mississippi, Luke Altmyer understood one of the unwritten rules of his home state is you don’t tell Archie Manning ‘no thanks’ twice in your lifetime.

Therefore, when the Illinois starting quarterback got the phone call invitation from the College Football Hall of Fame recipient, Altmyer knew his answer in 2025 needed to be drastically different than one year ago.

Altmyer attended the Manning Passing Academy last weekend in Thibodaux, Louisiana, which has become not only one of the largest quarterback training overnight camps in the country but also a rite of passage over several years for highly touted college quarterbacks to serve as camp counselors.

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

July 3, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Happy Independence Day. Let's dig into some practice notes before we light up the grill for some holiday eats!

We all expected Brandon Lee to have the physical strength and ability to play early, and he has been better at handling the pressure from guards like Boswell early on than expected.