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Kedric Prince – IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

September 14, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The ninth-ranked Illinois football program welcomed several recruits to campus Saturday for its matchup against Western Michigan. Among them was Caleb Offner, a 2026 offensive lineman from Winside, Nebraska, who updated IlliniGuys on his gameday experience.

(From Illinois Sports Information Office) September 14, 2025 CHAMPAIGN, […]

IlliniGuys.com beat writer Matthew Stevens assesses the categories and […]

Zeno Jo, IlliniGuys Writer September 13, 2025 CHAMPAIGN, Ill. […]

Washington placekicker Devin Miller is part of a talented […]

September 13, 2025 The Illini won an impressive game […]

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema knows the Illini’s senior special teams assistant Chris Hurd helped turn the momentum of a 45-19 win at Duke last weekend

Matthew Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

September 13, 2025

WESTERN MICHIGAN at No. 9 ILLINOIS

Records: Western Michigan 0-2; Illinois 2-0

Date/Time/Place: Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025: 6 p.m. CST, Gies Memorial Stadium, Champaign, Ill.

Surface: FieldTurf

Capacity: 60,670

Series notes: Illinois leads all-time series is tied at 4-2 but Western Michigan won the last meeting in blowout fashion by leaving Champaign on Sept. 17, 2016 with a 34-10 victory. The Broncos held Lovie Smith’s Illinois team to three yards rushing while they piled up 287 yards on 54 carries. Sophomore running back Jamauri Bogan led a Western Michigan with P.J. Fleck as its head coach with 189 yards on 24 carries, including a pair of long touchdowns.

TV: FS1; Noah Reed (play-by-play) and Robert Smith (color analyst)

Radio (Illinois): Brian Barnhart (play-by-play), Carey Davis (analyst), Michael Martin (sideline), and Steve Kelly (pre/half/post).  The broadcast can be heard live on TuneIn online radio, SiriusXM 382, the SiriusXM App, and at FightingIllini.com/live.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Despite having over 20 years of experience as a special teams coach at the collegiate level,

The Illinois offense is thriving in 2025, especially in the red zone and on third downs, with the versatility of Jordan Anderson being able to line up several different ways.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

September 12, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — At the same, the same thing that makes Jordan Anderson unique is what makes Illinois a distinctive offensive team in 2025.

Anderson, who officially moved from being listed as a tailback to tight end this past spring, is actually defined by everyone working inside the Smith Family Football Complex with the same moniker of ‘football player’ because of the many different positions and ways he can be lined up on a given play.

In the 45-19 victory at Duke last Saturday, Anderson played a total of nine snaps of offense but four of them was as a base tight end, three of them was as an H-back in the backfield when Illinois had the football in the red zone and two of them was in the almost extinct position of fullback.

Eight years ago, Larry Gies told Illinois AD Josh Whitman he’d never donate to Illini athletics. In 2025, Gies has his name on Memorial Stadium after a $100 million gift.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

September 12, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Maybe the lesson for the several Gies School of Business students in attendance on the Memorial Stadium field Friday afternoon was the idea of never using the word ‘never’ in negotiations.

About a year into Josh Whitman being the athletics director at the University of Illinois, he sat across a dinner table from Larry Gies in 2017 as the billionaire alum made a directly awkward promise.

“I told him ‘Josh, I just want to be honest with you that I will never give any money to University of Illinois athletics’. True story,” said Gies, a billionaire booster and CEO of Madison Industries.

Approximately eight years later, Gies found himself standing in front of a block ‘I’ podium talking about his $100 million gift to Illini athletics that will fund a future renovation to a stadium that features a permanent name change to ‘Gies Memorial Stadium’.

By Kedric Prince – IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

September 12, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's Hudl page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – This weekend, Illinois will host several recruits, including 2027 safety Jake Thies of Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois.

Thies, a 6-foot-0, 185-pound defensive back, will be in attendance Saturday when the No. 9 Illini face Western Michigan in a sold-out matchup at Gies Memorial Stadium.

For Thies, the opportunity to visit Champaign carries special significance.

By Kedric Prince – IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

September 12, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois men’s basketball will welcome an intriguing prospect to campus as the program continues to build momentum heading into the fall.

IlliniGuys confirmed that Keller Daugherty, a 6-foot-9, 180-pound shooting guard from Lees Summit High School in Missouri, will begin an unofficial visit to Illinois today.

Editor's Note: We want to welcome Zeno Jo to […]

The $100 million gift to University of Illinois athletics from Larry Gies announced Tuesday should not be overlooked. However, the bigger picture of having Gies in the mix could a game-changer.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

September 10, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — I need to ask Larry Gies, Josh Whitman and everybody else involved in Gies’ historic nine-figure donation to University of Illinois athletics for forgiveness. Because the absolute last thing I want to do is downplay or minimize the singular importance of a $100 million gift.

However, Whitman, who is in his 10th year as the athletics director at Illinois, elected to tell the story of what he believes was the genesis of Gies’ further generosity.
While sitting in an office with Whitman and Illini athletics exceutive Howard Milton, Gies had a challenge for those two men and everybody inside the Illinois athletics department to “think big”.

“He said he wanted us to take advantage of our most compelling opportunities,” Whitman said on Tuesday in the media conference inside what is now titled Gies Memorial Stadium. “He wanted to know where he could fit to help us accelerate this program in the most important and impactful way.”

By Kedric Prince – IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

September 9, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – If you love college recruiting, this time of year, along with the transfer portal in the spring, you should stay glued here at IlliniGuys. The Illinois football program is hosting several recruits this weekend, and the men’s basketball staff is bringing in two important targets of its own.

The Illini have been heavily involved with 7-foot, 225-pound center Sinan Huan from Georgetown Preparatory School in Rockville, Maryland. The four-star Class of 2026 big man is a priority for the Illinois staff and someone they have been pursuing for a long time.

According to a source, Illinois feels it has a very good chance to land Huan, though Purdue remains a major threat. Other top programs in the mix include Florida, Creighton, Maryland, Alabama, and Mississippi State.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

September 9, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Ashley Ray/Illinois Athletics)

I hope everyone is enjoying the afterglow of the biggest Illini non-conference road victory in a generation.  Duke is a pretty good team, picked for 6th in the 17-team ACC, and the Illini ran away from the Blue Devils and generally outclassed the Dukies in a 45-19 laugher.  I was especially impressed by the coaching staff's adjustments on both sides of the ball.  Duke likes to run a scheme based on quickness and penetration on defense and the Illini adjusted mid-first half and changed the game quickly.  And on defense, despite missing their leader, the Illini shut down the Duke running game and packed the middle of the defense to take control of the game on that side of the ball too.

I'm going to start this week's breakdown on the offensive side with a play that exemplifies the difficulties that Illinois had early on.  Under Barry Lunney Jr., the Illini don't like to run up the middle unless they've spread out the defense, but to do that you have to be able to test the edges of the defense running and passing, and that didn't work very well on Saturday.  Even though Aidan Laughery had a great individual effort here to earn five yards, this is an example of what didn't work for the Illini on Saturday.  Illinois earned only 2.9 yards per carry on Saturday and most of that was in the second half after the Illini overcommitted to running up the gut while assigning its tight ends to block Duke's undersized defensive ends one on one.  Illinois likes to run reach and combo blocks in order to run off tackle, but that doesn't work when the defender can get to the edge before the blocker.  Illinois' blockers lose across the board on this one as they try to run a simple stretch play and Laughery bails them out.  As an aside, we're going to need Laughery to heal quickly because as much as I love Kaden Feagin and CaLil Valentine, Lunney has done his best work when he has several skillsets to choose from, and the Illini don't know what they have in Cedric Wyche.  I would look for the Illini to install a play or two specifically for Wyche in practice this week to try out against Western Michigan.