Football

New Illinois defensive line coach Jordan Thomas brings an expertise in the 3-3-5 scheme while also having college and pro coaching history on his resume.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

February 17, 2026

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The major transition of the Illinois defensive coaching staff is now complete with the hiring of defensive line coach Jordan Thomas.

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema said last week, during Bobby Hauck’s introductory media conference inside the Smith Center, that he had a coach inside the building on an interview who was familiar with the 3-3-5 scheme being brought to Champaign-Urbana by new defensive coordinator Hauck but had never previously worked with Hauck.

It turns out that person was Thomas as he was announced on Tuesday morning as the Illini’s new defensive line coach to replace Terrance Jamison. Thomas joins the Illini with 10 years of coaching experience ranging from college football to the National Football League, including stops at Boston College, the Cleveland Browns, and San Diego State.

“(Thomas) is a talented leader with experiences in our defense as both a player and coach, plus three years of developing defensive linemen in the NFL,” Bielema said in a university release. “We are excited to welcome Coach Thomas to our staff."

Days after hinting on WSCR in Chicago that he was “interviewing a Michigan guy”, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema hires former Michigan tailback and assistant coach Tyrone Wheatley.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

February 16, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Morgan State Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Just a few days ago, Bret Bielema hinted in a radio interview ‘a Michigan guy’ would likely be offered an assistant coaching opportunity and the Illinois head coach made good on that promise.

Tyrone Wheatley, a former 10-year NFL running back with 18 years of coaching experience most recently as a head coach of Wayne State University in Michigan, was officially named Illinois' running backs coach on Monday afternoon. Despite most Illini and Big Ten Conference football fans likely remembering Wheatley as the Michigan Wolverines physical running back of the early 1990s who totaled 4,187 career rushing yards, 510 receiving yards and 53 touchdowns in his playing career that included being named the 1992 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and the Most Valuable Player selection of the 1993 Rose Bowl, Wheatley coaching resume includes NFL running backs coach jobs with the Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Denver Broncos, and at power programs of Syracuse and his alma mater of Michigan.

In a Friday morning radio spot on the ‘Mully and Haugh Show’ on WSCR in Chicago, Bielema told the show’s substitute anchor Ruthie Polinsky that “you’ll love this, we might be interviewing a Michigan guy” for one of the Illini’s open assistant coaching spots. Turns out that ‘Michigan guy’ was the man who currently still stands fifth on the Wolverines all-time rushing list behind only Mike Hart, Denard Robinson, Anthony Thomas and Jamie Morris.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

February 14, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Skyline Sports)

I had some insider info that the switch to 3-3-5 was coming, so I've been looking at this for a while. There are 23 teams in FCS that run it currently, but of course they all do things a bit differently, so I watched several games of Montana football against their best competition. Here are a few factors:

1. There aren't going to be three men on the line. I didn't see a single example of Montana lining up with three men on the line.

In describing the philosophical changes of Bobby Hauck’s 3-3-5 defensive scheme, Illini head coach Bret Bielema said he envisioned positional changes involving typically undersized players.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

February 13, 2026

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Bret Bielema might actually be the first one to admit publicly that he’s still in the process of fully learning the new defensive scheme coming to the Illinois football program.

The Illini’s head coach, who just finished his fifth season in charge of the Champaign-Urbana operation, has said multiple times, including on Thursday in an introductory media conference of his new defensive coordinator hire, that it’s a scheme he doesn’t have full expertise in but has been intrigued with for several years.

After hearing new Illinois defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck’s 15-minute media conference inside the Smith Center, Bielema said his primary vision for the most substantial change to the Illini’s defensive philosophy for the 2026 season could come in the form of how players are listed on the roster. Bielema hinted Thursday that Illinois, coming off 19 wins in the past two seasons, could substitute strength and power in its defensive line and linebackers with more speed and athleticism near the line-of-scrimmage.

“I think you’ll have some defensive ends that become [nose tackles], some outside backers become d-ends, some safeties become outside linebackers,” Bielema said on Thursday once Hauck’s news conference had concluded.

The first key to what Bielema said there is those three philosophical positional changes are about taking players and inserting them into a position not normally considered ideal height, weight and strength at this level of football.

Illinois will be moving Jordan Anderson, who started at […]

Roger Cooper, a four-year assistant coach to new Illinois defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck, is being considered as an option Bret Bielema’s coaching staff.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

February 11, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Montana Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The pipeline of former Montana State assistant coaches interested in following Bobby Hauck to Illinois is fully active.

Multiple sources have confirmed to IlliniGuys.com that Roger Cooper, a four-year assistant coach to new Illinois defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck, is being considered to join Bret Bielema’s coaching staff in Champaign-Urbana.

Skyline Sports in Montana was the first to report Cooper was interviewing with Hauck and Bielema for an open staff position on Wednesday morning.

Cooper, 44, just finished his fourth season working for Hauck’s staff at Montana, most recently serving as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the past two years. Prior to serving as co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach, Cooper worked exclusively with Montana’s linebackers in 2023, and safeties in 2022.

Cooper has been a significant part of Hauck’s transformation of Montana’s defense and helped produce some of the best Football Championship Subdivision defenses while also being responsible for mentoring some of the program’s all-time great defenders.

Days after announcing Bobby Hauck as Illini’s new defensive coordinator, IlliniGuys.com has learned Bret Bielema is expected to hire one of Hauck’s former assistant coaches at Montana to the Illini’s staff.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

February 10, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy James Dobson/MTN Sports)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Bobby Hauck is bringing a familiar face from his University of Montana staff with him to Illinois.

Multiple sources have confirmed to IlliniGuys.com that Ronnie Bradford has agreed to become the first assistant coach hire to Bret Bielema’s coaching staff since Hauck was named the Illini’s defensive coordinator earlier this week.

Bradford, 55, has 22 years of experience as an assistant coach at the collegiate and National Football League level and is expected to join his former boss, Hauck, after serving in several assistant coach roles at Montana including assistant head coach, defensive coordinator, cornerbacks coach and safeties coach from 2021-23.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

February 10, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Recruiting can move fast, but even by today’s standards, few stories illustrate that better than Mount Zion wide receiver Jacob Harvey’s recent run of decisions. Last Monday, Harvey committed to Illinois State. By Tuesday, he had received an offer from Illinois and quickly pledged to the Illini.

At IlliniGuys, recruiting coverage means digging deeper into the moments that shape decisions. Harvey sat down one-on-one to explain how everything unfolded in less than 24 hours.

Kedric: Jacob, congratulations on your commitment to Illinois. You recently committed to Illinois State. How did this transpire?

Jacob: I have been in contact with Illinois since

Bobby Hauck, Montana’s 14-year head coach, has agreed to become the new defensive coordinator at Illinois.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

February 9, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Skyline Sports)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Bobby Hauck and his 3-3-5 defensive scheme is coming to Illinois as the 61-year-old longtime head coach has agreed to be the Illini’s new defensive coordinator.

Hauck, who has spent the last eight years in his second stint as the Montana head coach leading one of the powerhouse programs in the Football Championship Subdivision, was announced as Bret Bielema’s choice to replace Aaron Henry as Illinois’ new play-caller for the upcoming 2026 season.

Hauck is expected to bring with him a 3-3-5 defensive scheme that was mentored to him by former San Diego State head coach Rocky Long when Hauck was on Long’s staff as a special teams coach from 2015-17.

Montana finished in the top 20 among FCS programs in scoring defense on three occasions over the last five seasons using this scheme and have ranked in the top five of the Big Sky Conference in scoring defense, total defense, and sacks every season. His defenses have ranked in the top 10 among FCS programs in turnovers forced three times in the last five years, including finishing third nationally last season (27) and second nationally in 2021 (30).

“Since meeting Coach Hauck early on in my head coaching career, I have had tremendous respect for who he is, what he stands for, and the program he has built,” Bielema said via a university release. “He is a family man with incredible attention to detail and a great ability to teach the game to both his staffs and players. Coach Hauck's aggressive defensive scheme, which he learned at San Diego State and developed at Montana, will be an exciting new style that has never been seen here at Illinois.”

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

February 7, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

I hope you all enjoyed the Hank Beatty senior season. Just like Pat Bryant and Isaiah Williams before him, Beatty turned in a fantastic final year where he became a huge factor in the offense and put all of his development and growth as a player to good use. Hudson Clement is the only senior on the roster at this point, so if you're a gambling man, you should take the over on his receptions and yards for 2026.

Newcomers
Illinois was very active in the portal seeking to replace the guys I mentioned below, adding Jayshon Platt from Florida Atlantic, Alex Perry from Florida International, and Ty Robinson from Ball State. Platt had 46 catches for 720 yards at Florida Atlantic and added 23.6 yards per kick return. Platt has both track speed and film speed and I was especially happy to see that he'd already added 20 pounds to his skinny frame so that he'd be ready to play right away in the Big Ten at 6'1 195. At this point he's not running the entire route tree, but I'd still project him to be effective on deep balls and even passes or runs that allow him to run in open space. Platt has taken a long time to develop and has only one year of eligibility left, which is a shame because this is a guy who has the tools to be special if he puts it all together. As of this writing I'd project him for a Justin Bowick type of role. If he learns to block, then he could be a starter.

I'm not as high on fellow Floridian Alex Perry from Florida International.

For the first time since Dec. 2022, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema will need to fill a coordinator spot on coaching staff after losing Aaron Henry to Notre Dame. IlliniGuys.com have broken down a potential list of candidates here. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

February 2, 2026

NOTE: It should be known this hot board will be updated based on sourced information during the search process as Illinois head coach Bret Bielema attempts to find his third defensive coordinator hire since Bielema’s arrival in Champaign on Dec. 2020. However, as of now (late evening of Feb. 1), this is a list in no particular order fully based on nothing more than speculation and should not be used as anything more than a guideline on potential candidates. 

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — For the third time since accepting to be Illinois’ head coach in Dec. 2020, Bret Bielema will need to hire a defensive play-caller to his coaching staff just a few months before 2026 spring practices are slated to begin on the University of Illinois campus. 

One of the few logical ways IlliniGuys.com felt to best separate potential candidates for this hot board was in two categories. Before the 2021 season, Bielema publicly discussed his desire to hire coordinators who he’d never worked with and had no previous ties with in his coaching career. Despite obviously filling his assistant coach positions with people he’d either coached, worked with in some capacity or interviewed for previous openings he’d had at either Wisconsin or Arkansas, (defensive line coach Terrance Jamsion, offensive line coach Bart Miller, then-defensive backs coach Aaron Henry, linebackers coach Andy Buh, wide receivers coach George McDonald and chief of staff Mark Taurisani), the Illini head coach said he felt it would be a unhealthy start to hire coordinators he’d had a previous relationship with because he wanted those spots to A) represent a new philosophical beginning to Bielema’s restart in the college game and B) be strictly merit-based hires. Enter the hirings of former Appalachian State offensive coordinator Tony Petersen, former Missouri defensive coordinator Ryan Walters and former Air Force special teams coordinator Ben Miller. The results of this philosophy were mixed as by the end of the 2022 regular season, none of these three men were in these jobs as Petersen was fired after just one season, Walters left to become Purdue’s head coach after two seasons at Illinois and Miller was forced to take a medical leave of absence from the position after being diagnosed with colon cancer. In each of the subsequent searches following the departure of Petersen and Walters, Bielema reversed course on his philosophy and elected to go with people who he’d worked with in the past and had a deep connection with professionally and personally. Barry Lunney Jr. reunited with Bielema in 2022 after Lunney spent five years as the tight ends coach at Arkansas under Bielema from 2013-17. To replace Walters after the 2022 season, Bielema elected to quickly with an in-house promotion of Aaron Henry, who was offered the full-time play-caller role before the 2023 ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa.

Therefore, based on the five-year history of Bielema’s behavior in this decision-making spot, a logical way to categorize this hot board for Bielema’s third defensive coordinator hire should be split between three categories: 1) Those with a previous connection; 2) Those without any previous ties to the Illini head coach; 3) An in-house promotion

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

February 6, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Ball State Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Bret Bielema continues his poaching of the former Ball State coaching staff over the past few seasons.

Jared Elliott will be in charge of the tight end position on Bielema’s Illinois coaching staff starting with this spring practices in preparation for the upcoming 2026 season and the 39-year-old brings 18 years of collegiate coaching experience, including four seasons as a head coach and seven years in coordinator roles. Elliott most recently served as the tight ends coach at New Mexico under first-year head coach Jason Eck during the 2025 season, where he helped the Lobos to 9-win season that included an overtime loss to Minnesota in the Rate Bowl.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

February 6, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Illinois football program has added a late but confident addition to its 2026 recruiting class, securing a commitment from Byron High School athlete Caden Considine, a 6-foot, 205-pound defensive back who believes his best football is still ahead of him.

Considine, a versatile two-way standout, arrives in Champaign embracing the chip on his shoulder that has followed him throughout the recruiting process. Despite gaudy production and championship experience, the Illinois native felt largely overlooked by college programs. That perception only fueled his drive.

IlliniGuys.com has learned the Buffalo Bills have targeted Illinois defensive line coach Terrance Jamison to join a newly-formed coaching staff led by newly hired head coach Joe Brady. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

February 6, 2026

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The coaching departures from the Illinois football staff may not be over just yet. 

Sources close to the situation have informed IlliniGuys.com Insider/Analyst & Co-Host Brad Sturdy that the Buffalo Bills have targeted Illini co-defensive coordinator Terrance Jamison to be its new defensive line coach as the franchise continues its offseason coaching staff overhaul. A source inside the football program confirmed to IlliniGuys.com that Jamison was in the Smith Family Football Complex in Champaign Wednesday and nothing has been finalized with Jamison and the Bills organization. 

Jamison is in his sixth season and was an original member of Bret Bielema’s Illini coaching staff when Bielema was hired as the program’s head coach in Dec. 2020. Jamison was given the title of co-defensive coordinator/defensive line coach in 2023 following two seasons leading the Illinois defensive front following a move to reunite with Bielema after spending four seasons coaching defensive line at three Football Bowl Subdivision programs (Purdue, Air Force and Texas Tech). 

The news of Jamison’s services being targeted by a National Football League franchise comes as he’s approaching the last season of a two-year extension that was approved by the university board of trustees that sees Jamison at an average annual salary of $662,500.

Upon finishing his fifth season in charge of the Illini football program, Bielema promised noticeable philosophical and schematic changes to his program’s defense in a 28-minute media conference on Wednesday evening inside State Farm Center. 

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema is suggesting his new defensive play-caller starting in the 2026 season is the time to begin a pivot of a defensive philosophy. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

February 4, 2026

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — After an offseason of departures that included eight players off last season’s defensive front seven two-deep and a third-year defensive coordinator to Notre Dame, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema is convinced the 2026 campaign has to be pivot point for change. 

Upon finishing his fifth season in charge of the Illini football program, Bielema promised noticeable philosophical and schematic changes to his program’s defense. 

“It’s a definite scheme change that will probably be different than anything you’ve seen at Illinois,” Bielema said Wednesday night. “It’s a scheme and a package that I’ve been intrigued with, especially in the NFL and seeing things play out. We’ll see where it goes from there.” 

The intriguing mystery of Bielema’s timeline to hire a new defensive coordinator was the Illini head coach saying he had an idea of the hire he was going to make but “can’t announce it until after the Super Bowl but the intention of what I have in mind and where I’m going will get to play out next week”. 

Bielema all but guaranteed Wednesday that his defensive coordinator would have previous play-calling experience and with this promised scheme change is unlikely to be a person Bielema has previously worked with.