Football

Illinois’ first spring scrimmage was dominated by young players and backups as Bielema held out several key players with nagging injuries.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

CHAMPAIGN -- Instead of just retelling what Illinois head coach Bret Bielema said happened during the team’s closed scrimmage to serve as the sixth spring practice inside Memorial Stadium Saturday, IlliniGuys.com decided to make some phone calls in order to get a sense of what actually happened on that day. I’m told they call that the difference between reporting and stenography and on this site, we like to do the former to give you, the loyal consumer, more access than what you might find elsewhere. 

The one major takeaway was this scrimmage wasn’t actually a scrimmage at all but should be described as first and second down work for both sides of the ball. The structure was designed for the newcomers, young players and players lower on the depth chart to have success. This is something Bielema did in the 2021 fall camp when the Illini “scrimmaged” twice before going into the season opener vs. Nebraska. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bielema elected to have no part of Saturday’s session be open to the media so IlliniGuys.com was not able to personally verify any of the leaked information from the scrimmage or practice session. 

Here are some quick notes:

The first noteworthy item of Saturday’s action is the amount of inactive players who will be significantly counted on talent for the upcoming 2022 season.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting 

April 4, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Richard Luecke Hudl page)

Richard Luecke, a 6-foot-6, 325-pound offensive lineman from Rocky River, Ohio, made the visit to Champaign to check out the Fighting Illini as the Illinois coaching staff is now starting to get several outstanding recruits on campus.

IlliniGuys caught up with Luecke to see how his visit went at Illinois.

"I went to their practice, toured the campus and football facilities; it was awesome," Luecke said.

Kedric Prince - IlliniGuy Director of Recruiting

March 25, 2022

Mason Muragin, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound edge from Warren, Michigan, caught up with us to update his recruitment and his visit to Illinois this past week.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

March 31, 2022

CHAMPAIGN -- For the fifth day of practice and third practice in full pads the Illinois players and coaches moved indoors (mostly because of the weather but also because they had some things with the tempo offense to get in place before Saturday’s scrimmage) inside the Smith Family Football Complex for the first time during this spring season.

I do feel like we’ve addressed practically every position group with these practice reports already so be prepared they’re likely to get shorter in the future. The one major takeaway today was Luke Ford, who is expected to be an every-down starter at the tight end position in the upcoming 2022 season, was not in a green, non-contact jersey today and seems fully cleared to participate in Saturday’s scrimmage session inside Memorial Stadium this weekend.

Here are some quick notes:

Steve Sturm, IlliniGuys Football Analyst

March 29, 2022

Illinois continued its early offseason recruiting activity when it secured a commitment from East St. Louis linebacker Antwon Hayden on Tuesday. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

Marchi 29, 2022

CHAMPAIGN -- Welcome to the fourth day of practices and second practice in full pads where the Illinois players and coaches moved to the grass fields next to the Smith Family Football Complex for the first time during this spring season.

The one major takeaway was the work being done by outside linebackers coach Kevin Kane with a position group that will require some inexperienced players stepping into new roles following the graduation of Owen Carney Jr. and Isaiah Gay from the past two seasons. One of the players who has quickly emerged is Virginia Tech transfer Alec Bryant, which should not be seen as a surprise after the 240-pound pass rusher was seen as a priority signee when arrived in Champaign last August but was ineligible to play during last season.

By Kedric Prince – IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

March 29, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy ERT Preps)

Antwon Hayden, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound athlete from East. St. Louis, Illinois, pledged to the Illini this morning. Last week the Illinois coaching staff was able to land four-star Kaden Feagin, a 6-foot-3, 221-pound athlete from Arthur, Illinois. Both know each other and talk to each other from time to time. Hayden is the Trent Frazier version of the class of 2023. He has known for a while how much he has liked Illinois, so he is recruiting others to join him and Feagin. Frazier was great at selling men's basketball coach Brad Underwood's dream; Hayden is selling football coach Bret Bielema's vision.

Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 25, 2022

Andrew Hines is a 6-foot-1, 205-pound linebacker from Atlanta, Georgia, who made the trip to Champaign recently and came away in awe.

The Illinois offensive line personnel give the Illini coaches more options but also more debate as to the starting five going into the 2022 season. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 26, 2022

CHAMPAIGN -- For what you'd expect in a first-year coaching staff, Bart Miller arguably walked into a more ready-made situation than several of his colleagues.

Zain Bando, IlliniGuys Student Correspondent

March 27, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, IL – Casey Washington may be losing his hair, but not his confidence.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

March 26, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Matt Stevens/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN -- Once again (and for the last time), since I was stuck in airports during the open media window and interviews coming out of the first Illinois spring practice, we’re going to go ahead and call this the third practice report but forget that the first practice existed.

Steve Sturm, IlliniGuys Football Analyst

March 24, 2022

Illinois made its first big splash on the recruiting front when 4-star athlete Kaeden Faegin of Arthur, Illinois decided to stay close to home when he chose the Illini. 

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

March 25, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Prep Redzone)

The Fighting Illini are off to a great start with the class of 2023 after Wednesday's commitment of 4-star running back Kaden Feagin from Arthur-Lovington looking to lead the charge.

With the Knights' highly-touted two-way star in the fold, head coach Bret Bielema now locks in on making good on his pledge of prioritizing the best in-state prospects.  And that means Antwon Hayden is high on his priority list..

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound linebacker/athlete from East St. Louis will visit the Illinois campus this weekend. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

March 24, 2022

CHAMPAIGN -- So, since I was stuck in airports during the open media window and interviews coming out of the first Illinois spring practice, we’re going to go ahead and call this the second practice report and forget that the first practice existed. Yes, it existed and this report may reference what Illinois second-year head coach Bret Bielema said on Tuesday but this is just a convoluted explanation to you, the loyal reader, why the first IlliniGuys.com practice report is titled ‘Practice Report No. 2’.

Welcome to the second day of spring practices for the Illinois football program on colder, cloudy day where the forecast called for spitting rain but it didn’t deter the squad led by Bielema from practicing outside on the Memorial Stadium turf.

The one major takeaway is the speed and tempo that this offense wants to run with now that former UTSA offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. is in charge of the play-calling. The one thing we’ve consistently told our subscribers at IlliniGuys.com is we don’t expect the offensive philosophy or formations to change a lot because both Bielema and Lunney believe in a power running game out of big packages that can and should be able to set up a play-action pass game. So, except Illinois to find itself in a lot of 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends, two wide receivers) a lot and even some 22 personnel (two running backs, one wide receiver and two tight ends) some because of Luke Ford’s versatility to block inside the tackle box but also be split out in the slot.

Bret Bielema has said early and often that he’s searching for his version of a Ayo Dosunmu-type impact recruit to build the foundation for a rebuild of Illini football. Kaden Feagin wants that label. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 23, 2022

ARTHUR, Ill. -- Nearly a year ago to the day, Illinois new head coach Bret Bielema said he was still looking for his Ayo Dosunmu.