Football

Steve Sturm, Football Analyst

June 15, 2022

Illinois' football staff had fans roaring with delight with their first three additions in their recent recruiting weekend.

Illinois officials have pointed toward the newly opened Atkins Golf Club as a future Big Ten Championship and NCAA Regional host facility. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

June 14, 2022

URBANA, Ill. -- Mike Small has experienced as a player the feeling of winning a championship on a home course and now has the opportunity to pass that along to his current players. 

Nathan Guinn, an unrated 2023 tight end prospect from Vero Beach (Fla.) High School, receives scholarship offer after an impressive showcase camp performance.

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

June 13, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- It’s not typical for a player entering his senior season to travel over 1,000 miles to an open college camp in the hopes of securing a scholarship offer from that program.

Zain Bando, IlliniGuys Student Correspondent June 12, 2022 The […]

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

June 11, 2022

Bret Bielema and his staff put together a huge recruiting weekend last week and it produced a bumper crop of commitments.  The first one pulled the trigger just about as soon as he got off the plane in Champaign, so I'll start with him.  Rico Jackson of Fort Lauderdale is the first offensive lineman from the area to choose the Illini, but taking a player of this caliber is a no-brainer.  Jackson is early in the recruiting process yet already has at least ten high major offers, including a reported offer from Michigan.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

By Steve Sturm -- IlliniGuys Football Analyst

June 10, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Pittsburgh Sports Now)

Illinois has worn a path to the Hun School in New Jersey for recruits since Bret Bielema took over and they dipped into that talent pool again this week when offensive linemen Zachary Aamland pledged to the Illini.  One of the first articles I wrote for IlliniGuys was about Owen Anderson from the Hun School, and I'm having flashbacks because once again I'm having a hard time evaluating their players because of the distinctly different type of competition they're facing.  You see, the Hun School has become a football hotbed because it takes guys with low major offers and turns them into high major recruits while in prep school.  However, it is still playing the prep school circuit on the Eastern seaboard and the low enrollment and talent level of those schools leads to some crazy results.  The Hun School went 9-0 this year with a combined score of 374-63, so when you see the Hun players sometimes winning 11-on-11 battles on some of these highlights, you should keep in mind that they did that virtually the entire season so part of the reason for their success is that they're playing woefully undermanned competition.  However, as with my piece on Owen Anderson, I can hardly contain my excitement about this guy because I see the type of athleticism and strength that should translate to the next level regardless of whether he's facing underwhelming competition now.

Illinois’ current top player and two-time Big Ten Golfer of the Year selection Adrien Dumont de Chassart survived sectional qualifying to earn a spot in the upcoming 2022 U.S. Open. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

June 7, 2022

Adrien Dumont de Chassart has survived one of the most mentally and physically exhausting one-day challenges in all of golf. 

Less than 24 hours after Cal Swanson returned home from his official visit to Champaign, the Oklahoma quarterback was ready to pledge his services to Illinois’ 2023 recruiting class.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

June 6, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Cal Swanson's Twitter page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- For the longest time, Cal Swanson admits doubt crept in about whether he’d get the opportunity to play quarterback at the highest level of college football. 

The 6-foot-3, 180-pound prospect from Ardmore, Oklahoma can put that worry aside as Illinois has made him the quarterback verbal commitment of its 2023 recruiting class. Swanson confirmed his verbal pledge to Bret Bielema’s Illini program Monday afternoon on social media just a week after Illinois offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. made the scholarship offer and less than 24 hours from returning home from his official visit to the Champaign campus. 

“The whole time I was at Illinois this past weekend I just felt this easygoing and down to earth nature to everybody I came across during the official visit,” Swanson said. “I think I said this wouldn’t take very long and it just didn’t.” 

Kentucky defensive tackle prospect Jamarrion Harkless becomes the seventh commitment in Illinois’ 2023 recruiting class and third commit from Illini’s first official visit weekend. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

June 5, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- For the first time in this 2023 recruiting season, Illinois can say they picked up a commitment victory over Southeastern Conference power programs. 

Three-star OLB Pat Farrell from Chicago’s St. Rita High School is the 12th in-state high school prospect signed by Illinois since Bret Bielema was hired in Dec. 2020. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

June 5, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Bret Bielema’s rebuild of the Illinois football program has placed the Chicagoland area as a cornerstone to his recruiting philosophy and Pat Farrell continued that tradition Sunday night. 

Florida Lauderdale three-star offensive tackle prospect Rico Jackson pledges to Illinois during official visit weekend. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

June 5, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The first official campus visit for Rico Jackson’s recruitment process was enough for him to commit to Illinois.

Zain Bando, IlliniGuys Student Correspondent June 4, 2022 The […]

The decision of three-star defensive lineman Dante Barone to verbally pledge to Rutgers represents the third d-line prospect loss for the Illini program early on in this 2023 recruiting season. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

June 1, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Dante Barone’s verbal commitment to Rutgers represents a recruiting trend in the disturbingly wrong direction for the Illinois football program. 

The 270-pound three-sport defensive pass rusher from the same New Jersey prep school of current Illini commitment Zachary Aamland and early enrollee Owen Anderson is the third priority defensive line prospect to spur Illinois for a rival Big Ten Conference school. 

Barone’s decision, confirmed on his social media pages on Wednesday evening, replicates the Illinois recruiting losses of three-star St. Louis product Tyler Gant (who committed to Northwestern shortly after an unofficial visit to the campus in early May followed by three-star Roderick Pierce from Chicago’s Brother Rice High School choosing Wisconsin six days after Gant. 

Swanson, a three-star quarterback in Ardmore, Oklahoma, says he received a scholarship offer from Illinois offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

June 1, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Ardmore (Okla.) High School Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Cal Swanson is just getting used to what Bret Bielema has previously called “the Illinois effect” to recruitment.

Swanson, a 2023 quarterback prospect from Ardmore (Okla.) High School, received a scholarship offer from Illinois offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. on Monday less than a month after the new Illini assistant coach saw Swanson lead his team through the second week of its spring practice.

The offer from Illinois is still Swanson’s only one from a Football Bowl Subdivision school but he’s slated to arrive for his on-campus official visit this weekend. 

“I’m not a very patient person by nature and never have been so I can’t see this lasting much longer,” Swanson said. “What I want out of this visit is to see the facilities at Illinois, especially that football building and then I really want to connect with the other players on their visits too. It’s important I get a bond with them because this is going to be a huge part of the (recruiting) class. Then, I really need to find some time to sit down and really think about how I want this to go and where I want to be.” 

Zachary Aamland used Memorial Day to become the first out-of-state commitment and second offensive line pledge to the Illini’s 2023 recruiting class. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

May 30, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Zachary Aamland's Twitter page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The tradition of Illinois continuing the foundation building of its offensive line has continued with its first out-of-state commitment for the 2023 recruiting class. 

Zachary Aamland, a 6-foot-6 and 285-pound offensive lineman from The Hun School in New Jersey, used the Memorial Day holiday to announce his verbal pledge to Illinois after receiving other scholarship offers from several Power Five Conference schools such as Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Vanderbilt.

In a complete rebuilding job of the Illini offensive line by head coach Bret Bielema and offensive line coach Bart Miller, Illinois signed five high school offensive linemen in this incoming 2022 recruiting class along with two junior college transfers.