Football

Gavin Ericson-Staton’s official campus visit to Illinois was enough to flip the verbal pledge of the three-star 2027 offensive tackle prospect from Iowa State to the Illini.

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

June 7, 2026

The expected flip of Gavin Ericson-Staton’s verbal pledge from Iowa State to Illinois has been completed. Ericson-Staton announced the news of his change before the end of his official campus visit to Champaign-Urbana this weekend. 

2027 three-star tight end Cade Newman gave his verbal pledge while on his official campus visit in Champaign-Urbana on Saturday night.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

June 6, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy player's Hudl page)

The number of verbal commitments in the 2027 recruiting class for Illinois has now grown to five but once again has an out-of-state prospect.

After staying steadfast at four verbal pledges for the last month, three-star tight end Cade Newman from Ankeny (Iowa) Centennial High School gave his promise to Bret Bielema and the Illini football staff while on his official campus visit in Champaign-Urbana on Saturday night.

New Illinois tight ends coach Jared Elliot was incredibly active during the May scouting period in being visible and offering several tight ends in the Midwest area to find talent but was particularly aggressive when it came to Newman as Elliot visited Newman’s home on May 23 to give the Illini’s recruiting pitch.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

May 31, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy player's Hudl page)

Illinois loves to hold open a scholarship for high school players who are under the radar and then nab them at the end of the school year. It has happened every year under Bret Bielema, and it happened again this year when Prospect High School's Nate Cichy flipped from Harvard to Illinois just a few days before summer activities begin. Not only that, but Cichy managed to fit his second recruitment and commitment in between his track schedule and his graduation preparations. Cichy is a notable track athlete who ran a 10.8 100 meter dash this Spring and also competed in the longer sprints and hurdle events. As you'll see, he has a top speed gear that you'd never see coming. It takes him a few steps to build into it, but once he hits top speed he's gone, which resulted in 65 catches for 1,033 yards and 13 touchdowns as a senior to cap off his second All-State honor regardless of class. And keep in mind that Cichy did that in a tough conference which produces P4 recruits every single year.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

I was surprised to see that Cichy is

Illinois is planning on at least six players attending an official visit on the first weekend of June on the Champaign-Urbana campus. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

June 4, 2026

Welcome to the time that Bret Bielema and the Illinois football player personnel staff inside the Smith Center have historically seen a lot of recruiting activity. 

June and July saw eight verbal pledges turn into early signees in the Illini’s 2026 recruiting class during that eight week period alone and Illinois is planning on making the summer months count once again in this 2027 recruiting cycle.

The early difference between the 2026 signing class, which was the highest ranked group Bielema has brought to campus during his six-year tenure as the Illini head coach was the amount of previous spring progress that had been made. Before that summer group of eight commitments, Illinois had verbal pledges from 14 prospects including its quarterback of that class, Michael Clayton of Florida and four-star linebacker Cam Thomas from Ohio. Currently, the Illini’s 2027 recruiting class has only produced four verbal commitments with one four-star prospect, defensive back Justin Johnson of Evanston (Ill.) Township High School, but Bielema’s staff is expected to host a dozen prospects over the next two weekends with in-state products Soren Fifer (three-star offensive lineman from Morton) and Sean Rice (three-star linebacker from St. Laurence High School in the Chicagoland area) being the only committed players of the group. 

“I’m really about this upcoming weekend and these two weekends have some emphasis on our in-state players who we consider high priority guys,” Bielema said in a media session at the Budweiser Brickhouse Tavern in Chicago a block away from Wrigley Field on Tuesday.  

Amidst all of the offseason coaching reshuffle and scheme changing on the defensive side of the football, Bielema has publicly maintained for months that the 2027 Illini signing class will have many fewer names and has described the lack of spring commitment activity as being “selective” and "strategic" with their offers to high school products, especially with defensive backs coach Corey Parker and outside linebackers coach Archie McDaniel being the only returning Illini members of the defensive coaching staff led by new coordinator Bobby Hauck and the host of assistants brought in familiar with the former Montana head coach’s 3-3-5 scheme. 

“It’s really big,” Bielema said in Chicago on Tuesday of these two new recruiting weekends. “This will probably be one of the smaller recruiting classes since I’ve been the head coach here at Illinois. We completed a total of 29 high school signees in this incoming class and this 2027 class will definitely be a lot smaller than than. We’ve been very selective in what we’ve done in this class.”

Illinois has already seen the attendance of its early June recruiting weekend drop thanks to former Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald and his new operation at Michigan State. In his first full offseason after being named the new MSU head coach, Fitzgerald has land nine verbal commits to the 2027 class including two more from the state of Illinois who were slated to be taking recruiting visits to Champaign-Urbana over the next two weekends. Three-star defensive back Henry Sakalas of Nazareth Academy and Bloomington (Ill.) Central Catholic linebacker Matthew Brady were players who had in-home visits by new Illini defensive coaches Ronnie Bradford and Roger Cooper, both of whom were previously on Hauck’s Montana staff, and on the Illini’s June visitor list but both prospects verbally committed to the Spartans in the last few days. 

Here is short preview of each prospect (as of Thursday afternoon) who is expected to attend an official visit to Illinois this weekend. 

Illinois officially announced the hiring of Jenna Hall as […]

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

June 2, 2026

Illinois continued to fine tune its roster prior to the beginning of summer workouts with arguably its biggest portal entry yet.  Division II All American Ean Rhea from Emory and Henry chose the Illini over interest from several P4 schools including LSU.  Rhea is a polished pass rusher with enough athleticism and size to be effective as an edge rusher in the Big Ten.  He was listed at 6'2 235 on his college roster but lists himself at 6'3' and 250 pounds now.  I tend to believe the lower number in this case.  Regardless, Rhea's 12 sacks, 18 tackles for loss and 3 forced fumbles last year speak for themselves. This guy proved all he could at the lower level and Illinois was just one of several high majors to agree on that.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

I can't help compare Rhea to Daniel Brown.

IlliniGuys.com details which five players currently on the Illinois football roster could immediately benefit the most from an age-based eligibility model being passed.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

May 29, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN — Bret Bielema is closer to getting his wish with an age-based player eligibility policy.

As he enters his sixth season leading the Illinois football operation, Bielema has been publicly campaigning for what he calls a “five for five” policy for athlete eligibility for several years and the 56-year head coach might see that become NCAA legislation as soon as this coming month at the NCAA's Division I Cabinet meeting.

“I don’t think it’ll be called 5-for-5 even though that’s the easy way of describing it because it’ll actually be about when you graduate (high school) and when you have a window of time in,” Bielema said in a Zoom media session with local reporters on April 21. “I think it’ll be something that manifests itself before the start of the upcoming season.”

The model would give flexibility to currently enrolled athletes with eligibility after the 2025-26 academic year to apply the age-based model or continue previous eligibility rules, whichever is more beneficial to that individual.

“I think the NCAA, as many times as people think they’re falling on deaf ears, is an organization that is listening to common sense but it’s just a different world now,” Bielema said.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

May 26, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

Illinois fans finally got what they were waiting for all offseason when the Illini added a new player to the defensive line room with Joshua Davis from Copiah-Lincoln Community College. Davis is a 6'3 275 pounder who played only one year at Copiah-Lincoln after receiving very little interest from colleges at Mendenhall (Mississippi) High School. Just like recent JUCO signee BJ Thurman, Davis was not on anyone's radar as a P4 recruit until the moment that Illinois showed interest. Then, in the four days after Illinois offered Davis received offers from 4 other Division 1 schools before Illinois sealed the deal and earned Davis' signature. Though Thurman had offers from several other P4 schools and Davis only had offers from local schools, I actually like Davis a lot more.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

This is a relatively short highlight film because just like Thurman, Davis was playing for a junior college that was spreading playing time around and didn't commit to any one player at any position.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

May 25, 2026

Illinois doubled down on its offensive line group when Morton's Soren Fifer committed to the Illini. Fifer is a massive individual who is only 16 years old as we speak yet every bit of 6'6 and 290 pounds. Fifer really hasn't grown up yet, and despite that he received offers from most of the upper tier of the Big Ten, including Indiana, Oregon and Iowa. None of that surprises me, because what I see from Fifer is a player who really should be a 4* player yet has been overlooked a little bit because he's still maturing.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

I think everyone needs to understand the type of size Fifer brings to the table. He's already

After visiting both Louisiana State and Vanderbilt, Ean Rhea elected to play his final season of college football eligibility at Illinois in Bobby Hauck’s new 3-3-5 formation. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

May 23, 2026

CHAMPAIGN — Illinois has received a verbal pledge from a Division II All-American pass rusher for the upcoming 2026 season. 

Ked Prince, IlliniGuys Senior Recruiting Analyst

March 23, 2026

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois continues to build momentum in the class of 2027, and the latest addition gives the Illini another in-state piece to strengthen an already promising recruiting class.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

May 22, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

Even as Illinois gets going on the upcoming Class of 2027, more Class of 2026 players are committing to the program. The newest one is tight end of Benjamin Thurman from College of San Mateo. Thurman is an athletic but undersized tight end who played only one year at San Mateo, totaling only 16 catches for 322 yards. However, when you consider that Thurman had six touchdowns in those limited touches and also played defense, he gets a lot more interesting as a prospect.

Thurman's lack of production is also the result of San Mateo's odd system of playing time. San Mateo averaged 15 completed passes per game, but they spread the ball around so much and played so many players that Thurman's 1.5 receptions per game are actually third on the team. To add to this crazy story, like a few other rumored Illinois recruits, Thurman had no interest from high major schools.... and then he had tons. Thurman tweeted that he was open for recruitment in January. After Spring practice was over, Fresno State pulled the trigger with an offer in March. Then, Illinois offered on April 30 and the floodgates opened with 5 more high major offers in the next five days. Ole Miss joined the fray on May 4 and presented the biggest challenge on the recruiting trail for the Illini before Thurman committed to the Illini on May 13.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

May 22, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy player's Hudl page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – There has not been a single game played on the gridiron at Gies Memorial Stadium this year, but those around the Illinois program believe the Illini could feature one of the most aggressive offenses of the Bret Bielema era.

Illinois added another piece to that vision this morning when wide receiver Nathan Cichy announced his commitment to the Illini’s 2026 recruiting class. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound prospect from Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois, gives Illinois another speedy target on the outside.

Early Friday morning on X, Cichy announced his decision after previously being committed to Harvard.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

May 21, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy player's social media page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois Fighting Illini football coaching staff has already turned its attention toward the Class of 2027, aggressively pursuing some of the top in-state talent as recruiting efforts continue to ramp up across the Midwest.

One player drawing significant attention from the Illini is Matthew Brady, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound linebacker from Bloomington Central Catholic. Brady is rated as a three-star prospect by 247Sports and has quickly become one of the more sought-after defensive players in Illinois.

IlliniGuys recently caught up with Brady to discuss his recruitment and growing interest from Power Four programs.

(From Illinois Sports Information Office) May 20, 2026 (Cover […]