Football

By Zeno Jo - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

December 2, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – With his offensive line set to lose some of its most veteran voices this offseason, Illinois football head coach Bret Bielema has wasted no time picking up some game-ready players to protect his quarterback for the 2026 season.

On Tuesday, the program picked up a commitment from three-star JUCO interior offensive lineman Maika Matelau. Hailing from Ontario, California, and currently playing at Mt. San Antonio College, there was a long list of Power Five suitors to pick up Matelau. Illinois beat out Wisconsin, Michigan State, BYU, NC State, California, and Oklahoma State, among others, to grab a commitment from Matelau, who is of Tongan descent. At 6-foot-4 and 238 pounds, Matelau is rated as the top JUCO IOL in the nation by 247Sports, and the 19th-best JUCO recruit overall.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

December 2, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

Illinois digging deep into the JUCO ranks as the Illini start to make plans for next year and as I write this have added three potential starters from junior colleges in the last week. In my humble opinion, Jakwon Morris is the best of the three. Morris was ranked by some as the top junior college cornerback in the nation and broke a commitment to USC when he picked the Illini. Morris is from Mississippi, like many of the current Illini and fellow JUCO cornerback Kaleb Patterson, but aside from that fact he's going to fit right in with the Illini because he's a carbon copy of the stream of defensive backs who've made their way to Champaign from Florida.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

If you've read my trench reports, you've noticed that Illinois has had a consistent problem with

By Zeno Jo - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

December 2, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The early signing period opens this Wednesday, and with under 24 hours to go before high school and junior college athletes will put pen to paper to sign their name to their program of choice for the 2026-27 season, IlliniGuys has put together a short list of players that the Illinois Fighting Illini Football staff may be working around the clock to flip during these three days.

DL Lance Dawson – 6-5, 250 lbs. (Avon, Ohio)
While Dawson, a three-star recruit, has been committed to play for Cincinnati since June, he has been getting some interest from other teams looking to swoop in, and with a defensive line that will graduate no fewer than three players this year, the Avon, Ohio native makes sense as someone to go after.

Ohio prep linebacker and Cincinnati commit Lance Dawson took in an Illini home game in November as he contemplates his future. (Courtesy Zeno Jo/IlliniGuys)

Standing at 6-foot-5 and carrying a background as a three-sport athlete in basketball, track, and football, Dawson possesses speed and athleticism that a lot of defensive linemen his size don’t. That can be appealing to coaches.

“I’ve been closing doors because a lot of schools are just reaching out to just try to get me with money, but I know I’m here to find a home or place that actually fits me,” Dawson told IlliniGuys earlier this fall. “Right now I’ve only been talking to West Virginia, Illinois, Cincinnati, obviously I’m committed to Cincinnati, but their staff knows I’m keeping my doors open and I just want to finish out my recruiting process.”

Dawson and his family members were adorned in Illinois gear during their visit, which took place during the Illini’s win over Rutgers last month.

EDGE Ian Campbell – 6-2, 235 lbs. (Joliet, Illinois)
With several members of the front line of defense set to graduate,

Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular December 2, 2025 The […]

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema’s coaching tree grows as Charlie Bullen gets defensive play-calling duties with the New York Giants.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

December 1, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When he sits down to watch the ‘Monday Night Football’ broadcast, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema will once again be a big supporter of the New York Giants.

The branches of the Bielema coaching tree now extends to a defensive play-caller in the National Football League as former Illinois outside linebacker Charlie Bullen will call the defense tonight for the first time in his career against the New England Patriots.

Bullen was promoted to Giants defensive coordinator following the firing of Shane Bowen on Nov. 24 by current head coach Mike Kafka. The chaos with the Giants organization in the 2025 season when Bielema, who was Bullen’s former boss in the 2023 season, took a quick visit to the New York/New Jersey area mid-October during the Illini’s second bye week when Brian Daboll was fired after going 2-8 to start this season.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

December 1, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In an age when the transfer portal fuels college football’s fast-paced traffic, Illinois is moving with a different tone. The Illini are targeting junior college standouts, tapping into a path most call it the old school approach in recruiting.

Why call it old school? Because the modern landscape revolves around the transfer portal. Illinois head coach Bret Bielema will unquestionably tap into the portal like every other power-conference program, but as IlliniGuys’ Mike Cagley, co-host of Sports Spectacular on I on the Illini, put it, “This junior college experiment by Bielema I like, because you can get top talent for a lot cheaper and build a good roster, especially if they can evaluate good talent.”

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

December 1, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Mother Nature made Illinois' last game of the 2025 regular season a little more interesting that we would have liked, but the Illini managed to turn tough weather conditions into a memorable final game at Memorial Stadium for a final 8-4 record and the first consecutive 8-win seasons since 1989 and 1990. While it was a letdown from initial expectations on the season, this was a bigger win for the program than anyone in the Smith Center wanted to admit coming off a stinker in Madison last week. And, in a special turn of events compared to the rest of the season, the defense was the unit that carried the Illini rather than the offense. So, I'm going to start with their highlights this week.

On the first highlight I wanted to use this space to correct a wrong. The announcers attributed this big gain to a missed tackle from Matthew Bailey, but if you look again, you'll see he makes a great play.

Following the 20-13 victory over Northwestern, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema hints at a defensive staff rollover for the 2026 season.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

November 30, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Bret Bielema dropped a hint Saturday night that he’s not looking to make changes to the Illinois defensive coaching staff for the upcoming 2026 season.

Following the Illini’s 20-13 victory over Northwestern in the snow-filled rivalry game, Bielema answered a reporter’s question about his team’s defense being resilient following a down performance in the previous week by saying he’s “really going to enjoy working with (the defensive staff) during the bowl prep”. Bielema then proceeded to name every defensive positional coach with being “prideful” and “the most prepared individuals on a staff he’s ever worked with”.

Illinois was able to hold Northwestern to three second-half points and create three turnovers in a cold, snowy finale at Gies Memorial Stadium Saturday night.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

November 30, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In the 2025 finale to Gies Memorial Stadium, the Illinois defense was asked time and time again to make stops to the delight of Illini fifth-year head coach Bret Bielema and the seniors who made plays (Miles Scott’s two interceptions, Gabe Jacas’ two sacks and Dylan Rosiek’s 1.5 tackles for loss) to allow Illinois to withstand its lead.

“They did exactly what they needed to do in order to win that thing out,” Bielema said. “The two interceptions, one before the end of the half and one at the end of the game were obviously big.”

Run Offense
You’d just like for Illinois to be able to close this game out on the ground in the fourth quarter

By Zeno Jo - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

November 30, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The show must go on and go on it did. In the midst of a winter storm that dropped over six inches of snow, the Illini found their way through a snowy, slippery, and freezing four quarters of football to top the Northwestern Wildcats 20-13 and protect the Land of Lincoln Trophy.

It’s hard to prepare for the kind of snow that Champaign-Urbana saw on Saturday. The west side of Gies Memorial Stadium was shut down, as was the student section and most of the south endzone horseshoe. On television, the game may have even reminded fans of COVID-era football.

By IlliniGuys Staff November 29, 2025 (Cover photo courtesy […]

Alec Bryant, who was the first transfer signee in the Bret Bielema era, will play in his final game at Gies Memorial Stadium today after six years in college football.

NORTHWESTERN at ILLINOIS

Records: Northwestern 6-5, 4-4 in Big Ten; Illinois 7-4, 4-4 in Big Ten

Date/Time/Place: Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025: 6:30 p.m. CST, Gies Memorial Stadium, Champaign, Ill.

Surface: FieldTurf

Capacity: 60,670

ODDS: Illinois by 7.5

Series notes: Illinois leads the all-time series 58–55–5 and Saturday will be the 17th battle for the relatively new rivalry trophy. Illinois is 6-10 against Northwestern since the beginning of the Land of Lincoln Trophy. The Illini own Land of Lincoln Trophy wins in 2024, 2022, 2021, 2014, 2011 and 2010.

TV: FOX; Connor Onion (play-by-play), Mark Helfrich (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 137/195, the SiriusXM App, and at FightingIllini.com/live.
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By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

November 29, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — As he started this 2025 season, Alec Bryant nearly needs all five of the fingers on his right hand to count the amount of position coaches he’s had in his college football career.

November 29, 2025 The Illini face a Northwestern team […]

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst November 28, 2025 […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

November 27, 2025

(Cover photo player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — If you’re an Illinois fan, Thanksgiving delivered a double dose of good news. Earlier in the day, Brad Underwood and the men’s basketball program secured a commitment from Quinton Kitt, a 6-foot-7 forward from East Peoria, Ill. Not long after, Bret Bielema made sure the football program joined the celebration when cornerback Jakwon Morris decommitted from USC and pledged to Illinois.

Morris, a 6-foot-0, 175-pound cornerback, is exactly the type of player Illinois needed in its secondary. Considered one of the nation’s top 3 junior college cornerbacks, he will suit up for the Illini after originally committing to the Trojans. He comes from Northwest Mississippi CC, a program known for producing defensive backs.