Football

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 30, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois football head coach Bret Bielema continues to mine the transfer portal for defensive line help and added another piece on Monday.

In true Bielema fashion, he hinted at good news with a tweet: "Just feels like some good news coming kind of day…. #ILL."

Later in the day, Illinois received a commitment from Division II Bemidji State transfer Eli Coenen

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 29, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Kedric Prince/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The recruiting momentum in Champaign continues to build, and it’s turning heads around the Big Ten and beyond. For longtime Illinois fans, this type of recruiting success is unfamiliar territory, yet the direction feels sustainable. Some may be waiting for the other shoe to drop, because historically it has. But this time, it feels different.

When Bret Bielema was hired in December 2020, he made several of his goals clear.

“We want to win championships here, and one of our coaches will contact every high school head coach in the state of Illinois in the next several weeks,” Bielema said at the time. Those in the past didn't work hard to keep talent home.

The partnership between Illinois athletics director and Illinois head football coach Bret Bielema has contractual plans to be together for the better part of the next decade.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

May 29, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.  — With this third new contract of his five-year tenure, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Bret Bielema have never been more professionally married.

This new contract details the fact that the Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman and Bret Arnold Bielema intend to be a professional marriage for, at least, the better part of the next decade. With the new contract that was approved the University of Illinois Board of Trustees in its meeting in Urbana on May 22, Bielema gets an extra year of guaranteed length to this deal (5-year deal to a 6-year deal) and his salary increases a total of $2.3 million annually ($33 million to $46.8 million total) over the next six years of this deal.

According to the 2024 USA Today college football salary database, the $7.7 million annual salary would put Bielema’s pay, which is already the most in program history for an Illini head coach, in the Top 20 of all FBS head coaches but it wouldn’t break the $8 million annual figure. 

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

May 24, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

Chicago St. Rita's King Liggins joined the Chicago to Champaign pipeline when he committed to the Illini just hours before fellow Chicago-based recruit Nasir Rankin.  Liggins is a defensive lineman that projects to an end in Illinois 3-4 defense, but its easy to see a future where Liggins could put on some weight and be a dangerous nose tackle for Illinois as well.  Either way, Illinois beat out most of the middle section of the Big Ten in this recruitment and after looking into this a little further my only question is: why wasn't the top of the Big Ten involved as well?

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 26, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Junior college defensive back Donovan Turner quietly became one of Illinois football’s latest additions on a busy recruiting day that included headline commitments from in-state standouts Nasir Rankin (Morgan Park) and King Liggins (Brother Rice).

Later Wednesday evening, Turner, a 6-foot-1, 192-pound defensive back, made his pledge to the Illini. While Rankin and Liggins justifiably garnered most of the attention, Turner’s story is one of resilience and belief.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

May 25, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

It was a huge day for Illini football on May 21st.  First came the announcement that Illinois has sold all of the publicly available season tickets for the upcoming season, and then three(!) recruits pledged to the Illini within a series of hours.  I'm starting this run of recruits with the headliner though: Morgan Park's Nasir Rankin.  Rankin has been a priority recruit for the Illini this year because he's a Chicago Public League recruit at a position of need in the near future.  As we've all followed this recruitment though, there's been a lot of talk about things other than whether Illinois would win the battle over USC and others.  Instead, the talk is whether Rankin's talk of not only playing two positions... but two sports.... is accurate.  I'll get into that below, but for now, I found it very telling that Rankin's highlights were focused only on his best position: wide receiver.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

May 24, 2025

The Illini defense added a playmaker last week with the commitment of Elida, Ohio defensive lineman Parker Crim.  Crim is a 6'3, 235 pound end who put up video game numbers last year with 101 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, 12 sacks and 3 forced fumbles.  He also had at least four high major offers (Iowa State, Boston College and Kentucky).  However, he's a tough kid to evaluate.  Take a peek:

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

As new long-term contracts for the football and men’s basketball head coaches were approved today, Illinois athletics director has completed his gamble on betting the coaches he trusts the most.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

May 22, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Mike Cagley/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In some way, shape or form, every athletics director at a power conference program is a gambler.

Like it or not, a big part of Josh Whitman’s job description is consistently making decisions with multi-million dollars of consequences for the current and future revenue of his department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When he commits that kind of guaranteed money to a head coach, it’s part of what he calls “the formula of success”.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

May 22, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The idea of ‘speed dating’ has been used by several power conference coaching staffs to describe the current process of transfer portal recruiting and the term might not be more applicable than to Donovan Turner’s verbal pledge.

Turner, a 6-foot-1 and 192-pound defensive back, gave his verbal pledge to commit to Illinois on Wednesday evening after crossing the country with his high school and early college football journey. Turner was most recently a 2024 first-team selection in the Southern California Football Association National Division All-Central League while playing at the junior college level at Long Beach (Calif.) City College. Turner had 30 total tackles, four pass breakups and two interceptions in nine games last season after transferring back near his hometown after playing the 2022 and 2023 seasons at the University of Massachusetts.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 21, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — There's an old saying: "Strike while the iron is hot." The Illinois football program, in just four years under head coach Bret Bielema, has rapidly transformed into a contender.

With several quality wins on the field, success in recruiting high school players, and savvy use of the transfer portal, Illinois is making its mark. It’s no surprise that one of the state’s top prospect in the Class of 2026, wide receiver Nasir Rankin, committed to the Illini today.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 21, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The state of Illinois continues to be a fertile recruiting ground for Bret Bielema and the Fighting Illini.

King Liggins, a three-star defensive lineman from Brother Rice High School in Chicago, announced his commitment to Illinois, becoming the fifth in-state recruit to pledge to the Illini in the 2026 class.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 20, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – One of the top football recruits in the state of Illinois from the class of 2026 is set to make his college decision known on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. CT.

Nasir Rankin, a four-star wide receiver from Morgan Park High School, will choose between North Carolina, USC, Illinois, Nebraska, and Duke - schools he listed on his social media accounts.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 19, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Last Tuesday, Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman announced a major contract extension for current head football coach Bret Bielema.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 14, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The recruiting front had been relatively quiet for Illinois athletics in recent days, until early this morning. Illinois head football coach Bret Bielema, fresh off his new contract extension, gave Illini fans something to smile about with his trademark social media tease: “Just feels like a good day for some good news for the #famILly.”

That good news came in the form of a commitment from Parker Crim, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound edge rusher from Lima, Ohio.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

May 14, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois has made a new contractual commitment to Bret Bielema for at least the next six years and what could be the next decade.

University officials announced the new signed deal with its fifth-year head coach on Tuesday afternoon that would keep Bielema in charge of the Illini football operation through at least the 2030 season. This six-year contract would be the third brand new agreement that University of Illinois officials have signed with Bielema since he agreed to become the Illini new head coach in Dec. 2020.

Bielema’s new contract will need to be voted on for approval by the Board of Trustees at its regularly scheduled meeting on May 22 in Urbana.