Football

‘Ready to Roll’ - Illinois head coach Bret Bielema confirms all of the players held out of spring practices have been medically cleared for contact to be active for preseason practices in August.

By Matt Stevens - July 31, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — Illinois head coach Bret Bielema will be making six more cuts to his 2025 roster between the Friday night start of preseason practice and the season-opening game against Western Illinois on Aug. 29.

When the initial settlement of the House v. NCAA settlement was made a few months ago, Bielema thought he’d be operating with a roster as small as 105 players, which he said was actually 10 players less than the last three seasons he’s been leading the Illini football program. However, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken denied the initial settlement forcing both sides to agree to a clause where roster opportunities for non-scholarship athletes would be allowed to be legislatively grandfathered in (in a “designated student-athletes” title) for the duration of their college careers. Every university that wishes to opt in to the revenue-sharing payments from the House vs. NCAA settlement, will be allowed to submit the names of those “designated student-athletes”, who will not be counted toward the roster limits rule for college football.

“After spring ball, I thought I was going to have to get to 105, so that’s why I had some conversations, which moved some guys on,” Bielema said on Thursday in a summer media session inside the Smith Family Football Complex. “Then literally like two weeks later they said, ‘Ruh roh, we might be able to add more guys.’ Super excited about these 116. They’ve been with us all summer.”

Only major question leading into the start of Illinois’ preseason practices for the 2025 season is who can emerge to replace Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin as outside wide receiver options.

By Matt Stevens- IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 31, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — Luke Altmyer is possibly the first person to admit and best person to describe the safety blanket of comfort to having a pair of experienced, talented receivers on the outside.

It’s not inaccurate to suggest Altmyer had a breakout campaign in 2024 because when things got sped up, complicated or difficult to identify while in the pocket, Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin were always open - even when it appeared they were covered up by the opposing secondary.

“You got to have that one or two guys that just believe that when a quarterback puts the football up in the air, that ball belongs to them and only them,” the Illini third-year starting quarterback said last week during Big Ten Football Media Days in Las Vegas. “That’s what I said with Pat and Zakhari. They never had a doubt.”

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 31, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Just days after landing a major commitment from four-star quarterback Kamden Lopati of West Valley City, Utah, Illinois football is turning its attention closer to home. One of the top offensive linemen in the 2027 class, Cameron Wagner, is just 11 miles from campus, and the Illini are making a strong push.

Wagner, a 6-foot-6, four-star offensive lineman from St. Joseph-Ogden High School in Saint Joseph, is ranked by On3 as the No. 7 prospect in the state of Illinois. With a national recruitment already in full swing, Wagner’s list of suitors includes some of the most storied programs in college football.

IlliniGuys caught up with Wagner as he continues navigating a busy recruiting process that already features offers from Nebraska, Iowa, Penn State, Notre Dame, Indiana, Ohio State, Louisville, Florida, Oklahoma, and Auburn.

For the third straight season since Ryan Walters left the Illini staff, Bielema’s Illini will face a defense led by their former coordinator from 2021-22.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 30, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Purdue Athletics)

LAS VEGAS — If anybody can relate and sympathize for a possible reflection moment that Ryan Walters had after being fired from his first head coaching job, it’s his former boss Bret Bielema.

Walters was terminated after two seasons leading the Purdue program to a 5-19 overall record where he had left Bielema’s Illini coaching staff. Last week during his media session at the 2025 Big Ten Football Media Days at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Bielema described how much his termination at Arkansas, which was the first and only time he’s been fired as a head football coach, changed him professionally.

Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular July 29, 2025 B1G […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 29, 2025

(Cover photo player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Bret Bielema and his Illinois football staff made a major statement Sunday night, landing one of the top quarterbacks in the country in Kamden Lopati, the first commitment in the Illini's 2027 recruiting class.

Lopati, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound quarterback from Salt Lake City, is ranked by ESPN as a four-star prospect. He is listed as the No. 6 quarterback in the country and the No. 2 overall player in Utah. Though only heading into his junior year at West High School, Lopati already holds several Power Five offers. But after his unofficial visit to Champaign, the decision became clear.

“My first contact was with Coach Eddie Simpkins (Director of Offensive Player Personnel), he reached out to me and remembered me when he was at Oklahoma State,” Lopati said. “Coach Art (Sitkowski) came out to Salt Lake City, and I threw for him and a few other college coaches; it just started from there.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

July 27, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Fighting Illini football program continues to trend upward with a major win on the recruiting trail. Illinois secured its first commitment in the Class of 2027, landing four-star quarterback Kamden Lopati from West Valley City, Utah.

Matthew Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

July 27, 2025

Since IlliniGuys.com was not asked to participate in the league's unofficial annual Cleveland.com poll/selections, we thought we'd do our own

LAS VEGAS — One of the more interesting factoids about Bret Bielema’s coaching career is when and the number of times he’s been selected as a conference coach of the year. 

Big Ten Conference coordinator of football officials Bill Carollo contends, unlike the presentation given by the Southeastern Conference, late defensive substitution patterns aren’t a typical problem.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 24, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy ESPN)

LAS VEGAS — It appears the contention between the Big Ten Conference and Southeastern Conference is not just limited to a future College Football Playoff format but also involves the folks in stripped shirts as well.

One week after John McDaid, the SEC coordinator of football officials, gave a presentation to media in attendance at that league’s media day in Atlanta over what he called “rule changes” within his conference beginning with the upcoming 2025 season, Big Ten Conference coordinator of football officials Bill Carollo had his say on the matter of handling defensive substitution patterns through the course of a game.

A big portion of McDaid’s lecture was how the SEC would address in the immediate future where a defense is intentionally trying to force down the play clock on the offense with its final chance at a player substitution before the football is snapped. McDaid’s video demonstration highlighting what his office has determined is an issue that demands attention included clips of Illinois executing defensive substitutions in the 2024 Citrus Bowl resulting in a 21-17 win for Illini over South Carolina.

“What we’ve seen over the last couple years — and we definitely saw it at a high volume or a higher volume in the 2024 postseason

Illinois third-year starting quarterback Luke Altmyer believes Barry Lunney Jr. deserves to soon be a head coach in college football but is grateful to be paired with him one more time in 2025.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 23, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

LAS VEGAS — Since the moment Barry Lunney Jr. knew Luke Altmyer was the transfer portal quarterback target in December 2022 ,he’s been able to share his on-field and off-field vision for the then-Ole Miss transfer prospect and the current Illinois offensive coordinator and quarterback have been connected.

As the Fighting Illini enter the 2025 campaign, it will mark the third year for both Altmyer being the starting quarterback and Lunney running the quarterback room and calling offensive plays in Champaign-Urbana. The importance and value of the partnership is not lost on the 22-year-old quarterback as he was honored this week at Big Ten Football Media Days at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas as a preseason all-conference selection. 

“I think our relationship, our communication, is at a really high level,” Altmyer said on Tuesday in Las Vegas when IlliniGuys.com asked him about Lunney. “I’m able to understand what he’s thinking (and) he’s able to tap into my thinking…We just understand each other at a high level.”

Sources close to the Altmyer’s representation confirmed

IlliniGuys.com spoke to multiple sources close to the Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer about details involving the third-party recruitment attempts of numerous college programs.
By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 23, 2025

LAS VEGAS — Luke Altmyer got a crash course this past spring in the pay-for-play era of college football. 

Altmyer never believed he would have make two announcements that he was returning to the University of Illinois for the 2025 season. The Illini quarterback wasn’t always believed the money would get too ridiculously high that the result would be rumors of him transferring away from would stop. Altmyer quickly realized that was a bad plan. 

“It was stressful. Stress, stress, stress,” Altmyer said. “There’s a lot of talks and communication that has to happen behind your back. That’s part of it. A lot of sleepless nights where I didn’t know what was coming the next day or what the next hour would look like. I’ll say this, I wake up everyday knowing I did the right thing for me.” 

No matter the consequences, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema has become a self-appointed social media warrior fighting for himself, his employer, his players or values of the game he loves.

July 23, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Matt Stevens/IlliniGuys)

LAS VEGAS — There are still times Jen Bielema will give her husband a side-eye glance followed by a version of a consistent ‘Why did you tweet that?’ type of question.

Ranging from a variety of topics, the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has taken to becoming a social media warrior to defend what he consistently calls “the best time to a head coach in college football right now”.

As he enters his fifth season at Illinois, Bret Bielema does not believe he and his current employer can survive using the concept of shutting up and letting your play do your talking for you any longer. Following a 10-3 record last season, Bielema stood at the main podium of the 2025 Big Ten Football Media Days at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas knowing just several hundred feet away at the MGM Sportsbook, his team had +500 odds to be in the College Football Playoff field. And Bielema’s current policy seems to be that if he knows it and believes it, everybody in the outside world should know it too.

Following a 10-win season, Illinois predicted to finish fourth in the unofficial Big Ten Football Media poll.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 22, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

LAS VEGAS — A panel of 24 reporters throughout the Big Ten Conference selected Illinois to finish fourth in the 18-team conference going into the 2025 season.

The panel of league media members organized by Cleveland.com is an annual tradition as, unlike most every other Football Bowl Subdivision conference in college football, the Big Ten does not organize a preseason media or coaches poll. IlliniGuys.com was not asked to participate in the poll and I’ll be coming out with a IlliniGuys.com preseason poll shortly.

Coming off a 10-win season in 2024, Illinois was aggregated by the 24-reporter panel to finish fourth in the league in this upcoming season, which is a nine-spot jump in this Cleveland.com preseason poll from one year ago.

IlliniGuys.com addresses five issues and/or topics that Illinois head coach Bret Bielema and/or his three players (Luke Altmyer, JC Davis and Xavier Scott) might want to address in Las Vegas.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 21, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy MGM Hotels)

LAS VEGAS — After Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti steps off the podium for his introductory address and media Q&A session, the very next face you’ll see at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas for the league’s football media days will be Illinois’ head coach entering his fifth season leading the program.

Bret Bielema follows Petitti as the first Big Ten head coach to take the mic Tuesday at the main stage's press conference. Bielema's appearance will be live on Big Ten Network at 1:30 p.m. CST.

Bielema will then be on Sirius XM B1G Radio at 4:00 p.m. CST and then will finish his day on the Big Ten Network studio set joined by a host of panelists including former Illini tailback Howard Griffith at 5:45 p.m. CST.

We at IlliniGuys.com thought we’d detail five pressing storylines that we’d like to hear from Bielema and/or the three All-Big Ten players (quarterback Luke Altmyer, left tackle JC Davis and defensive back Xavier Scott) the Illini fifth-year leader brought with him to Las Vegas.

After a lot of public talk from the Southeastern Conference since late May, Big Ten Conference commissioner Tony Petitti will get his chance to present his public case in Las Vegas.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 21, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Big Ten)

LAS VEGAS — To steal most of this line from the late radio host Paul Harvey, after Tuesday we’ll know the rest of the story.

Last week, the Southeastern Conference - led by its commissioner Greg Sankey and a parade of football head coaches made their way through the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta to make its position very well understood on two critical issues currently holding up an approved proposal for a future College Football Playoff format.

As per tradition, Big Ten Conference commissioner Tony Petitti will have the first opportunity to address issues and take questions likely surrounding his viewpoint on a CFP playoff format that is drastically different than the rest of his conference commissioner colleagues. At 1 p.m. CST, Petitti will address media on the first day of his league’s football media days from the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in the Big Ten’s first visit to the Las Vegas Strip since accepting the four West Coast programs (Southern California, UCLA, Washington and Oregon) into the conference membership.