Football

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 27, 2022

INDIANAPOLIS -- Illinois released its official 2022 roster heading into the beginning of fall preseason camp this Saturday.

Here are a few notes regarding the roster...

IlliniGuys.com can confirm no roster casualties in Bielema's program after the conclusion of the May 1 deadline.

Alex Palczewski will begin his sixth and final season […]

Kevin Warren is confident enough now to lobby the Big Ten chancellors and presidents at possible expansion and to get out of a “Sears & Roebuck” mentality moving forward. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 26, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Robert Goddin/USA Today Sports)

INDIANAPOLIS -- Kevin Warren showed up at Big Ten Football Media Days on Tuesday saying he felt blessed, grateful and thankful. 

And why the heck not, right?

“When I think about how far we've progressed these last few years, my heart is warm,” the Big Ten Conference commissioner said in his introductory speech Tuesday morning. 

Yeah, that summer California sunshine he’s inherited can do nothing but certainly heat up your body, heart, mind and soul. The addition of Southern California and UCLA, regardless of who may have contacting who, allowed Warren use words like “transformation, strength, power, boldness

In last year’s version of the state of Big Ten speech, Warren stood at the podium at Lucas Oil Stadium and absolutely made no friends with the word salad that was regurgitated following the public whipping he took on behalf of his 14 bosses inside the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors when they got to skate over COVID-19 issues in 2020. On Tuesday, Warren finally had the opportunity to speak with his chest puffed out with a swagger of newfound confidence. And the leader of arguably one of the most important identities in college football spent most of time as a lobbyist. Warren stressed the Big Ten Conference needs to continue to make bold, strategic moves similarly to the expansion inclusion of USC and UCLA in order to build the cash cow of college football into what is slowly but surely becoming a Power Two and however many also-ran leagues exist in the future of the sport. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst July 26, […]

The road to recovery for Illinois linebacker Calvin Hart Jr. includes being nominated among 51 players for the 2022 Butkus Award. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 26, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Ron Johnson/USA Today Sports)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Calvin Hart Jr. needed just one game last season to get on the watch list for Butkus Award in the following season. 

And that’s a really good thing because one game is all he got in the 2021 campaign. Hart was arguably the premier member of Bret Bielema’s debut as Illinois head coach last August in a 30-22 victory over Nebraska on national television. Hart, who transferred to Illinois from North Carolina State, was named the Bednarik Award National Player of the Week honors and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week following 1.5 TFLs and a 41-yard fumble return touchdown in the first half before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the game that forced him to miss the remainder of the season.

Illinois tight end Luke Ford has been nominated to the 2022 John Mackey Award preseason watch list as Bret Bielema tries to maximize his potential in an Illini uniform. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 26, 2022

URBANA, Ill. -- Bret Bielema knows what a John Mackey Award looks like and would like to see his projected starting tight end get close to level. 

Luke Ford, who is entering his final season at Illinois, was one of 54 tight ends to appear on the 2022 preseason watch list for the award given to the nation’s best tight end in college football. Ford, a 6-foot-6 and 260-pound tight end from Carterville, finished this past season with just 15 receptions for 114 yards and two touchdowns last season. All of these career-high numbers for Ford, a former five-star tight end prospect who originally signed with and played his first season at Georgia, still represent a slightly disappointing set of results for a four-year career that he’s publicly said he’d like to reverse in his final season in Champaign. 

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema was able to confirm some late additions to the 2022 roster via the transfer portal and a couple of players who will be unable to start fall camp healthy.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 25, 2022

URBANA, Ill. -- Less than a week before the start of preseason camp for the 2022 season, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema confirmed some minor news to local media Monday before the beginning of his charity golf tournament at Atkins Golf Club.

Bielema, who is entering his second year leading the Illini program following a 5-7 inaugural season, confirmed that Kody Case, a graduate senior transfer wide receiver from FCS South Dakota, has been officially added to the roster. Case, a sixth-year senior, surpassed 1,000 career yards receiving at South Dakota last season and caught 12 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown last season. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound slot receiver was a two-time all-state honoree and 2016 ELITE 24 all-state defensive back for South Central Calhoun High School in Lake City, Iowa and still holds school records for points (354), all-purpose yards (5,060), receiving yards (2,205) and receiving touchdowns (32) while also compiling 147 tackles and a school-record 13 interceptions.

By Zain Bando - IlliniGuys Student Correspondent

July 25, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Peoria Journal-Star)

For the 50th time, the Big Ten Conference will host its annual media event ahead of the college football season. The event is scheduled to take place from Indianapolis, Indiana, July 26-27 at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Although every big name will be there, the headliners will likely be the star of the event. Bret Bielema, Mel Tucker, Pat Fitzgerald, Ryan Day, and Jim Harbaugh are a few of the notable coaches. On the players side, the complete list is below. For the full schedule and appearances, go to this page provided by the conference.

Here are five questions to consider as Big Ten Media Day approaches:

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

July 20th, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Sports Illustrated)

(EDITOR'S NOTE: We asked our Football Writer/Analyst Matt Stevens and Director of Recruiting Kedric Prince to offer a point/counterpoint on Illini football recruiting in the 2023 class.  Kedric's view posts today after Matt's went up yesterday.)

To say the Illini football program has traditionally struggled to win consistently would be an understatement. Over the years, there've been some great teams and unbelievable players, but again not a program where opponents feared yearly.

The Illinois athletic director made a splash hire when he first arrived on campus when he announced Lovie Smith as the new man in charge. Like Smith or not, he had a very good NFL resume and most Illini fans remembered him as the coach who led the Bears to the Super Bowl and who was eventually fired after a 10-win NFL season.

The Smith hire was such big news that it was the lead story on ESPN's SportsCenter. College football analysts everywhere believed he gave the forever-struggling Illini a glimmer of hope.

In a high school signee class Bret Bielema stressed would be smaller in numbers, several of the 15 verbal commits in the Illini’s 2023 recruiting class haven’t received another Power Five offer. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 19, 2022

(EDITOR'S NOTE: We asked our Football Writer/Analyst Matt Stevens and Director of Recruiting Kedric Prince to offer a point/counterpoint on Illini football recruiting in the 2023 class.  Matt's view posts today, followed by Kedric's tomorrow.)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- It should be noted Bret Bielema is actually on a pace right now to overdeliver on the one promise he made about the 2023 recruiting class not being of high quantity. 

With already 15 verbal pledges by Independence Day to this upcoming signing class, the second full class of Bielema’s tenure with the Illini, Illinois may actually be close to wrapping up the high school portion of this class. 

All intel from Bielema’s program to IlliniGuys.com is suggesting that short high priority four-star in-state prospect Kankakee cornerback Jyaire Hill, the Illini coaching staff has already pivoted its focus to begin its homework on the transfer portal, 2024 and 2025 classes. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst July 18, […]

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

July 17, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Kenari Wilcher's Twitter page)

Kenari Wilcher of Moore Haven, Florida committed to the Illini on July 4 and became the 6th Florida recruit in the Class of 2023 for the Illini.  Illini nation should be especially excited about this particular addition though, because Wilcher is an NFL-level athlete that Illinois was very wise to grab while they could.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

Despite putting a higher priority and emphasis on building relationships with elite, in-state recruiting talent, Bret Bielema’s effort with local prospects still not producing high-level results.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 16, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The foundational piece of the Bret Bielema hire nearly 20 months ago was his promise to not only his new bosses at Illinois but also in-state high school programs that the Illini would win recruiting battles on their elite-level talent.

Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman executed an efficient, seven-day search from the day Lovie Smith was terminated (Dec. 13, 2020) to the day Bret Bielema was hired (Dec. 20, 2020) and on his checklist of goals for the new hire was the desire and skills to attract the best high school talent inside the state of Illinois to stay in their home state for college football. More importantly, it was a much-needed quality to keep rival Big Ten Conference programs such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue and Minnesota from consistently poaching the state’s highest ranked players. 

“I can’t control anything Illinois has done or been a part of in the past, (but) I can control is what we do in the future. There isn’t going to be a program in the country that’s going to recruit you harder to come to your home state,” Bielema said in his introductory media conference in 2020. “I really believe this. For Illinois to be successful like they've never been in the past, they have to recruit the state of Illinois better than they have in the past.”

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

July 15, 2023

Illinois made an unusual addition to its recruiting class when Vero Beach tight end Nathan Guinn committed to the Orange and Blue.  What makes this addition unusual is that Guinn has never played tight end before.  He was primarily a defensive end for Vero Beach and played only wide receiver on offense.  However, this Spring the 6'5, 220 pound Guinn started working out at tight end for prospective college teams and the offers started rolling in.  Illinois was Guinn's first power five conference offer and he jumped on it.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

For the first time since taking the job, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema was able to show what sets his June football camps apart from his competition and it’s the one-on-one instruction of his staff.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

July 13, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Following his performance over the last two hours at the Illinois prospect camp last month, Ryan Kerscher spent over 15 minutes talking with the Illini offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. 

Did the conversation result in a scholarship offer to the 2023 quarterback prospect from Walsh Jesuit High School near Cleveland? No. 

Was a preferred walk-on offer made? No. 

And maybe the important part of the ordeal, does Kerscher, who enters this 2022 season as the starting quarterback of a proud program that has gone from losing 27 of its last 30 games from 2017-2019 to an 11-3 season that is coming off a 2021 playoff run to the Division 2, Region 5 Final appearance, feel his time was wasted? No. 

"I was actually talking to (Lunney Jr.) a long time after this was all over about what I need to do in order to get a walk-on opportunity at the college level and he spoke with me for a long time about the process and what that would entail for any prospect like myself.”