Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular

June 23, 2025

This was a slower week for college sports overall as now most of the work is being done behind the scenes to define the House settlement and try to calm the chaos around college sports.

It wasn’t a slow time for Bret Bielema and the Fighting Illini football program who earned commitments from Kayden Bennett, Kai Prichard, Isaiah Williams, and Nick Hankins. All are at least 3-star recruits, and most are 4-star recruits depending upon the ratings service you follow.

Bielema is on a recruiting hot streak that might have been equaled by Ron Zook and there's a chance Bielema’s streak might possibly be the hottest an Illini football coach has been in…forever.

Hail Mary #1 – If the Illini Football Program's Return to Greatness was a Movie…

The Illini football program is poised to return to greatness under Bret Bielema. It's fair to say one can debate if the Illini football program has ever hit “greatness” in the first place. No matter the answer to the “greatness” question, certainly Bielema is the first accomplished college football coach on the Illini sidelines since John Mackovic put on the headset for Illinois.

If one were to make a movie of this season, of Bielema taking the Illini football program to the College Football Playoff, most would consider a CFP berth to be an obstacle that most fans would believe to be unthinkable. Why would they think that? Because it’s a goal that is so darn hard that the Illini haven’t ever approached achieving it.

To have a great movie, novel or story, you must have a great villain. The Illini have quite a few obstacles to overcome. When combined, these obstacles block the path to success in a way as threatening and intimidating as a Thanos-level villain would. Let's take a look at the obstacles faced by the Illini:

• The Illini football program has never been great – it may have had fantastic players like Red Grange, Dick Butkus and David Williams – but the football program has never experienced sustained success.
• The football program has only had two solid coaches since 1980 – just Mike White and John Mackovic. The rest have created a massive hole for Bielema to lift the program out of. Thank goodness Josh Whitman chose Bret Bielema to head the Illini football program.
• The B1G is a top-heavy conference with sharks like Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon and USC at the top trying to eat any competition that rises from the depths.
• The University of Illinois resides in a small town without the metro areas that Ohio State, USC and Michigan can rely upon for their NIL fundraising efforts.

In the movie world, obstacles like this don’t prevent the story from having a negative conclusion if there is a hero to overcome them. In fact, obstacles like these make the success at the end of the film ultimately creates the hero that the public wants.

Thus, the film also needs a hero. Bielema has ridden into town and single-handedly cleaned up the lawless city. Clint Eastwood couldn't have done a better job.

Bielema has the Illini on the verge of a potentially historic season for Illinois. No one is guaranteeing the Illini will have their second 10-win season back-to-back. Even if the Illini make a bowl for the second season in a row or were to fall short of that mark, they are recruiting the building blocks of future success with each recruit that commits. The bottom line is that there’s a reason for hope in the future while enjoying this season’s success. The Fighting Illini are relevant again.

If there was a movie depicting this Illini football season, Illinois has two paths the plot might take:

1. Fall short of making a bowl and continue the up-and-down nature of Illini football.
2. Win enough to go to a bowl again and maybe even find a way to make the College Football Playoff.

Bielema has decided to follow the path of surrounding himself with successful coaches and players. He didn't wait for the perfect day to arrive to begin his mission. He began this journey the day he started as the head football coach of the Fighting Illini, back when no one thought last season's success was remotely possible.

This season is the time for no excuses and by overcoming the obstacles listed above, this year will make for an epic adventure. Coupled with these recruiting successes, it will be the first step of a mythic quest, not just one "high flying" season standing in the midst of ongoing mediocrity.

I think the 2025 Illini football season would make a great movie. The obstacles are there. So is the hero. The team is ready. In a Marvel movie, the heroes would yell, "Avengers, Assemble!" Later this summer, the Thing (of the Fantastic Four) will yell out, "It's clobberin' time!"

Lights! Camera! Action!

Heat Check #1 – NIL Could’ve (and Should’ve) Changed the NBA Draft in the Illini’s Favor - An Illini "What If"

We are seeing a reversal in the way the NBA Draft is looked at by collegiate basketball players and their agents. Yes, the “and their agents” part seems crazy to me, but who am I to fight the inevitable march of time and constant change?

There were 363 players who entered their names into the NBA draft early in 2021. This summer, just 106 players have entered the 2025 NBA Draft early. This is the lowest since 2016.

As we have talked on the "IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular" radio show and the "I on the Illini" podcasts, the ability to make money has not only made college more attractive to players, but their agents realize this is the way for many college players who aren’t a “lock” to be NBA players to maximize their earnings. Nowadays, there is no reason to risk a big NIL payday for a G League deal that starts around $40,000 a year or an NBA two-way contract that could make them around $600,000.

How times have changed. The NIL dollars can be substantial with deals that dwarf the $600,000 best case option for players on the edge. This means we will see college teams become deeper (if they can afford it) and become older (if they can afford it). Overall, the college game will get better, teams will be more experienced, and the quality of ball will improve.

Not everything is bad about the NIL world.

The biggest “what if” is what if Kofi Cockburn had been surrounded by competent advisors when his time to choose between the NBA Draft and staying at Illinois with a superior NIL deal in place for him.

Kofi improved each year by 3 – 4 points per game and a rebound a game. If he had taken advantage of the two additional years he could’ve played, Kofi might have averaged 24 points and 11 games his senior year and 27 and 12 his COVID year. He might’ve been the NCAA all-time leader in rebounds - and who knows how good the Illini might’ve been. While he wasn't an NBA player, Kofi was an incredible collegiate player.

The NBA Draft has been changed forever by the effects of NIL. Illini fans just wish Kofi’s advisors had been smart enough to see what most Illini fans that the NIL deal was the better deal.