The annual spring and summer sports lull is about to end! Yes, the “we have no revenue college sports going on at the moment” dead zone of the calendar concludes…now. The Illinois football team will begin their training camp on Friday at Memorial Stadium, with Illinois football coach Bret Bielema holding a press conference tomorrow to preview fall practice. He’ll be joined by coordinators Barry Lunney Jr. and Aaron Henry.
And the current spirit surrounding the team could not be higher. When was the last the time the Illini entered a season with such high expectations?
Maybe 2002- when Illinois was coming off a 10-win season and an outright Big Ten title the previous campaign? Or maybe 1990- when (much like this season) they were coming off a special season that ended with a Citrus Bowl win?
It’s easy to see why Illini supporters are so excited about 2025. The whole offensive line returns, and they’ll lead the way for a ground attack that should be very solid again.
Running backs Kaden Feagin and Aidan Laughery return. As does their star quarterback with “the clutch gene,” Luke Altmyer.
We’ll be covering Altmyer (2,717 yards and 22 touchdowns), one of two quarterbacks to earn Big Ten Preseason Honors, along with Penn State’s Drew Allar, more and more in the coming weeks and months, but for now, we got some other Illinois football players to cover.
Left tackle J.C. Davis is an Athlon preseason All-Big Ten First Team and Phil Steele preseason All-Big Ten Fourth Team. The Oakland native will anchor what should be a stellar unit up front. Then you have “X gonna take it from ya,” ball-hawking cornerback Xavier Scott.
He had 49 tackles (43 solo), 2.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack, one forced fumble, four interceptions, and six pass PBUs last term.
Scott tied for second in the Big Ten and 15th in the nation in interceptions (4) last season.
And then finally, we have the Illini preseason All-American, the young man who is the team’s best player, regardless of position. Senior EDGE Gabe Jacas is a 6’3″ 275 pound tour de force, who had 74 tackles, 13.0 tackles for loss, and 8.0 sacks last season.
Jacas plays Edge/Edge Rusher, a.k.a. Defensive End and/or sometimes Outside Linebacker. “To me it’s the same thing,” Jacas articulated when describing the position in detail in an exclusive with RG.
“D End, Edge rusher, outside linebacker, they all do the same things.
“I can say I’m a little versatile at times. I can go into three, I can go outside. And as you can tell, they get paid really well to rush the quarterback, so it’s really one of the best, premier positions in football.
“And I love being in that position. It’s fun attacking the quarterback. It’s fun going against tackles. You know, I wouldn’t ask for anything else.”
Jacas is certainly a leading candidate for postseason individual award, which one just depends on how he’s officially utilized/what that position classification is.
But he’ll be in contention for the Ted Hendricks Award (Best Defensive End), Dick Butkus Award (Best Linebacker), Chuck Bednarik Award (Defensive Player of the Year) and Lombardi Award (Best Overall Lineman).
But some projections, Illinois returns 18 returning starters from the team that finished 10-3 last season, and with a top 16 finish in the AP poll (one spot of Alabama, believe it or not!) So it’s very easy to understand why the Illini were picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten this upcoming season, in a poll conducted by Cleveland.com.
It’s the highest projection, for Illinois football, in the 15 years of the poll.
The Illinois football program will kick off their 2025 season on Friday, Aug. 29, with a 6:30pm kick against FCS foe Western Illinois.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter
