Jul. 29—The Illinois football team gathered Sunday for the start of fall training camp. Monday marks the first day of practice, and beat writer Scott Richey has a roster breakdown, position by position, to catch you up on Bret Bielema’s latest squad:
is back for year two as QB1 for the Illini with a sense of comfort in coordinator ‘s offense after making nine starts in 2023. Comfort that should help Altmyer avoid the interception trouble he had early last fall and build off his 1,883-yard, 13-touchdown season. Illinois needs Altmyer — the only quarterback on the roster to have appeared in a college football game — to stay healthy or at least get in some blowouts so backup can get some experience.
No one was safe from injury last fall in Illinois’ running backs room, with none of the four of the primary options playing more than nine games. Leading rusher left for Purdue, leaving (438 yards, two touchdowns) as the top returner. But the 6-foot-3, 250-pound sophomore will split carries with at least and in what ‘s basically called a timeshare. (once he’s healthy) and true freshman might also figure into the rotation.
The task of replacing a 1,000-yard receiver () and an NFL draft pick () will fall to , star transfer and a slew of young wide receivers. Landing Franklin, who has 3,386 receiving yards and 38 touchdowns in his career, was a borderline necessity to inject experience into the Illini’s receiver options. Some combination of , , , and will have to step into a more prominent role.
Illinois was sort of planning on still having at tight end this season. Then the former walk-on essentially maxed out the physical testing at the NFL draft combine and wound up a third-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals. So the Illini hit the portal to fill out its tight end room, adding FCS All-American (Murray State) and Division II transfer (Saint Anselm) as pass-catching options. They join , who came on strong at the end of last season, and 6-7, 260-pound .
Bolstering the offensive line was at the top of the ‘s offseason wish list. Partly to fill in the gaps after losing and . Partly to keep building depth. Transfers (New Mexico) and (Grambling State) project as Illinois’ starting tackles. The interior of the line could be the same with , and , but Michigan State transfer might challenge for a spot at guard. Depth comes in the form of , and a healthy .
With , and all in NFL training camps, the Illini are basically starting from scratch with their defensive line. did rotate with Daxon at nose tackle last fall, but the rest of Illinois’ in-house defensive line options are mostly untested. That’s why hit the portal to land transfers (Florida State), (Florida A&M) and (Auburn). All three should factor into the rotation.
There isn’t much question about the top of the depth chart at outside linebacker with , and all back for another season after getting the bulk of the snaps in 2023. The rest of Illinois’ depth at the position has taken on a different look after (Purdue) and (San Diego State) opted to transfer and n tore his ACL this summer. The Illini found a speed rusher in JUCO transfer and might have landed another under-the-radar, yet ready to play, freshman in .
was the last man standing at linebacker from the era and helped bring along , and last fall. Now those three are the top options in the middle of the Illinois defense. Rosiek earned All-Big Ten honorable-mention recognition in 2023 as Barnes’ regular running mate and could be a leader of the Illini defense. Odeluga flashed as a pass rusher in a bigger role last fall as a sophomore, and Kreutz doubled as a human missile on occasions. Unseating any of the three from the top of the depth chart will be difficult.
The differences between a 2022 secondary full of eventual NFL defensive backs and a 2023 group rather short on experience were stark. The result was a rather significant step back defensively from one of the nation’s best to a bottom-four unit in the Big Ten. , and return as starters, but Illinois’ secondary will get a significant boost from transfers (Texas) and (Ohio), who have 39 combined starts in their careers. The return of a healthy is just as impactful.
told a redshirt wasn’t necessary last season. The Naperville native took over kickoff duties in the fourth game of the season and is in line for full kicking duties this fall with running out of eligibility. But Illinois did bring in Texas A&M transfer to provide some competition. Punting duties should again fall to 31-year-old Australian , who has started the last 25 games and was an All-Big Ten honorable-mention selection in 2023. Redshirt freshman , though, could push him for that role.
Bret Bielema flipped nearly half of his coaching staff this offseason, with attrition coming both in firing linebackers coach and defensive backs coach and with wide receivers coach (Mississippi) and outside linebackers (New York Giants) pursuing other opportunities. That leaves defensive coordinator , offensive line coach and defensive line coach as the only assistants remaining from Bielema’s first staff in Champaign. New in 2024 are linebackers coach , wide receivers coach and outside linebackers coach . And was the second defensive backs coach hired after resigned in April for medical reasons. Offensive coordinator is back for a third season after the Illini finished third in the Big Ten in total offense a year ago.
The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
