Illinois

In-state official visit coming up is huge for the Illinois football defense

Published

2 years ago

May 19, 2024

In-state official visit coming up is huge for the Illinois football defense

Illinois football wants a nasty front seven on defense, and we are looking to add an in-state talent to help with that cause.

For the 2024 season, the Illini are patching together a defensive line via the transfer portal. We have some young players who came into the program, but they will be fully unleashed on the Big Ten in 2025.

Illinois also has a few solid outside linebackers who will tear apart opposing offenses. I am excited to see what Alec Bryant, Seth Coleman, Gabe Jacas, and Company can do this season.

Depth is an issue for the outside linebacker position moving forward, though. Illinois has seven outside linebackers on the roster right now, and four out of the seven outside linebackers are at least a junior. The Illini need to bolster the position with more incoming young talent.

Landing someone like Cameron Brooks would be great for the Illini. He is a 6-foot-3, 258-pound edge from Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Illinois. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 1053 player in the class of 2025. He is also the No. 78 edge in the country and the No. 30 player coming out of the state of Illinois.

Brooks seems to be narrowing the scope of his recruitment. He has official visits set up to Kansas State and Kansas on January 21 and January 14, respectively. Brooks also has one more visit set up. That visit is to Illinois on June 7. We get his first visit of the summer.

Brooks is a fun football player to watch. Most of the high school athletes are so big and physically overpowering that they are going to look good on tape. Brooks’ hudl tape is different.

What stood out to me is the football IQ. There was a clip early on that the offense was running a screen play, and Brooks was able to sniff it out. If he didn’t realize it was a screen, the play would have gone for a touchdown. Instead, he made the tackle and forced a fumble.

Illinois visit was 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 #ILL @CoachJamison @CoachGriffith3 @Recruit2Illini pic.twitter.com/6AKtzgKIut
— Cameron Brooks (@cambrooks2025) February 1, 2024
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When I look at the Illinois roster, I can see Brooks getting early snaps at Illinois. Coleman is a senior, so he is gone after this season. Bryant, Daniel Brown, and Jacas are all juniors, so 2025 will be their last year at Illinois.

The Illini then have Mason Muragin, Joe Barna, and Pat Farrell on the roster, all of whom are freshmen.

I imagine Brooks comes in and redshirts in 2025. That would make sense because of the roster construct. As a redshirt freshman, who knows what the roster looks like at outside linebacker. There are only three players on the roster who would be on the team in 2026, and those players haven’t proved anything.

I like Brooks’ game. This kid could be pretty good at the next level. Honestly, I am surprised he isn’t more highly touted. I think he has a ton of potential.

Next. Illinois football adding a wrecking ball defensive lineman from the transfer portal. Illinois football adding a wrecking ball defensive lineman from the transfer portal. dark

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Illinois

Over 81K deer harvested in Illinois firearm deer season

Published

6 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Over 81K deer harvested in Illinois firearm deer season

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (KWQC) – Early numbers show more than 81,000 deer were harvested during Illinois’ firearm deer season this year.

Officials said preliminary totals show 91,225 deer were harvested during the seven-day season that ended on Dec. 7, according to a news release.

This is down from the 82,496 deer harvested during the firearm season last year, officials said.

Local firearm deer season totals:

Rock Island County: 728
Whiteside County: 699
Jo Davies County: 1,336
Knox County: 1,057
Henry County: 572
Mercer County: 873
Warren County: 516
Bureau County: 909

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Illinois

Bears again expand stadium search, including outside Illinois

Published

18 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Bears again expand stadium search, including outside Illinois

CHICAGO — Three days before hosting their biggest game at Soldier Field in years, the Chicago Bears are exploring moving outside the city for which they are named.

In an open letter to fans Wednesday evening, team president and CEO Kevin Warren said the Bears will explore other locations — including outside of Cook County, where the team owns a 326-acre property in Arlington Heights, Illinois — to build a domed stadium.

That includes moving the Bears out of Illinois altogether.

“In addition to Arlington Park, we need to expand our search and critically evaluate opportunities throughout the wider Chicagoland region, including Northwest Indiana,” Warren said. “This is not about leverage. We spent years trying to build a new home in Cook County. We invested significant time and resources evaluating multiple sites and rationally decided on Arlington Heights.

“Our fans deserve a world-class stadium. Our players and coaches deserve a venue that matches the championship standard they strive for every day. With that in mind, our organization must keep every credible pathway open to deliver that future.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker pushed back against a potential move of the team out of the state.

“Suggesting the Bears would move to Indiana is a startling slap in the face to all the beloved and loyal fans who have been rallying around the team during this strong season,”Pritzker spokesperson Matt Hill said in a statement. “The Governor’s a Bears fan who has always wanted them to stay in Chicago. He has also said that ultimately they are a private business.”

The Bears purchased the Arlington Park property that formerly housed the Arlington International Racecourse for $197 million in 2023, shortly before Warren replaced Ted Phillips as team president and CEO. The Bears proposed building a 60,000-seat fixed-roof stadium within a $5 billion mixed-use development.

Not long after closing on the land in Arlington Heights, the team began exploring options for a new stadium site when it announced its plans to build at the Arlington Park site were “at risk” as negotiations over property taxes reached a $100 million impasse.

Shortly before the 2024 draft, the Bears shifted their focus to building their new stadium on the lakefront south of Soldier Field and announced they would invest more than $2 billion in private money into the construction and development of the stadium and surrounding areas.

Although the team has maintained that the construction of a new stadium will be privately funded, concerns over the burden placed on taxpayers to fund the infrastructure around the stadium led to an impasse. That led the Bears to explore Arlington Heights once again as an option, which Warren announced during league meetings in April. Ahead of the Bears’ home opener against theMinnesota Vikingson Sept. 8, Warren released a letter to fans, saying the team’s sights were set on building in Arlington Heights. He has said throughout the year that the goal was to break ground before the end of 2025.

However, the Bears have been in a battle with lawmakers over tax breaks and securing $855 million in public funding for costs related to building the new stadium.

“We have not asked for state taxpayer dollars to build the stadium at Arlington Park,” Warren said. “We asked only for a commitment to essential local infrastructure [roads, utilities, and site improvements], which is more than typical for projects of this size. Additionally, we sought reasonable property tax certainty to secure financing. We listened to state leadership and relied on their direction and guidance, yet our efforts have been met with no legislative partnership.”

The Bears’ current lease at Soldier Field runs through 2033. On Saturday night, the 10-4 Bears will host the Green Bay Packers in a high-stakes meeting that will heavily determine Chicago’s path to the postseason.br/]

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