Illinois

A huge surge in recruiting gives Illinois football a great early National Signing Day

Published

1 year ago

December 4, 2024

A huge surge in recruiting gives Illinois football a great early National Signing Day

I am not someone who runs and hides from the opinions I have had in the past, and I have a doozy about the Illinois football program.

Back in July, I wrote an article about how the Illini class of 2025 is struggling. The article was titled “Transfer portal might be needed to save the Illinois football class of 2025.”

In fairness to myself, at the time of the article, Illinois had the No. 57 class in the country with 13 commitments, and honestly, there weren’t a ton of options on the table.

Over the coming months, Bret Bielema went to work. The coach has his flaws, like everyone else, but he has been able to go out and recruit his butt off, along with the great group of coaches he has assembled.

On Wednesday, early National Signing Day kicked off, and Bielema had a great day. He finished the day with 21 commitments and a national recruiting ranking of No. 43 in the country.

Bielema is on pace for another top-50 class, which would give him four in a row. In 2022, Illinois had a freshman class that ranked No. 46 in the nation. In 2023, we ranked No. 38. And in 2024, we ranked No. 49 in the country.

A top 50 class in 2025 wouldn’t have been possible without the past few weeks of recruiting. It has been a great run for the Illini, and it was capped off with a huge flip on Wednesday.

Just in the past month, Illinois has landed three out of their top seven signees. But there has been a myriad of commitments in this time frame.

It all started with Illinois flipping offensive tackle JJ Hirdes and cornerback Tywan Cox. Bielema was then able to flip linebacker Grant Beerman and offensive lineman Dylan Frechette. And on Wednesday, Illinois flipped running back John Forster. Those were five huge recruiting flips from this coaching staff.

Altogether, Illinois added six commitments in the past four weeks. That is a massive transition for the class of 2025 and one that will pay dividends down the road.

At the end of the day, no one really knows who is going to pan out and who is going to flame out. Recruiting is a tough game, but with recruiting, you have to go with what is on paper.

Illinois’ class of 2025 is quite impressive when you look at the 247Sports Composite Rankings. This lays out where each player is nationally.

Bielema has four recruiting classes under his belt right now with the class of 2025 still finishing up in the coming months. He was tasked with building Illinois from the ground up, so I give him a bit of a pass for the first recruiting class in 2022.

With that said, Illinois’ recruiting has gotten deeper and deeper each year. In 2022, Illinois had nine out of the 26 commitments rank inside the top 1000 nationally. The following two recruiting classes saw a slight bump from that, as the 2023 class had 11 top 1000 recruits and the class of 2024 had 10 top 1000 recruits.

With all 21 commitments signed and a couple of months until the regular National Signing Day, Illinois already has 14 top 1000 recruits onboard. That is a number that Illinois hasn’t had in a long time.

Not only is the quantity where it needs to be for Illinois to be competitive, but now we are starting to get the caliber of player into the program that is needed. Bielema has Illinois football competing on and off the field at a high level.

Next. Illinois football pulls off huge National Signing Day recruiting flip. Illinois football pulls off huge National Signing Day recruiting flip. dark

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Illinois

Over 81K deer harvested in Illinois firearm deer season

Published

11 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

23 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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