Illinois
Five questions for Illinois & Bret Bielema to answer this offseason
The college football season ended Monday night. On to the 2024 season, and the big questions we have for Illinois this offseason.
5. Who replaces Johnny Newton and Keith Randolph?
Johnny Newton has the chance to become Illinois’ second top-10 draft pick in as many years. To no one’s surprise, Newton and Randolph affected opposing lines enough to change the game. We all know the impact an injury-riddled Randolph and the absence of Newton had on the defensive line in the Wisconsin game, so how does Illinois replace a key part of its 2023 defense.
Sure, there will be some growing pains, but Illinois has retooled quite well on the defensive side. Illinois added transfers Enyce Sledge from Auburn and Anthony Johnson from Youngstown State. Sledge didn’t see much playing time as a freshman at Auburn but was a top-50 recruit out of Louisiana in 2022. Johnson had 25 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and 4 sacks in 2022. Illinois also picked up 3 star edge Josiah Knight and Hutchinson C.C. Edge Daniel Brown. Brown was the highest ranked outside linebacker out of JUCO.
Knight has a high upside but will still be a development piece in 2024. It should be interesting how Sledge, Johnson, and Brown slot into the Illini front 7 and compete with the players currently on the roster.
4. Can Aaron Henry patch the holes on the defense?
The transition from Ryan Walters to Henry was all but rosy. The Illini lost their secondary after 2022 and will lose its most impactful players on its front seven in 2023. The players are one end of the spectrum but the other side is scheme. Illinois and Purdue were the worst performing defenses on most metrics in the Big Ten. It is possible that other teams have figured out the base Walters defense and after playing that same style of defense for 3 years something needs to change.
This is probably the biggest question of the off season, something that we really won’t be able to see until Illinois kicks off against an unnamed opponent on Aug. 31. We should see bits and pieces in the spring game and Illinois will have key players back in the secondary and hopefully a healthy Matthew Bailey.
3. Can Luke Altmyer bounce back?
Believe it or not, Altmyer had the fourth-highest yards per game in the Big Ten, eighth-most touchdowns, and fifth-highest passer rating. The hot hand was Paddock in the last four games of the season, but Altmyer’s first year was nothing but stellar for Illinois. Include Paddock and Illinois had the third-best passing attack in the Big Ten, and that should continue into 2024.
There are two things that would hinder Altmyer’s rise in the rankings in 2024: the wide receivers and a retooled offensive line. Pat Bryant would be the only returning receiver over 500 yards and will need to be more consistent in 2024. I need to dive a bit deeper into the offensive line (which can be a blog of its own) because outside of Josh Kreutz there are a lot of questions marks for guards and tackles. Luckily, the line looks deeper but lacks experience. More on that later.
2. How does Illinois compete in the new Big Ten?
Both teams from the national championship Monday night — Washington and Michigan — will be in the Big Ten in 2024. I think I will be the first to say it, but the Big Ten is now THE premier football conference, beating out the SEC. And rising tides raise all ships.
In the first year of this transition, Illinois should be able to compete with 50% of the new league. We are an incredibly average program and should be able to stay incredibly average. If you take out the premier teams — Washington, Michigan, Ohio State, and Oregon — Illinois has beaten almost every team in the last three years (Purdue and Michigan State stand out).
Illinois wasn’t the tough-smart-dependable team we all expected last year and that cannot continue into 2024. There also needs to be that gritty Illinois vs. The World mentality that this team needs to adopt. The days of controlling the clock and winning the Big Ten West are gone. Illinois will be competing with the big boys every week and need to act like it’s been there before.
1. The way-too-early-kool-aid-prediction for 2024.
- Week 1 – Group of Five opponent – Win
- Week 2 – vs. Kansas – Win
- Week 3 – vs. Central Michigan (Homecoming) – Win
- Week 4 – @ Nebraska – Win
- Week 5 – @ Penn State – Loss
- Week 6 – BYE
- Week 7 – vs. Purdue – Win
- Week 8 – vs. Michigan – Loss
- Week 9 – @ Oregon – Loss
- Week 10 – vs. Minnesota – Win
- Week 12 – vs. Michigan State – Win
- Week 13 – @ Rutgers – Loss
- Week 14 – @ Northwestern – Win
Illinois 8-4 and back to the Reliaquest Bowl.
Illinois
Unincorporated Bensenville residents say ‘nightmare’ rat infestation threatens their health, safety
UNINCORP. BENSENVILLE, Ill. (WLS) — People living in a neighborhood in unincorporated Bensenville say a rat infestation is a threat to their health and safety.
Those in the White Pines neighborhood say they know the source of the problem, but they feel like elected officials are not doing enough to help them.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
Multiple homeowners say the issue goes back at least two years. They believe one particular property is ground zero and that there have been no significant measures to eliminate what they are calling a rat infestation.
“It’s just a nightmare right now,” said White Pines resident Jim Brill.
Brill says for two years, he and his neighbors have dealt with rats running around their property.
“It’s impacting every house that surrounds that house. The rats come out when we put our trash cans out. They literally swarm out of the yard, that house’s yard, go in our trash cans,” Brill said.
Another neighbor says his home security picked up the rodents after they tripped the camera’s motion sensors, sharing at least a dozen videos with ABC7 showing them scurrying around the side of his house.
And pictures show multiple rats on the windowsills on the home that neighbors believe is the root of the issue.
“We have to, you know, take huge measures to maintain our property, and we’ve done that, but when your neighbor isn’t doing that, and then creating housing for these vermin, right, that carry disease, and can, you know, be troublesome and problematic, it’s quite frustrating,” said White Pines resident Kristin Henri.
Henri says her parents have lived there for more than 50 years, never with a rat problem, until 2024. She says the rats are a hazard to their health and safety.
“We’ve had rats on our property, running through in broad daylight, so it’s unnerving. I can’t let my dog out. I worry about my neighbor’s child across the street, who’s a toddler,” Henri said.
Henri and Brill say living in an unincorporated part of Bensenville has complicated matters. At this point, they believe it is in the county’s hands, but still the problem persists.
“We contacted the county. They keep telling us they’re going to take care of the problem, and they don’t,” Brill said.
“We need somebody to help eliminate this. It’s not fair to us. We maintain our properties, and we want to live in a safe environment,” Henri said.
The DuPage County Building and Zoning Staff told ABC7 they been working on this problem since 2024.
They are working with the owner of a single property to clean the home’s interior.
Once that’s done, the county says, it will have an exterminator come in and set traps in the area.
Copyright © 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Sightings of a fireball were reported across Illinois and at least eight other states on Monday night.
The American Meteor Society received nearly 200 reports of a fireball seen over Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin around 10 p.m.
Some of the reports out of Illinois came from Chicago, Aurora, Carpentersville, Warrenville, Addison, Waukegan, Oak Lawn, Shorewood Westchester, and Glen Ellyn. There were also reports from Indiana, including Valparaiso and Fort Wayne.
There was also a report out of Ontario, Canada.
Home camera footage, posted by the American Meteor Society, shows a flash across the sky in Michigan about an hour Northwest of Detroit.
A car crashed into a home in unincorporated Cary, Illinois, while three people were inside Monday evening, fire officials said.
A spokesperson for the Cary Fire Protection District said they were called to a home in the 2500 block of Oakdale Terrace just after 5:30 p.m. after reports came in that a vehicle had crashed into a house.
When paramedics and firefighters arrived, they found a black Jeep had slammed into a house, causing damage.
Three people were in the home at the time, fire officials said, but they were all able to get out safely and no injuries were reported. There were two people in the Jeep who got checked out by paramedics for minor injuries, but they declined further medical attention and did not want to go to a hospital.
Because of the damage to the home, McHenry County officials deemed it unsafe to occupy until repairs were made.
The American Red Cross is helping the four residents of the home with temporary housing and other needs while repairs are made.
The circumstances surrounding the crash are under investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office. It was not clear if any charges or citations would be issued.
-
New Mexico58 seconds agoDeb Haaland Wins New Mexico Democratic Primary For Governor
-
North Carolina8 minutes agoGreenville Police Department Join Effort Promoting Safe Firearm Storage
-
North Dakota11 minutes agoToday in History, 1971: Rugby repeats as North Dakota sand greens golf champion
-
Ohio16 minutes agoU20 World Team decided at U20 World Team Trials in Geneva, Ohio – WIN Magazine
-
Oklahoma23 minutes agoOklahoma data center boom sparks backlash as Yukon leaders, residents raise concerns
-
Oregon26 minutes agoTimeline video traces SB 1008’s impact on Oregon juvenile justice, viewers can watch now
-
Pennsylvania31 minutes ago1 dead, 2 hospitalized after crash in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, police say
-
Rhode Island38 minutes agoRIIL title-game spots were on the line Tuesday. Here’s who earned them.
