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The Illinois Fighting Illini have become a modernized college football program in many ways, including in the transfer portal which has become a key part of head coach Bret Bielema's roster-building strategy.

Bielema and the Fighting Illini have made headlines in recent weeks with announcements of late offseason roster additions including former Incarnate Word wide receiver Joshua Lorick and former San Diego tight end Peyton Smith. 

On Tuesday, Bielema addressed the status of the two transfers to media as they scrambled to fill in the details leading up to Illinois' first game of the season against the UAB Blazers next Thursday. 

Peyton Smith Leaves Fighting Illini 

Bielema spoke on the status of Smith amid preparations for the 2026 season kickoff. 

"Peyton has already left us," Bielema said of Smith before also speaking on Lorick. 

"Just, where it was at when that (recent transfer) ruling came through, we could kind of have those guys practice for about five more days so Josh (Lorick) is still with us, but there's some parameters around that too." 

Bielema previously spoke about potentially adding former Illinois players from NFL teams, although the Big Ten Conference appeared to squash those hopes with a vote against adding NFL players on Tuesday. 

Bielema said he and his coaching staff have prepared for multiple potential outcomes as the transfer situation continues to sort itself out. 

"If something happens where we can do certain things we'll move forward," he cryptically said Tuesday when asked about transfers.

"If not we'll play with the roster we have right now, which we have some guys that are sitting on ready. I was over on my roster as it was so it really allows us to activate some guys that probably would have been like practice type players for us onto our roster. 

Lorick's Future Status 

Bielema was asked if Lorick will be able to get an injunction to play this season. 

"That's in his hands, and by that I mean obviously he makes decisions but also some of the things that are playing out, I'm sure everyone's got an opinion on what's going on," Bielema added, calling transfer rule discussions "way above his pay grade." 

"So I just kind of listen, Josh is in tune with that, at the highest level, so I think Josh just continues to give me guidance on what we can expect or what we can anticipate. 

"And right now we've kind of, even when we signed those two guys, they were bonus guys that we have been able to add because of injuries at other positions, so we took them with the idea that if they were eligible we could go, but otherwise stay, stay clean," Bielema concluded. 

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