How Bielema is already building Illinois’ 2026 roster

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — With Illinois sitting firm at 6-3, bowl eligible for the second year in a row and controlling their own destiny for the remainder of the 2025 season, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema can not help but preparing for the future.

During the second bye week of the season, Bielema has pushed the focus on his “devo” players. The second stringers become the first stringers, with the third stringers following suit. The change is to see where the developmental players are, and also gives the Illini’s head coach a chance to see who he will want back in 2026.

“I just got after these guys really good,” Bielema said after practice. “You just think it is an inside drill today, I am trying to decide whether or not you can play for me next year, and I want them to feel that. It is just the way it is. It is a different world of college football. If you are taking revenue share and you are getting paid, we are not handing out food stamps, you have to go out there and earn it.”

With coaches around the country being let go before the season concludes, players have jumped into the transfer portal earlier than usual. High school commits are also reevaluating their commitment following different firings, making way for stable teams, like Illinois and Bielema, who agreed to a seven-year contract before the season, to come in and present an opportunity.

“To be quite honest we have done so good with portal guys and retaining guys that we are getting calls that I kind of laugh that we are getting these,” Bielema said. “The part that is really important for our guys to figure out is for us to project you to play a year from now, you got to show us now what you are capable of doing, because otherwise there are guys out there that would like to come here and be a part of it.”

In terms of his 2026 roster, they are at 24 players committed right now. He expects that 29 of his current players will be out of eligibility, plus the 10 or more that will decide to move onto another school.

Last offseason was all about retention. Now Bielema will have a different approach.

“I kind of reshuffled my mind from a year ago to where I am now,” Bielema said. “I think with the roster I had last year was all about the retention of really good players. We have a lot of good players and I have to keep those guys, but it is going to be a lot about the guys on the fringe.”

If those players on the fringe do not meet Bielema’s expectations, it seems he has no problem moving on.

And while it may seem cutthroat, the fifth-year head coach put it perfectly before, “It is just the way it is.”

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