Illinois held its first practice of call camp on Monday at approximately 8 pm. Uniform was helmet, shorts, and jersey.

Media was allowed access for the first 30 minutes (through period 5). Warmups, position drills, and special teams work.

Illinois returns to the practice field at 8 pm on Tuesday.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

For the general public on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. CT. Tickets are available through the Cubs website. Go to Wrigley Field in the top menu bar and choose Special Events at Wrigley.

I-Fund pre sale just began about an hour ago and will last until tomorrow evening at 11:59 p.m. CT. I-Fund members will get an email with a link to purchase tix with a special code.

All content from Illinois football training camp will land on this page, including feature stories, position preview, video interviews, photo galleries, and more.

No. 63 in the ESPN 2025 HoopGurlz rankings.

Login to view embedded media

​

Dele Harding (pronounced DAY-lay) enters his first season as the assistant running backs coach for the Illinois football program in 2024. Head coach Bret Bielema announced his hire on July, 26, 2024.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

What do you think?

Login to view embedded media

Trent Harris enters his first season as the assistant outside linebackers coach for the Illinois football program in 2024. Head coach Bret Bielema announced his hire on July 26, 2024.

Harris, a former defensive end at the University of Miami, comes to Illinois following a seven-year professional career that included stints in the NFL, XFL, and UFL. He will work alongside Illini assistant coach Clint Sintim to prepare and develop the Illini’s outside linebacking corps.

During his playing career at Miami from 2014-17, Harris helped lead the Hurricanes to an improved win total and a bowl game each season, culminating in a 10-3 campaign and a berth in the Orange Bowl as a senior in 2017. That season, he was named to the All-ACC Third Team after recording 37 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, and a team-high 8.5 sacks. Harris finished his collegiate career with 126 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, 15 sacks, three passes defended, three fumble recoveries, and one forced fumble.

Following his collegiate career, Harris signed a free agent contract with the New England Patriots and played on the team’s practice squad during the organization’s Super Bowl LIII winning season in 2018 when Bielema served as a consultant to head coach Bill Belichick.

In 2019, Harris returned to South Florida where he played 11 games with three starts for the Miami Dolphins. He spent the next two seasons in New York, reuniting with Bielema for his first season with Giants in 2020 when the Illini head coach was the team’s outside linebackers coach and senior assistant. Harris played in four games each in 2020 and 2021, making two starts in that initial campaign. He then spent parts of the 2022 season with the Baltimore Ravens during training camp, and on the Las Vegas Raiders practice squad.

In 2023, Harris earned All-XFL honors for the Houston Roughnecks after leading the league with 9.5 sacks, while tallying 30 total tackles and 12 tackles for loss. In 2024, Harris was drafted by the UFL’s DC Defenders where he played his final professional season before announcing his retirement in June.

Harris graduated from Miami in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in public relations.

Login to view embedded media

Fighting Illini Paris Olympics Preview

Illini Olympics History | Paris 2024 Olympics Central | Paris Olympics Broadcast Schedule

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.– Five former Fighting Illini, one current student-athlete, and one current assistant coach will represent the Orange and Blue at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. Opening Ceremonies are on Friday, July 26.

Updates throughout the Olympics will be posted on the Paris Olympics Central page of FightingIllini.com. Follow along as the Illini compete for gold.

​

It appears that if students want priority to obtain season tix to the men's basketball games, they are getting encouraged by the DIA to purchase season football tix. This comes from the football promotions page on FIghtingIllini.com:

Student Football Season Ticket Holder Benefits

• Priority access to purchase Fighting Illini men's basketball season tickets once on sale this fall. NOTE – Students who do not have football season tickets, will likely NOT have a chance to purchase men's basketball season tickets.
• Concessions Discount – Save 15% off concessions all season long
• Guaranteed student seats for Oct. 19 home game vs. Michigan

On one hand, as someone who attends all of the football games, it gets discouraging to not see the student section consistently packed. I understand it can be hard to sit through a beat down especially in colder weather and there are other options such as going to a bar to watch or continuing the festivities out in Grange Grove. I love to see Memorial Stadium packed with our students.

On the other hand, what almost seems like a requirement if students want basketball tix, they have to buy football tix. That can be a lot of money for students to pay. To get your money's worth, you would need to be at almost every game and not everyone can do that. Although there are only 7 football games, its a four hour block of time outside vs. 3 inside. And some people just don't find football all that appealing.

When I was an undergrad here, the men's bb student tix priority was determined by what class you were in school (junior, senior, etc.) and how many times your purchased student season tix. This was around the Flying Illini years. There were probably slightly more seats available due to the arena configuration at the time, but still demand for tix was high.

Then there is the new season ticket structure next year for general public for both revenue sports that is getting season tickets holders in an uproar, but that is a different story.

The top five ranked conference champions will be selected to compete, along with the top seven at-large teams. Furthermore, the top four conference champions will receive a first-round bye in the playoff.

Illinois is out for five-star guard Jasper Johnson.

He named a final five of Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina, Louisville, and Arkansas.

Login to view embedded media