Early 2026 Illinois Season Preview | Cover 3 Summer School
Cover 3 College Football
CBS Sports, College Football, Football, CFB, College Football Picks
4.5 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 May 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Bud Elliott sits down with Jeremy Werner of Illini Inquirer to preview Illinois’ 2026 season. They break down the biggest storylines, including the quarterback outlook, strength of the offensive line, key weapons, and what to expect from a defense undergoing adjustments. Plus, a full schedule outlook. 🎟️ Get 60% off an annual 247Sports subscription: Use code SUMMER26 Illinois Team Site: https://247sports.com/college/illinois/
0:00 Welcome on Jeremy Werner
1:18 Quarterbacks
4:33 Offensive Line
7:03 Wide Receivers
9:08 Running Backs
11:49 Defensive Adjustments
15:28 Defensive Line
17:16 Linebackers
19:48 Defensive Breakouts
21:54 Schedule Breakdown
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Indiana can sort of cement itself as we are no longer this team that's going to be fighting for six wins anymore. |
| 0:07.3 | Malachi Tony, is he going to be ready? |
| 0:09.3 | Dante Moore, he showed improvement, better command. |
| 0:19.5 | What's going on, y'all? |
| 0:20.5 | I'm Bud Elliott. |
| 0:21.3 | This is Summer School on the cover three college ball podcast network. And, man, I am excited to bring on Jeremy Werner today. School is back in the session. We are talking all things, Illinois, Illinois, and I inquire. Jeremy, what's going on, dude? Hey, bud. How you been, man? Doing well, man, doing well. you've been a little busy with all this basketball, spring football, |
| 0:37.5 | you know, pro baseball season kicking off. |
| 0:39.8 | This is exciting times. |
| 0:41.2 | Yeah, B Bielma doesn't want to see much in spring ball, especially with a new defense coordinator. I'm sure we'll dive into that, but we were away on the road covering the final four team for the first time in, you know, 20-something years here. So it's been busy, NFL draft, I don't know I gets guys, a couple guys drafted as I have under Brett Beulma. So I certainly been busy NFL draft. Illinois gets guys, a couple guys drafted |
| 0:54.5 | as they have under Brett Bielma. So it's certainly been a busy time, but good to hop in and |
| 0:59.3 | start thinking about the fall. Absolutely, man. So nine and four season for Illinois last year, |
| 1:03.1 | I think a pretty satisfying season, I would guess, for Illinois fans, you know, and I just enjoyed |
| 1:09.3 | watching that team. Like I like these teams that Brett posts together and, you know, and I just enjoyed watching that team. I like these teams that Brett |
| 1:12.0 | put together and, you know, an exciting time to watch them. Let me ask you this. Coaching change |
| 1:18.9 | on offense, really none. Lundy gets the three-year extension, right? But they do have a lot of, |
| 1:22.8 | like, you know, changeover on the offense, offensive line. They were getting Katie Houser from East Carolina to be their transfer quarterback. |
| 1:30.7 | Why did they think he was a fit for what they want to do? |
| 1:34.8 | It's a good point, though, that there's continuity at the offensive coordinator position |
| 1:38.3 | because Illinois, before Brett B.O.R. |
| 1:40.6 | And really, after his first year, they were kind of on par with |
| 1:44.2 | ruckers, with how much they were turning over quarterbacks, turning over offensive systems, |
| 1:48.4 | turning over play callers. It was just one of the worst offenses. He just never could build on |
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