Bielema often outrecruited elite rivals in signing the UI’s 2026 football class, the most impressive in decades.

When Illinois Fighting Illini quarterback Luke Altmyer showed up with his head coach and a couple of teammates at the 2025 Big Ten Football Media Days, he was wearing a T-shirt promoting Southeastern ...

Editor’s note: All week, The Athletic is looking back at the best of the first 25 years of the 2000s in men’s college ...