It’s rare to find a group as maligned in a 9-4 season as the 2025 Fighting Illini defense.
More specifically, Aaron Henry has been tarred and feathered in the media for the defense’s lack of performance.
Bret Bielema’s squad gave up 345 yards per game and notched a total of six interceptions on the season. Despite having Gabe Jacas at the top of his game, the unit largely underperformed.
So how can the Illini defense help keep the program afloat during a rebuild/reload season in 2026? By unleashing
the power of youth and athleticism.
Illinois just finished a legendary two-season arc.
Illinois has lost seven games in the last two seasons combined. That loss total would have represented a positive single-season progression during the previous regime whose one seven-loss campaign was the highlight.
Illinois has won 19 games in that span. For context, Lovie Smith won 17 games in five seasons.
Perhaps the mirage of expectation blinded segments of the fanbase (yours truly included), but this program reset under Bret Bielema and Josh Whitman has been an unmitigated success.
No, Illinois is not in the tier of squads like Oregon, Ohio State, and Georgia. Few are.
But don’t get it twisted, the ceiling is about to get higher than (insert outdated Wiz Khalifa joke).
The class of 2026 is an upward trajectory nitro boost.
This month, the overwhelming majority of a program-changing recruiting class arrives in Chambana. Hopes are high for early impact, and for good reason.
Chicago Morgan Park WR Nasir Rankin is the kind of game-breaking athlete programs like Oregon stockpile each year. He’s the kind of Chicago player that always goes to Michigan and Notre Dame. His shiftiness resembles Illini legend Isaiah WIlliams but his footspeed is closer to that of current running back Aidan Laughery (he of the sub-11 100-yard dash time).
I could write an entire column on Rankin, Kai Pritchard, Micah Smith, and Michael Clayton. And perhaps I will in the future. But for now, I’d like to focus on the aforementioned defense.
There are instant-impact defensive players arriving on campus very soon.
The elephant in the room is the tenuous coaching status of the majority of Illinois’ defense (and special teams) coaching staff. Aaron Henry is an amazing dude by every measure. After a disappointing 2023 season, he led the Illini to an improved performance in the 2024 campaign. But in 2025 when the lights were brightest, the defense faltered.
The Indiana and Washington losses exposed a defense that lacked top-end speed and back-end playmaking. With six interceptions for the year, the once opportunistic squad of Devon Witherspoon, Kerby Joseph, Kendall Smith, and Quan Martin appeared frail.
Injuries to stars Xavier Scott and Matthew Bailey certainly played a part in the dysfunction.
But that’s no excuse.
Former Illini offensive coordinator and current Maryland head ball coach Mike Locksley identified Nick Saban’s secret sauce as his “ability to coach up the twos and threes” on the depth chart. In an effective system, next man up is the mantra. And this year, the Jimmys and Joes did not overcome the Xs and Os.
Whomever is coaching the Illinois defense in 2026 should inherit an embarrassment of riches. Here are five incoming defensive players who could impact the program immediately.
Linebacker Cam Thomas
Along with his former Lakota West teammate Grant Beerman, Thomas brings an NFL athletic ceiling to the Illini. The linebacker room is looking suddenly sparse due to portal departures.
At 6’2 220 pounds, Thomas brings the speed and versatility to play in the box or in coverage. He has room to add strength, and Tank Wright could have him up to 230 with the same twitchiness by week one. As an early enrollee, Thomas has the ability to work his way into the two-deep early on.
Cornerback Jakwon Morris
Illinois flipped the junior college DB from USC a week before signing day. The top juco corner prospect in the nation projects as an immediate impact player for the Illini. He could find himself in a CB1 spot by the time spring practice wraps.
247Sports lists him at 6’0 170 pounds. That seems like the kind of build of a few corners who may or may not have had tremendous success playing for Aaron Henry.
The departure of Kaleb Patterson and the graduation of Torrie Cox opens up starting spots in Corey Parker’s cornerback room. Morris’ combination of length and ball skill fit in with a press man cover scheme. He’s a natural fit to step into the role vacated by Torrie Cox Jr.
Linebacker/Safety Kaedyn Cobbs
Cobbs is a fast, athletic prospect from Texas recruited by LB coach Archie McDaniel. He’s undersized, but plays the game a step faster. He has been clocked at 11.1 in the 100.
The hybrid athlete also played running back for his high school team, piling up 1,570 yards and 29 touchdowns. A player with those gaudy stats and ball skills fits the mold of a projectable lump of potentially productive clay. With the lack of depth at linebacker, he could join fellow freshmen Thomas and Beerman in a revamped linebacker room.`
He has the potential to flex outside like recent departure Jojo Hayden. He’s a chess piece in the physical mold of Clemson great Isaiah Simmons. So his potential to contribute early depends largely on how he is deployed.
Cornerback Nick Hankins
In terms of a prep prospect, Hankins is the top corner Illinois has signed in a long time. The Belleville West alum is the top-ranked prep prospect in the Class of 2026. In fact, he’s the top-ranked prep prospect of the Bielema era.
He’s a classic “turn on the tape” guy. His tools are loud. His quickness to the ball jumps off the screen. His ball skills from playing wide receivers are legitimate. He’s an important missing piece: an impact turnover machine.
He also plays with high-end physicality. Like (ahem) other successful Illinois corners, Hankins is not only willing to tackle, but he plays like he takes pleasure in sending dudes to dream street. If he stays healthy, his place in the two-deep could be cemented before spring semester even ends.
Safety Jacob Eberhart
Eberhart is a hard-hitting safety prospect who chose Illinois over multiple SEC offers. A once-presumed Oklahoma lean, Eberhart is a hard-hitting legacy recruit. Like Cobbs and Hankins, Eberhart was also a dominant offensive player, catching 13 touchdowns as a junior.
Also similarly to Cobbs, Eberhart was a track star for Kirkwood as a prep prospect.
His physicality screams “in-the-box” in a boundary role similar to Matthew Bailey or Sydney Brown. And due to potential roster attrition, that role could be available…now-ish.
But what about the portal?
We’ll get there. And yes, there will be myriad additions. It’s going to be a manic offseason for the Illini.
For now, the long arc of history is bending in a positive direction in terms of talent acquisition.
As for next season?
Competence is the standard, but the Illini will need a lot of bounces to come closer to the ceiling than the floor.
