Illinois' Brad Underwood Gives Latest Injury Update on Ty Rodgers

Winners of five of its last six and three straight, No. 16 Illinois (11-3, 2-1 Big Ten) has seemingly found its groove on both sides of the floor. The Illini offense – which boasts four double-digit scorers – has the balance of an Olympic gymnast, while the defense is finally sticking the landing.

Coach Brad Underwood insisted his outfit simply needed to get healthy and put in enough practice time together. Now, after the Illini have logged reps upon reps over the past month (in which they played only five games), Underwood appears to have proven right.

And although it feels like Illinois is finally at 100 percent, the club is still missing a key piece: swingman Ty Rodgers. The 6-foot-6 energizer started all 38 games as a sophomore during Illinois’ Elite Eight campaign in 2023-24 – and hasn't played a single minute since.

Brad Underwood offers update on Illinois' Ty Rodgers

Following a redshirt season in 2024-25, Rodgers suffered a knee injury in the summer and has been out ever since. But that may be changing soon. Although Underwood remains quiet on a specific timetable, Rodgers appears to be trending in the right direction.

“He’s just now coming off the flu,” Underwood told the assembled media on Wednesday, a day before Illinois is set to host Rutgers (7:30 p.m. CT, BTN). "So he wasn’t with us in Philly [against Penn State]. He’s doing some participation in practice, but it’s not full-on stuff in practice yet. So, made some positive gains and it’s nice to see him out there in a practice jersey and doing certain things. So he’s continuing to gain strength. Obviously, there was atrophy and some of that stuff in the leg. … But no one’s working harder than him, and we’ll just keep taking it day by day. But right now it’s nice to see him participating in practice."

With Game 15 set for Thursday, the Illini are nearly halfway through their regular season, meaning it would be quite difficult to integrate Rodgers into the lineup immediately – and perhaps even a bit self-defeating. Still, when the time comes that Rodgers is fully healthy and conditioned, he can be a shutdown defender and even moonlight as a lead guard – both valuable assets for this Illini club.

In the meantime, Underwood and his staff will have to get creative in how to best to deploy Rodgers, who has never connected on a three-pointer in his collegiate career, in an offense that runs a lot of 5-out looks. One thought: Rodgers has the athleticism and enough size to play in the dunker spot, where he can be an excellent offensive rebounder and finisher while four others on the floor (including Illinois' centers) stretch the floor with three-point shooting.

If and when Rodgers is able to return to full health, it will be interesting to see if Underwood makes a priority of working him back into the rotation – and how exactly he plans to utilize Rodgers’ unique skill set.