Illinois Football Countdown to Kickoff: Three Thoughts Before 2025 Opener

College football season is already upon us, but Illini fans have just a bit longer to wait for the main attraction. With three days remaining until Illinois’ season kicks off against Western Illinois on Friday night (6:30 p.m. CT) under the Memorial Stadium lights, here are three thoughts to mull over in the meantime.

(Tomorrow, with two days remaining before the opener, Illinois on SI will offer two thoughts. On Thursday, we'll pose a final big one.)

Illinois Football Countdown to Kickoff: Five Thoughts Before 2025 Opener

Illinois Football Countdown to Kickoff: Four Thoughts Before 2025 Opener

3. Tight end Tanner Arkin continues to fly under the radar

Naturally, because tight end is a pass-catching position, the players who fill the role are often lauded (or dismissed) based on their raw reception numbers. And – spoiler alert – Arkin’s do not jump off the stat sheet: 16 receptions for 111 yards and three touchdowns oin 2024.

Still, as one of the best run-blocking and pass-blocking tight ends in the country, Arkin is exceptionally valuable to the Illini – a notion that is clearly recognized by his teammates, as he was named one of six team captains. Arkin may not even lead his position group in receptions in 2025, but he also quietly may be one of the most valuable players in Illinois' offense.

2. Can the Illini tally 40-plus sacks?

Illinois’ defense accounted for 31 sacks in 2024, which ranked sixth in the conference. Heading into 2025, in the third year under defensive coordinator Aaron Henry, the Illini are even more confident in the overall scheme and the defensive roster is arguably the most talented and definitely the most experienced Henry has seen during his DC tenure at Illinois.

The sack that sealed the deal in Champaign 🔥#B1GFootball x @IlliniFootball pic.twitter.com/2XtqpN3WeB
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) October 12, 2024

Between the revamped interior defensive line – led by Wisconsin transfer James Thompson Jr. – and a gritty outside linebacker group, including none other than Gabe Jacas, the Illini have all the pieces in place for one of the conference’s most potent pass-rushing attacks.

1. Luke Altmyer will be named to the All-Big Ten third team

There are just three quarterbacks from the 18-team Big Ten that receive all-conference honors in a given year. And despite we here at Illinois on SI tabbing Altmyer as the second-best QB in the conference, we actually expect him to land on the third team this year. Although Altmyer enters 2025 as one of the conference’s most experienced players under center, there are too many uber-talented quarterbacks (Oregon’s Dante Moore and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, to name a couple) to guarantee Altmyer finishes up as a top-two quarterback in the conference.

Altmyer is a sure thing – a low-floor player who will take nothing off the table as Illinois' starting quarterback. But he doesn’t have the same ceiling as many other Big Ten players at the position. We’ll take one of Moore, Sayin, Dylan Raiola (Nebraska) and Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) to beat Altmyer out for the second-team spot, while Penn State’s Drew Allar figures to capture first-team honors. That said, we still expect Altmyer to have a great year and wind up on the third team.