For the first time in a long time, I feel at ease in the Illinois quarterback room. This isn’t the Lovie Smith era, when we had to watch Jeff George Jr. start. Illinois has some good passers behind center.
Hopefully, this trend will continue in the future. On Thursday, Hayes Fawcett of On3.com reported that Illinois was considering Dereon Coleman, a good quarterback. Coleman narrowed his choice down to just eight teams, including UCF, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Nebraska, TCU, Arkansas, and Illinois.
This would make an excellent addition to any of the eight programs. Coleman is a 6-foot-1, 165-pound quarterback at Jones High School in Florida. He is rated a four-star prospect and the No. 300 player in the 2026 class. He is also the nation’s No. 21 quarterback and the No. 54 player from Florida.
According to 247Sports, Coleman has made unofficial trips to Oklahoma, UCF, and Florida so far.
Illinois football has had a focus on building out the quarterback room in the Bret Bielema era
This program is significantly better off than it was six years ago. Bret Bielema took over the Illini and began to expand the quarterback room.
Bielema’s first item of business was to secure a reliable transfer portal player to assist stabilize the position. Tommy DeVito was the proper choice. We then brought in Luke Altmyer, who will be the starter for the next many seasons. Bielema also signed John Paddock, who was an excellent replacement for Altmyer last season.
When it comes to youthful quarterback talent, each recruiting class has included at least one quarterback. Donovan Leary is a reliable backup from the class of 2022. Cal Swanson, I believe, has a lot of promise in the 2023 class. Trey Petty, Mississippi’s Mr. Football in Class 7A, is coming in from the class of 2024.
Bielema has Illinois stocked at quarterback, and adding someone like Coleman would extend that trend into the future. This is a massive top eight to create, and I expect the Orange and Blue to be in contention at the end.
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