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Illinois coach Bret Bielema is feeling great.
The Illini are coming off their first 10-win season since 2001. A junior day over the weekend had more than a dozen of the top local prospects on campus.
Way-too-early top-25 rankings for next season have Illinois solidly in the top 25, some include the Big Ten program in the top 10 with key contributors returning on both sides of the ball.
RUMOR MILL: Buzz continues to flow from massive weekend
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On cloud nine these days, Bielema is even trolling former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh as more news came out this week on the ongoing sign-stealing scandal in Ann Arbor. Bielema quote tweeted a video of Harbaugh saying, “Tell the truth always. If you lie … it’s over.”
In another Harbaugh video where the former San Francisco 49ers coach said, “If you cheat to win, then you’ve already lost,” Bielema fires back even harder.
“Really…. Why did you leave?” Bielema said. “Was looking forward to playing but understand why you ran to the NFL. See you in the future and can’t wait.”
On Sunday while all those top recruits, including in-state tight ends Mack Sutter and JC Anderson among many other big names, were in town and enjoying the Illini basketball game, Bielema held a press conference.
“We have a large group on campus now who in my opinion is a collection of the highest-rated guys that we feel really strongly about that can impact us,” Bielema said.
“Since the bowl game, wholeheartedly the amount of value that bowl game brought us in Orlando was really good but going into schools from coast to…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/bret-bielema-riding-high-illinois-145529468.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2025-02-03 14:55:00
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