The Illinois football team is doing some great work this season despite being on the outside looking in for the College Football Playoff.
The ultimate goal of 2025 was to make a run, get to 10 or 11 wins, and compete in the College Football Playoff for the first time ever. While the Illini came up just short of that goal, we are still having a great season.
Illinois sits with six wins on the season, with the strong possibility that we get to the nine-win mark by season’s end. We are also about to go to a bowl game for the third time in five seasons under Bret Bielema.
The goals won’t change for 2026 either. Illinois will hopefully be able to compete and get into the College Football Playoff. One way to do that is to land players like TJ Taylor to help bolster the offensive line.
On Monday, Allen Trieu of 247Sports broke the news that Taylor will be taking an official visit to Illinois this weekend. This is massive news considering he is one of the best junior college players in the class of 2026.
College of the Canyons OT T.J. Taylor will take an official to Illinois this weekend, then North Carolina the following.
— Allen Trieu (@AllenTrieu) November 10, 2025
Top ten JUCO prospect per 247.https://t.co/Ol9IYERvB5 pic.twitter.com/oOgcWIinhW
Taylor is a 6-foot-6, 300-pound offensive tackle from College of the Canyons in California. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 4 JUCO player in the class of 2026. He is also the No. 2 JUCO offensive tackle in the country and the No. 2 JUCO player coming out of California.
Numerous teams want Taylor. He has roughly 20 scholarship offers right now, and according to 247Sports, he has been or will be taking five official visits. He already took visits to Arizona and Washington State in June and North Carolina State in October. Taylor will then visit Illinois this weekend and North Carolina next weekend.
All resources need to be dumped into the Illinois football team landing TJ Taylor
The Illinois offensive line will be decimated after the 2025 season. We are losing four starting offensive linemen to graduation, and this includes both of our offensive tackles.
There is plenty of work to do on the offensive line, as the left side is solid, but the entire right side is one of the weakest in the country. Landing a player like Taylor would be the cornerstone in what could be a special position group in 2026.
Bielema needs to put everything we have into landing Taylor. I am not worried about the other three official visits, but it does worry me if Taylor makes that trip to North Carolina. Illinois can’t let this kid leave this weekend without a commitment of some sort. Taylor should be priority No. 1.