The Illinois football season is just weeks away, and we are still trying to figure out who is going to be starting and what the team will look like in 2025.
Thankfully, the Illini kind of know what will be put on the field this season. We return 16 out of 22 starters on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, so that helps fill in a lot of gaps.
One area that is going through a complete makeover is the defensive line. Two seasons ago, Illinois lost an All-American in Jer’Zhan Newton. Last season, we had a serviceable defensive line that did some good things.
Illinois is heading into 2025 with a new defensive line once again. In a post-practice interview on Friday, defensive coordinator Aaron Henry espoused that he thinks the Illinois defensive line could be one of the strongest groups on the team.
Aaron Henry says he thinks the D-line can be one of the strongest groups on the team pic.twitter.com/gYaMZkRSSP
— Glenn Kinley (@glenn_kinley) August 8, 2025
That is a fascinating thing to say. As of right now, I have Illinois’ starting defensive line as Tomiwa Durojaiye, Curt Neal, and James Thompson Jr.
All three players are transfers. Durojaiye came in from Florida State, and both Neal and Thompson played for Wisconsin. But can these newcomers to the program lift the defensive line to great heights?
Illinois’ defensive line being the best group could be great or it could be extremely bad
When I see Henry talk about the defensive line that glowingly, a part of me realizes that what else is he going to say? Is he going to say that the defensive line is awful? No, he is going to give praise and believe in his guys.
But let’s hypothetically say the Illinois defensive line is the best group on the team. On the one hand, that could be great for the program.
If the defensive line is the best group, it could me that they overperformed expectations, and Illinois is locking teams down. This could happen, as all three starters have high level DI experience.
Illinois hasn’t had a shutdown defensive line since Newton, and being able to stop the run and put pressure on the quarterback up the middle would be huge for the Illinois defense.
If Illinois’ defensive line is the best group in a positive sense, then Illinois would have a legit chance to go 11-1 or even 12-0 this season. But what if it is the best group in the negative sense?
If the defensive line for the Illini is the best group, there is a chance that every other position group underperforms. The defensive line is just okay, and every other group struggles. That would lead to some bad games and probably a 6-6 or 7-5 record.
Obviously, we want the good version of the Illinois defensive line to be one of the best groups on the team. That was one of the things we were missing in 2024. If Illinois has a great defensive line in 2025, the sky is truly the limit.