It is going to be fun to see how high Illinois football can go during the 2025 season.
As the Illini enter the new campaign, expectations are through the roof. That doesn’t mean you should be afraid, though. Illinois has a ton of returning talent.
The projected Illinois offensive depth chart has already been laid out. Now it is time to see what we are dealing with defensively. Thankfully, much like the offense, the Illini defense has a lot of familiar names, especially in the secondary.
Here is the Illinois football projected defensive depth chart for the 2025 season
Defensive Line
Starter: Tomiwa Durojaiye
When you need talent who can play right away, you look for transfer portal players who played for big-time programs. That is what happened with Tomiwa Durojaiye.
Durojaiye made stops at Kentucky, West Virginia, and Florida State before finding his way to Champaign. I am not expecting a ton out of him this season, but he is an experienced defensive lineman who can hold the line. His best season came two years ago when he had 23 tackles and 3.5 sacks with the Mountaineers.
Starter: Curt Neal
I have Curt Neal starting alongside Durojaiye. Neal is another transfer who is coming from Wisconsin. He didn’t play all that well last season with the Badgers, but he did see 432 snaps on the defensive line.
That is the type of experience Illinois needed to snag from the transfer portal. Again, I don’t expect the Illini defensive line to be all-world in 2025, but we do have experience. Neal had 29 tackles and 0.5 sacks with Wisconsin in 2025.
Starter: James Thompson Jr.
The last projected starter on the defensive line is, you guessed it, another transfer. James Thompson Jr. has a ton of potential and was a sneaky good transfer portal get for the Illini.
The 6-foot-6, 300-pound senior has the body for the next level, but now he just needs to stay healthy. He missed all of 2024 with an upper-body injury and then transferred from Wisconsin. Thompson is hyped up as a top transfer portal player, and Illinois should be able to use him to get to the quarterback this season.
- 2nd String: Carter Hewitt
There aren’t a lot of extremely talented players on the defensive line, so it wouldn’t shock me to see someone like Carter Hewitt snag a starting job early on and never let go. I have him as the second stringer right now, but he has the talent to move up quickly.
- 2nd String: Gentle Hunt
Gentle Hunt got healthy last season and did some good things for the Illini. He is a nice big body who could end up playing nose tackle. Illinois has decent depth with someone like Hunt as an option in the second unit.
- 2nd String: Jeremiah Warren
Illinois also has experience with Jeremiah Warren. He logged 187 snaps last season on the defensive line, and that experience is going to help greatly in year two. He is someone who will see a lot of snaps in 2025, but look for him to contend for a starting spot.
- Depth: Angelo McCullom, Pat Farrell, Demetrius John, Guillermo Gallardo, Eli Coenen
While I am room temperature on Illinois’ starters on the defensive line, I do like our depth. We have nice rotational pieces, and the depth beyond the second string could have a say in snaps.
- Redshirt: Cameron Brooks, Isaiah White
Isaiah White and Cameron Brooks are the future of the Illinois defensive line. With so many upperclassmen, it would be smart to redshirt them and save a year of eligibility.