Illinois football got a rough early read from The Athletic, and the preseason All-Big Ten teams put the Illini at the very bottom of the conference to open 2026.
That stings a little more when you line it up against what Illinois has done lately. The program is coming off back-to-back nine-win seasons, and the 2024 campaign delivered 10 wins for the first time since 2001. None of that mattered in Sunday’s preseason breakdown, though, because The Athletic looked ahead and saw a roster it clearly wasn’t eager to load up with honors.
The publication released three All-Big Ten teams, and Illinois managed just one selection across the entire list. Defensive back Xavier Scott was the lone Illini to make the cut, landing on the preseason second team. That comes with a bit of a twist, too, since Scott played only three games last season before an ankle injury ended the rest of his year.
At the top of The Athletic’s quarterback discussion, Ohio State’s Julian Sayin was chosen over Oregon’s Dante Moore, USC’s Jayden Maiava and Washington’s Demond Williams Jr. for preseason All-Big Ten recognition.
When the full three-team list was sorted out, Oregon led the way with 13 selections. Ohio State followed with 11, and Indiana came in with 10. At the other end, Illinois was one of four programs tied at the bottom with just one player apiece, alongside Purdue, UCLA and Washington.
That’s a jarring result for an Illinois team that has won 19 games over the last two seasons. It doesn’t mean much for what’s coming in 2026, but it does show how little preseason respect the Illini got from this particular ranking.
And there were at least a couple of Illinois players who could have pushed their way onto one of those teams. Collin Dixon posted 35 catches for 548 yards and five touchdowns last season, a line that stacks up reasonably well against USC’s Tanook Hines, who had 34 receptions for 561 yards and two touchdowns.
Ca’Lil Valentine also had a case. He finished with 614 yards and four touchdowns as a rotational running back in 2025, and this is his backfield in 2026. The comparison there pointed to USC’s Waymond Jordan, who had 576 yards and five touchdowns last season.
So while Illinois was treated like a bottom-tier team in this preseason exercise, there’s still a clear argument that more than one Illini was knocking on the door. The rankings may have left them near the basement, but that kind of slight can only add more fuel once the season gets rolling.
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