Illinois center Renfro has landed on the Rimington Trophy Watch List, earning a spot among 40 centers recognized nationally ahead of the upcoming season.
The watch list, built from school nominations and advanced play-by-play grading data, includes 13 players from the Big Ten, the most of any conference. For Illinois, the selection puts a spotlight on a veteran interior lineman whose college career has already taken him through Cincinnati and Wisconsin before arriving in Champaign.
Renfro’s value starts with the kind of experience Big Ten programs covet. Illinois coach Bret Bielema and offensive line coach Bart Miller pursued him in the transfer portal for a reason: he has already been through high-level football and has shown he can handle a heavy workload when healthy.
Back in 2021, Renfro started 13 games as a sophomore for an undefeated Cincinnati team that reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history. He was named First-Team All-AAC and helped anchor the line for the first Group of Five program to make the four-team playoff field.
At Wisconsin in 2024, he again proved reliable. Renfro started all 12 games for the Badgers and gave up just one sack and 10 pressures on 375 pass-blocking snaps, steady work from a player who has shown he can hold up against top competition.
That track record is exactly why Illinois views him as such an important piece up front. The Illini are trying to establish an identity along the offensive line, and Renfro brings both experience and proven production to the middle of it.
Health, though, has been the issue throughout his career. A knee injury ended his 2022 season at Cincinnati before he entered the transfer portal. Then, at Wisconsin, he missed the entire 2023 regular season and returned only for a single start in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
He bounced back for a full 2024 season, but another lower-body injury limited him to four games in 2025. After the season, the NCAA granted him a seventh year of eligibility, and that opened the door to Illinois.
The upside is clear. Renfro has played at a high level, against strong competition, and in big moments.
If he can stay on the field this fall, he has a real chance to be one of the Big Ten’s top centers. The question is whether his body will finally cooperate long enough to let that talent show through.
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Illinois went into the offseason looking for stability in the middle of its offensive line, and Jake Renfro arrives with exactly the kind of rsum that can change a room. The seventh-year senior center transferred in after stops at Cincinnati and Wisconsin, where he showed he could play at a high level while also working through injuries. For a team trying to build something sturdier up front, bringing in a veteran center with that background is a meaningful move.
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The contrast across the league is part of what sharpens Underwoods standing. While a handful of Big Ten programs have dealt with losing records, tournament droughts and broader struggles under recent hires such as Archie Miller, Ben Johnson and Juwan Howard, Illinois has enjoyed stability and success that has kept Underwood in the conversation among the conferences best. For a program that wanted proof it had made the right choice, the early returns have been hard to argue with. [Read more 🡒]