Illinois HC Bret Bielema talks recruiting, transfer portal: 'Every year is different'

After taking just 10 transfers in 2022 and seven in 2023, Illinois and Bret Bielema embraced the transfer portal in a big way this offseason, taking 13 Division I transfers to complement 20 high school signees.

The fourth-year Illini head coach likes what his team has in terms of experience and depth because of that.

“What the portal has taught you is that we’ve got 17 guys in our room who have started 10 or more games in college football,” he told On3’s Steve Wiltfong on Tuesday at Big Ten media days.

What that means going forward for his roster will be determined on a year-to-year basis, though. Some classes will be heavier on high school prospects who can develop, and others will lean more on experienced players who can contribute right away.

“I don’t think you want to put yourself in a box,” he added. “Every year is different based on the number of players you lose. I think what the portal allows you to do is fill in and stopgap with players that you need at certain positions and that’s what we’ve done.”

Culture, education are still going to be priorities for Illinois

While programs across the country are still figuring out the finer things about portal recruiting and NIL a few years in, Bielema says it hasn’t changed his philosophy on who he wants to bring into his program.

“Whether it’s high school, portal, however they come into our building, it’s about the right players and right people,” he said. “I’m excited about the people we’ve added.”

One thing he prioritizes is players who value the educational opportunity for them at Illinois, as well as what they can do on the football field.

And he believes that’s a strong selling to point to both recruits and transfers.

“The education at Illinois is at a premium,” he said. “I think people lose sight of the fact that in this whole thing that’s happened over the past two to three years, I don’t get a lot of academic questions anymore. But they’re coming here to get an education and play football. And education is always going to a big part of it, as well as the community itself.”

As for NIL, he and his staff have seen major growth over the past year in their players’ ability to get deals. But there’s still room for that to grow even more.

“It’s definitely been a work in progress,” Bielema said. “And I know for us personally, we’ve had a huge jump in the past year in the number of contracts we’ve been able to involve, and the number of players and the figures have put us in a competitive environment that’s much more where we need to be.

… The thing I think we get excited about is this new rule to have revenue-sharing where it’s going to be a mainstream of consistency rather than just decide who has the highest bid. It’s hopefully going to streamline that and make it all competitive.”