Bret Bielema is getting Illinois ready for his second season with the program. Ahead of the Week 0 showdown against Wyoming, Bielema met with the media to discuss a number of things.

When it comes to the overall health of the roster, Bielema was pleased with things to open the year. He cited one player likely to help on special teams that might be questionable for the opener but everyone else should be good to go.

“Really, from a health standpoint, just one guy that’s not a starter that would help us on special teams might be questionable thing for the game,” Bielema explained. “Otherwise we’ve very very healthy and excited to go.”

That is certainly good news for an Illini program looking to improve from a 5-7 mark last season. While the talent level of the team has been improved, the overall depth of the roster is still a bit thin in Year 2 of Bielema’s rebuild.

Bielema also announced that Tommy DeVito – the Syracuse transfer – will start the season opener over Art Sitkowski. Overall, Bielema loves the shape the QB room is in entering 2022.