5 burning questions for 2025: Illinois State edition

Running back Wenkers Wright rushed for more than 1,100 yards this fall after starter Mason King went down with a knee injury in the season opener. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)

By Barry Bottino

A 10-win season. A return to the FCS playoffs for the first time in five years. Postseason All-America honors for Keondre Jackson and Tye Neikamp.

All of those things made 2024 a success for Illinois State and 16^th-year head coach Brock Spack.

The Redbirds navigated their way through a barrage of injuries, most notably to three preseason All-Americans — running back Mason King, offensive lineman Hunter Zambrano and linebacker Amir Abdullah.

They did it with a quarterback starting his first full season, a running back who had only 32 carries the previous year and a defense that made opponents just keep snapping the ball, as is its mantra.

How do the Redbirds ensure they return to the playoffs and avoid slipping back into what was the longest postseason drought of Spack’s tenure in Normal?

In part, it will take a retooled defense, a continuation of their success on the road and more of the same from their hyper-productive receiving corps.

The 2025 schedule is markedly different. This fall, Illinois State (10-4) beat only one team that finished with a winning record – first-round FCS playoff opponent Southeast Missouri. They shined on the road, winning six consecutive games at one point.

Next season, the road gets harder. Back on the schedule are two teams ISU missed in the unbalanced 2024 slate in South Dakota and South Dakota State, who are currently in the FCS semifinals. Both of those games next fall are on the road.

ISU’s four losses this fall – to FBS Iowa, along with North Dakota State, Missouri State and UC Davis – were by a combined 128 points.

Closing the gap against the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s top teams is a priority.

Here are five burning questions the Salukis face heading into 2025.

How deep are the losses on defense?

When the Redbirds next take the field in late August at FBS Oklahoma, the defensive unit will look quite different.

Gone will be eight of this season’s top 12 tacklers, including honorable mention FCS All-America safety Keondre Jackson (99 tackles).

Linebackers Lavoise-Deontae McCoy (107 tackles, 10 tackles for loss) and Amir Abdullah (30 tackles, 6.5 TFLs in seven games) departed to seek professional football opportunities. Jalan Gaines ended his career with 24 starts and team highs of 12.5 TFLs and 5.5 sacks in 2024.

Along with Jackson, gone from the defensive backfield will be fellow starting safety Dillon Gearhart, reserve safety C.J. Hodgdon and backup cornerback Nigel White. Redshirt freshman CB Paul Omodia left via the portal.

Up front, the Redbirds lost rising defensive end Steven Curtis to FBS Minnesota via the transfer portal.

The most experienced returning players will be defensive tackle Jake Anderson and cornerback Mark Cannon Jr. (23 starts each) and honorable mention All-American linebacker Tye Niekamp (19).

What changed ISU’s two-quarterback system to start the season?

Two words: Tommy Rittenhouse.

The junior put together an impressive season that turned what started as a two-QB system with Kansas State transfer Jake Rubley into a one-horse race.

How impressive, you ask?

Rittenhouse produced a combined 3,320 yards (2,840 passing, 480 rushing) and 25 touchdowns (17 via the air, eight on the ground). That’s the best production for an Illinois State quarterback since Tre Roberson’s 4,250 yards and 41 touchdowns in 2014, when the Redbirds played in the national championship game.

Rittenhouse completed 66.4% of his passes and was the team’s second-leading rusher. He posted seven games with at least a 70% completion rate and had five games with more than 40 rushing yards.

In four of the past five fall seasons entering 2024, a transfer started at quarterback. The Redbirds missed the playoffs in all of those seasons.

Western Illinois head coach Joe Davis, a longtime quarterback coach and play caller, offered this assessment of Rittenhouse before the 2024 playoff opener against SEMO: “Tommy is a cool story in that he was recruited to Illinois State, he stayed and served as a backup and stepped in and played a little as a young guy. Now he has really embraced being a starting quarterback. He’s gotten better and better every single week. He doesn’t make many errors.”

How can ISU make the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since 2015-2016?

So much has changed since the Redbirds last made the playoffs in consecutive seasons.

The transfer portal has arrived with a flourish, giving players more choices and opportunities to move. Name, Image and Likeness has provided student-athletes a way to earn money, and in some cases allowed the rich programs to get richer.

The COVID-19 pandemic threw rosters into a frenzy and created sixth-year seniors galore.

But all of those things are no longer new. They’re today’s reality.

ISU has the opportunity to restock its roster and quickly rebuild position groups, such as at safety and linebacker, where key contributors Keondre Jackson, Amir Abdullah and Lavoise-Deontae McCoy are all departing.

The Redbirds also will be without Zambrano, who departed for Texas Tech via the transfer portal.

This is a unique time in college athletics. Much more time is spent re-recruiting players on your own roster. That has to be balanced with selling high school players on your vision and courting athletes at need positions from all NCAA divisions.

The bottom line will be building a roster that can challenge a 2025 schedule that includes three of this season’s FCS semifinalists (North Dakota State, South Dakota and South Dakota State).

Can an already strong receiving corps do even more?

Sixteen different players caught a pass this season, but three players made the passing game go – let’s call it the “1-2 (and 13) punch.”

Newcomer Xavier Loyd, a transfer from FBS Kansas State who wears No. 1, was a strong addition, grabbing 66 passes for 912 yards and six TDs. In 10 of ISU’s 14 games, he had at least one catch of 20 yards or longer.

Junior Daniel Sobkowicz, who wears No. 2, battled through early season injuries and roared through the postseason run with four 100-yard games in the final five weeks of the season. His 80 receptions and 1,108 yards both led the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

No. 13, aka sophomore Eddie Kasper, bounced back from missing a month with mononucleosis to start the season to post career highs in receptions (59) and receiving yards (511). His connection with Rittenhouse and ability to help ISU extend drives were invaluable this season.

To have all three experienced players back next season is a major plus for the offense’s 2025 potential. Expect even more from an already polished group of Redbird receivers.

What’s next for Mason King and the RB group?

King, who transferred from Northern Illinois, had a breakout 2023 season, rushing for 983 yards and 14 touchdowns.

His first carry of the 2024 season at Iowa turned out to be his last as King sustained a knee injury that led to him missing the entire season.

King was ruled out Sept. 10. He can return next season because he has remaining eligibility, but that will depend on his recovery. On Oct. 30, King posted a message on Instagram, saying in part “adversity shows our true character, and I look forward to proving mine throughout this journey.”

In King’s absence, Wenkers Wright rushed for 1,120 yards and 11 touchdowns, so the Redbirds have a top-flight option should King be unable to return. True freshman Matt Lawson (447 yards, three TDs) opened plenty of eyes and has a bright future.

Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.

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