Spack confident Illinois State can make a return run to FCS playoffs

Rockford native Brock Spack enters his 17th season at Illinois State. He is the longest tenured head coach in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePisgskin.com)

By Dan Verdun 

While Illinois State returns a large contingent of productive stars on offense, the Redbird defense lacks the similar number of recognizable names.

Yet that doesn’t bother veteran head coach Brock Spack.

“You’re going to see some guys come off our team that you’re going to say, ‘Who’s that guy?’” Spack said of up-and-coming contributors during Monday’s Missouri Valley Football Conference media day in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Spack, entering his 17th season at Illinois State, is now the longest tenured head coach in the MVFC. The former Purdue defensive coordinator under Joe Tiller is the all-time winningest head coach in ISU history.

“We have much better depth in our front seven (than a year ago),”  Spack said. “In our system, we activate different guys to rush the passer so we have multiple guys that can get to the quarterback.”

All this gives Spack confidence for a followup to last year’s team that won 10 games and advanced into the second round of the FCS playoffs.

“I think we’re better than we were a year ago, and we’ll see,” he said. “We’ve got some pieces to the puzzle that are here. I think we built on that too, and we built off those areas. We have a little more depth than we had a year ago.”

League voters also have confidence in Illinois State. The Redbirds were predicted to finish fourth in the MVFC preseason poll. The last time ISU was picked that high was 2019, a season that featured a playoff berth.

Defensive anchors

Travis Niekamp returns for his eighth season as Redbird defensive coordinator. The Stevens Point, Wis., native was an Illinois State defensive lineman (1994-97) who has coached nearly every position group in his career, one that started at ISU under Todd Berry in the late 1990s.

“It’s really nice having that stability,” defensive lineman Jake Anderson said. 

Anderson also attributes his success to position coach Ben Black.

“I credit a lot of what I can do now to him,” the Durand High School graduate said.

Linebacker Tye Niekamp, the son of Travis, led Illinois State in tackles (112) in 2024 and returns for his junior season. Niekamp was named as a Stats Perform Preseason All-America selection. 

Anderson, a redshirt junior, is the Redbirds’ second-leading returnee in tackles (59). He and Niekamp each collected three sacks a year ago.

“For me personally, this is the best group of pass rushers I’ve played with since I got here,” Anderson said. “We’re probably three deep at any spot with our pass rushers. I feel pretty good about that.”

However, Anderson and Niekamp are the only returnees among the team’s top 12 tacklers from 2024. ISU was hit hard by graduation and the transfer portal. In fact, the Redbirds’ starting secondary from last fall has been replaced.

Defensive lineman Nick Kessler and linebacker Reese Edwards are other returnees. The pair registered 29 and 28 tackles, respectively, last season.

Fourteen ISU players landed on the MVFC preseason players to watch list: Anderson, Kessler, Niekamp, DB Shadwel Nkuba, LS Dylan Calabrese and P Hayden Futch on defense. QB Tommy Rittenhouse, RB Wenkers Wright, TE/FB Scotty Presson Jr., TE Javon Charles, OL Jake Pope, OL Landon Woodard, WR Eddie Kasper and WR Daniel Sobkowicz were recognized on offense.

Illinois State last made consecutive playoff appearances in 2014 through 2016.

ISU opens its 2025 season with an Aug. 30 game at FBS Oklahoma.

Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.

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