Illinois State quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse leaves some very big shoes to fill for the Redbirds next season. He threw for the most yards and TD passes in a single season by an ISU QB in 2025. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
Editor’s note: This is the fourth of a four-part series on five key questions facing each of the Illinois FCS teams.
By Barry Bottino
Illinois State’s wild, improbable and thrilling run to the national championship game was something Redbird fans will remember for decades.
The only thing it wasn’t – to ISU players and coaches – was a surprise, despite needing four road wins to get there.
“”The road we took was kind of crazy,” All-American linebacker Tye Neikamp said before the title game in Nashville. “We lost some games during the regular season, but when we got the opportunity in the playoffs, we knew we had a chance to win a national championship. We just had to prove it to everyone else.”
After the team’s one-point, overtime loss to Montana State for the FCS title, head coach Brock Spack bristled at fans and media outlets who called his team Cinderella.
“This is a really good football team,” Spack said.
That part was never in doubt.
Regardless of what you choose to call the 2025 version of the Redbirds, what’s next requires examining the road ahead, which includes life without two generational offensive players, the impact of large football-specific donations and much more.
Here are five burning questions facing Illinois State as 2026 begins:
Who’s up next at quarterback?
Two years of Tommy Rittenhouse as the starter provided 22 wins, two playoff appearances, a one-point national championship game loss and numbers that put him in the neighborhood with any Redbird QB great.
What’s next is the biggest question facing this team.
Redshirt sophomore Beckham Pellant, who served as Rittenhouse’s backup, has the most experience in ISU’s offense of any contender. He played in six games during the 2025 season, going 11-for-22 with a touchdown and an interception.
He also famously took every snap for the Redbirds in spring camp as Rittenhouse recovered from surgery last offseason. Pellant’s effort led one teammate to call him a “workhorse.”
The Redbirds also have brought in Dallas native Gage Roy, a graduate transfer who spent the past four seasons at FBS Southern California. His only career pass, however, came on a successful two-point conversion during the 2025 season against rival UCLA.
Of the last three FBS transfer quarterbacks to come to Normal, none of them led ISU to a playoff berth and only two won the starting job.
While Pellant has the inside track because of his knowledge of the offense and experience, Roy’s skill set will be closely watched during spring practice, which begins March 3 and culminates April 11 with the annual spring scrimmage.
After Pellant and Roy, the ISU roster also includes redshirt freshmen Cooper Kmet and Chase Kwiatkowski.
How can the national championship game run move the program forward?
The benefits of the playoff run are numerous. Fans and recruits around the country know about Illinois State and its football program.
Winning sports teams lead to more interest from fans and alumni.
One of the biggest benefits has been a bump in donations. During the playoff run, ISU announced a $2.5 million, football-specific gift from “an anonymous former quarterback.” More social media announcements followed about various donations to benefit football.
ISU social media accounts claimed there would be a “significant increase” in NIL spending and additional money directed toward retaining current staff and recruiting new assistant coaches.
In a sport increasingly ruled by dollars and cents, the financial support is a plus.
Playing in the national championship game and seeing a rise in donations has led some members of the fan base to call for the program to move up to the FBS level. Geographically, the best fit could be replacing recently departed Northern Illinois in the Mid-American Conference.
That level, however, calls for much larger financial commitments.
In 2023, the NCAA adopted rules changing the transition fee for a move to FBS from $5,000 to $5 million.
Beginning in 2027, all FBS schools also will be required to provide 90% of total allowable scholarships over a two-year rolling period across 16 sports, including football. The requirement calls for FBS schools to fund 210 scholarships at an annual cost of at least $6 million.
What positions will undergo the biggest change this offseason?
The Redbirds lose five of their top eight receptions leaders from last season, including record-setting wideout Daniel Sobkowicz (83 catches, 1,141 yards, 19 TDs.) The NFL prospect accounted for nearly half of the team’s receiving touchdowns, 30% of ISU’s receiving yards and 24% of its receptions despite missing two games with injury.
Tight ends Scotty Presson Jr. and Javon Charles had a knack for big catches and logged a combined 44 receptions and six TDs.
Pulling Dylan Lord (74 catches, five TDs) back out of the transfer portal was a big save. Add in speedy Luke Mailander (44 catches, four TDs) and ISU has a good start to its 2025 receiving corps. But adding to this group is a priority.
Defensively, cornerbacks Shadwel Nkuba II (team-high five interceptions) and Cam Wilson (team-leading 14 pass breakups) have exhausted their eligibility while redshirt freshman safety C.J. Richard (three interceptions) departed via the transfer portal to FBS Florida State.
However, the Redbirds were in a similar situation last offseason and needed to replace multiple starters in the defensive backfield.
We all know how that turned out, don’t we?
What can Tye Niekamp do for an encore?
It’s another year, another boatload of accomplishments for Niekamp, who became the Redbirds’ sixth linebacker in 129 years of ISU football to earn first-team All-American honors.
He led the nation in tackles while earning first-team recognition from seven national outlets, including The Associated Press, which is voted on by a nationwide panel, including Prairie State Pigskin.
Niekamp’s presence and instincts on the defense are unmatched.
The next step as a senior could be standing on stage as one of three finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award. Only two ISU linebackers reached that plateau, with Zeke Vandenburgh winning the award in 2022 and Boomer Grigsby finished second, third and second again from 2002-2004.
How soon can Hancock Stadium provide a homefield advantage again?
ISU’s success on the road – specifically its four consecutive wins away from home in the FCS playoffs – was impressive.
But winning at home in 2025 was an unlikely struggle. The Redbirds were 3-3 on home turf, with losses to North Dakota State, Youngstown State and Southern Illinois. All three teams were ranked when they visited ISU, which isn’t unusual in the MVFC.
That marked only the third time in the past 17 seasons that ISU didn’t have a winning record at home.
The playoff run likely will mean a rise in interest locally and regionally, which could bring more fans through the gates and a more daunting home environment.
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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