Brad Underwood spoke with local media on Monday as offseason workouts officially kicked off in Champaign ahead of the 2025-26 season. He provided multiple updates on players, personnel and general thoughts on the upcoming year. Here are five of the most important takeaways from what he shared.

Ty Rodgers needs knee surgery

The most shocking development to come from Underwood is that redshirt junior guard/forward Ty Rodgers is “out indefinitely.” Rodgers sustained a knee injury while playing pickup in his home state of Michigan, and he will need surgery. Underwood did not say what type of knee injury it is or the severity of it, but the fact that Rodgers needs surgery is not a good sign.

“We’ll know more as that process goes on,” Underwood said. “He’s right now still in Michigan.”

Rodgers made the decision to return to Illinois next season after redshirting last year, just a season removed from being a starter on the 2024 Elite Eight team. It remains to be seen if Rodgers will be back on the court at the beginning of the season, or if he will miss significant time during the 2025-26 campaign. Either way, it is a major setback for Rodgers, who was expected to bring strong rebounding, athleticism, defense and a very experienced voice to the Illini this season.

“There’s no doubt it’s tough for him,” Underwood said. “You redshirt, you put in a lot of work. When you’re an ultimate competitor like him, there’s going to be some challenges in front of him. He’s been in good spirits and handling it the best he can. We’ll get him back here. It’ll be as soon as we can get him under our medical care, and get him part of readjusting with this group.

Camryn Crocker will take on defensive coaching role 

A relatively important change is happening on the defensive side of Underwood’s coaching staff. Assistant coach Zach Hamer will no longer handle the defensive responsibilities at Illinois. Instead, newly hired assistant coach Camryn Crocker will take over that role this season.

“He’ll handle a lot of things on the defensive side,” Underwood said. “We’ve made some staff adjustments in terms of moving some people around. … Really excited about what Cam can bring, not only recruiting wise, but especially on the court. Some different ideas. He’s a very very good defensive mind.”

Hamer will remain an assistant but move to a different role that seems to be tailored toward more general support of the program and its needs.

“Zach, who does a phenomenal job with us, moves into a  new position for us in terms of helping streamline all of our offseason workouts, our individual workouts, coordinating a lot with Fletch (head strength coach Adam Fletcher) on those things,” Underwood said. “Zach’s also going to help in a lot of specialty areas. A lot of specifics. Handle a lot of the analytic piece to both (offense and defense) and communicate with me directly on both sides of it. A little more than maybe just being focused on the defensive side as he was a year ago.”

Other notable additions to the staff include former graduate assistant John ‘JC’ Keller in a video role and former walk-on guard Keaton Kutcher as the assistant strength coach.

Europeans still in process to join team

Just like last season, when now NBA-bound guard Kasparas Jakučionis and junior center Tomislav Ivišić took some time to get stateside and join the team, multiple players are facing similar scenarios this summer.

Junior center Zvonimir Ivišić, as of Monday, was still going through the official admissions process with the University after transferring from Arkansas. He is in Champaign though, and Underwood was certain he would be on the floor relatively quickly.

“Z is here, but Z did not workout (Monday),” Underwood said. “He’s going through the final steps of getting admitted to school here at Illinois.”

In terms of the two players coming to Illinois from overseas, forward David Mirković and guard Mihailo Petrović, the process is more complicated. The addition of Petrović has not yet been officially announced by the Illini, so Underwood could not comment on him specifically. Mirković, however, is still in the early stages of the process with the University, and that needs to be finished before he goes around to getting a student visa.

“It hasn’t gotten to a visa,” Underwood said. “It’s just all a matter of now stuff with the University. They have to get an I-20 issued before they can go get their visa. We’re getting closer to that, but it’s the internal process that needs to happen first.”

Both Mirković and Petrović are considered freshmen as of now, but they have professional experience, so their eligibility will likely be reviewed by the NCAA. Tomislav Ivišić was in the same situation last season, and he was ruled to have sophomore status in his first season of college basketball. That process should happen after both players get stateside and join the team.

Retention is key to success

Last season, Illinois returned just 2.2% of its scoring from the 2023-24 roster. However, the 2025-26 Illini will be in a much different position, returning 41.3% of their scoring from the 2024-25 season. That includes two of the team’s best players last season, Tomislav Ivišić and senior guard Kylan Boswell, along with key role players in junior wing Jake Davis and graduate student forward Ben Humrichous.

“You’re not going to see us in any portal rankings because we only have two (transfers), and that’s a great thing,” Underwood said. “You can give me guys in retention all day long, and I’ll take them. You just see it out there day one. We were just laughing about Tomi a year ago compared to Tomi today, and it’s night and day.”

Redshirt freshman Jason Jakstys, now injured Rodgers and senior guard AJ Redd round out the returning group of players. Having so many returners and an older group overall should help the Illini avoid some of the growing pains they faced last year when most of the team was brand new and much younger. Continuity and retention also help with the culture, which helps the new players get acclimated to the program and its expectations quicker.

“It’s nice to have guys that know what we do instead of having to teach a whole group of guys what we do,” Underwood said. 

Hard schedule is intentional

Illinois has had a tough non-conference schedule the past couple of seasons, and this season will be no different. As of now, Illinois has matchups set against Texas Tech at home on Nov. 11, at the United Center against Alabama on Nov. 19, at Madison Square Garden against UConn on Black Friday and in Nashville against Tennessee on Dec. 6.

“Still trying to complete a schedule that we think will be one of the toughest we’ve ever played, one of the most demanding we’ve ever played,” Underwood said.

All of those teams have been at the top of the college basketball world in recent years, and Underwood is doing his best to play as many tough games as he can early in the year to make his team better.

“I would prefer to play as many hard games as we can,” Underwood said. “I think the model’s proven that they sure don’t hurt you. You’re only going to get hurt when you play too many buy games or lose one. I think the players want to play in those games.”

@sahil_mittal24

[email protected]