Football

Illinois Football Injury report prior to matchup vs Indiana Hoosiers

How Healthy is Illinois Football heading into Indiana week?

Published

9 hours ago

September 15, 2025

Kirkland Chappell

Credit: Alex Kyi - Armchair Illini

Following a 38-0 win over Western Michigan, Illinois Football (3-0) now turns its attention to a huge Week 4 road test against Curt Cignetti and the 19th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers. Despite the shutout looking dominant on paper, the performance itself was far from flawless for Bret Bielema’s 9th-ranked Illini. A sluggish start out of the gates, shaky offensive line play, and some key injuries left some lingering concerns as the team heads into a pivotal stretch with conference play set to begin.

Indiana (3-0), meanwhile, coming off a 73-0 victory over Indiana State, enters riding the momentum wave of last year’s 11–2 campaign and College Football Playoff appearance. Undoubtedly, Cignetti is quickly building the Hoosiers into one of the Big Ten’s and the nation’s most prominent risers. Add in a sold-out crowd and a primetime (6:30) kickoff for Saturday, and the Illini will be walking into one of the toughest road environments they’ll face all season. With Illinois still harboring College Football Playoff aspirations, dropping an early Big Ten game could certainly be a costly setback for those hopes.

All considered, the Illini must improve their opening rhythm and come out of the gates swinging in Bloomington. Maybe even more importantly, they’ll need their veteran leaders healthy to have a chance at an underdog victory on the road.

Luckily, on the health front, early reports from Bret Bielema are encouraging, and it appears several key contributors are poised to return for Illinois in Week 4.

Illinois Football receiver Justin Bowick.

Credit: @IlliniFootball. Instagram.

Illinois Football Week 4 Injury Report – Per Bret Bielema

According to Bielema, a couple of key impact starters will make their way back onto the field in week 4, after taking some time to heal following some bumps and bruises at Duke.

“Aidan Laughery (Junior RB) should practice tomorrow. If not, he should be tomorrow or good to go by Wednesday,” said Bielema. “Dylan Rosiek, almost the same thing. I just met with Dylan about a half hour ago. Seemed to be excited.” No doubt, having your starting running back and a defensive captain back in the lineup is a huge boost for Illinois as they head into a tough road trip.

In addition, Bielema offered an update on another guy who has been battling to get himself back onto the field as well, after struggling with a nagging hamstring injury.

“Jaheim (Clarke – Junior DB) felt a lot better running yesterday. So, there’s a good chance of him being out there.” (Vs Indiana).

As for some highly anticipated names that were sidelined against Western Michigan, Bielema had positive news overall.

“Xavier Scott, all the X-rays were normal. So, he might be sore tomorrow, but I would expect him to practice on Wednesday or Thursday.” In addition, Bielema updated on the Illini’s leading scorer in the wide receiver unit. “Justin Bowick, all the X-rays were negative (of any serious injuries). So, got a good chance for him to be out there Saturday as well.“

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Kirkland Chappell

Kirkland is an expert source for Illinois athletics news. He is the lead Football analyst at Armchair Illini and has been featured in top media publications like Bleacher Report, Yard Barker, Autograph, Newsbreak, CBS Sports and more.