Ty Rodgers starts 2026 with light practice participation

Ty Rodgers underwent surgery on his left knee almost six months ago in July 2025. In a recent media appearance by Brad Underwood on January 7th, 2026, Illini fans received a small, yet positive update regarding Rodgers’ road to recovery. Unfortunately, Rodgers did have another small blip in the road recently as he battled the Flu over the New Year’s holiday.

Underwood stated, “He’s doing some participation in practice, but it’s not full-on stuff in practice yet. So, made some positive gains, and it’s nice to see him out there in a practice jersey and doing certain things. So he’s continuing to gain strength. Obviously, there was atrophy and some of that stuff in the leg. But no one’s working harder than him, and we’ll just keep taking it day by day. But right now it’s nice to see him participating in practice.”

A long journey back.

It has been quite the journey for Ty Rodgers. After starting all 38 games in the 2023-2024 season, Rodgers decided to redshirt the 2024-2025 season to improve different aspects of his game. With Will Riley, Kasparas Jakucionis, and Tre White all in the mix, Rodgers seemed like the odd man out, and it appeared we had seen the last of Rodgers in an Illini basketball uniform. However, Ty chose to continue grinding away and stayed loyal to the Orange and Blue.

It is so unfortunate that Ty had this major knee injury over the summer since he provides the athleticism and defensive versatility that no one on this current roster can provide. It will certainly be difficult to expect Ty to come back this season, given his extended absence from game action. However, Illini fans can all agree that there is no one we are rooting for more than Ty Rodgers.

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