A quartet of Illinois State football senior standouts head into their final year with preseason accolades, as Drew Himmelman, Romeo McKnight, Devin Taylor and Christian Uphoff were each named to the 2020 HERO Sports FCS Preseason All-America Team announced Thursday.
Illinois State student-athletes set a new semester departmental grade-point average (GPA) record of 3.61 during the Spring 2020 semester, topping the previous mark of 3.31 set during the Spring 2019 semester, and all but two teams beat their previous team GPA records in the latest grade report announced by Assistant Athletics Director for Academics and Life Skills Joe Klausner.
After a 10-5 campaign that culminated in an FCS Playoff quarterfinals loss to the eventual national champion North Dakota State, Illinois State football head coach Brock Spack and the Redbirds are poised for an exciting 2020 campaign.
According to a 2019 NCAA report, Illinois State student-athletes have a 90 percent graduation rate.
How Illinois State University alumni Betsy Jochum ’57 and Paul DeJong ’15 powered into the field of professional baseball.
The Illinois State football team will play at perennial power Oklahoma on September 2, 2023, in Norman, Oklahoma.
The Chicago Cubs selected former Illinois State pitcher Brock Stewart during the Rule V Draft in December.
Former Illinois State baseball star Neal Cotts was one of those student-athletes fortunate enough to land in that two percent. After three stellar seasons on the diamond for the Redbirds, Cotts was drafted No. 69 overall by the Oakland Athletics in the second round of the 2001 draft. He went on to pitch in Major League Baseball with the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins.
The Illinois State women’s basketball team has been named a Play4Kay divisional winner for the fifth year in a row, as the Redbirds raised more money than any other non-BCS Division I school, the Kay Yow Cancer Fund announced Friday.
After not hearing their names called during the 2020 NFL Draft, Illinois State All-Americans James Robinson and Luther Kirk did not have to wait long before getting their shots in the NFL as both quickly agreed to undrafted free agent deals that same evening.
