Bret Bielema has had a busy week of media appearances on radio stations and television appearances. Early in the week, the Illini head football coach made appearances on 101.1 ESPN Radio in St. Louis and 670 the Score in Chicago.

On Wednesday night at Papa Del’s Pizza, Bielema and Illinois radio play-by-play man Brian Barnhart had the first Bret Bielema Show for Illini fans to listen to across the state, and on Thursday is all came to a culmination when Bielema appeared the noon SportsCenter for a brief conversation with Matt Berry.

“The name of the game is recruiting,” Bielema said on Thursday in his final press conference before the Illini kickoff against Nebraska in Saturday. “That’s probably what drives my decisions to do media more than anything.”

Bielema said that he will make sure recruits see his SportsCenter appearance on social media, but the media appearances have also given him an opportunity to get in front of a national audience and create discussion about his program.

“I know there is no more water coolers in this world we are in, but to have that water cooler talk in their place of work,” Bielema said. “They can sit around their buddies. They can be in Chicago and have four Illini grads talking a little smack, some Nebraska guys, Michigan guys, Michigan State, Ohio State and Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, whatever it is. They are all in there throwing around some smack talk and I think that is a festive thing for all of us.”

Two weeks ago, Illinois football practiced in front of more than 400 boosters sitting in the north end zone of Memorial Stadium. After the practice, head coach Bret Bielema had an opportunity to speak with many of the fans sitting in the bleachers about the direction of his program, and why they should continue to donate their dollars to Illini athletics.

What Bielema didn’t expect to happen was for members of the crowd to come and speak with him afterward about a personal connection they had to the new Illini head coach, a native of Prophetstown, Illinois.

One fan said they had played golf with Bielema’s uncle and another told a story about how they were related to one of Bielema’s grade school teachers. Bielema admits that coming back to his home state has come with many advantages, but even he has been surprised by some of the support he has received since taking over the Illini program on Dec. 19.

“To be in Champaign-Urbana and to have people come up to you when you are out, and again we haven’t lost a game yet, but there is so much positive,” he said.

On campus, there is a new buzz surrounding Illinois football, something that hasn’t existed since the 2016 season, when Lovie Smith was starting his Illini tenure. Chase Rainwater, a senior, grew up in Bloomington, Illinois, attending Illini football and men’s basketball games. He admits that he is a bigger Illini basketball fan than football fan, but Bielema has him excited about the direction of the Illinois football program.

“I think he’s just got the character that you want in a coach,” Rainwater said. “You can tell that he cares about the university, cares about his players and the fans. He appreciates the opportunity that he’s got ahead of them.”

Last Friday, Bielema got his first opportunity to directly connect with Illinois students at “Sights and Sounds,” an annual tradition that brings the freshman class inside Memorial Stadium. The freshmen are taught the fight song and other Illini cheers. Later in the night, Bielema and two of his players, Blake Hayes and Tony Adams, were given an opportunity to speak.

“Everybody was wearing orange,” Bielema said. “It was just one of those moments that you knew how special this could be.”

With more than 8,000 kids sitting on the west side of Memorial Stadium, it was the largest crowd of people inside the stadium since 2019 when Illinois concluded their regular season against Northwestern.

“I think to see the energy in the crowd, to see the mindset and moment like I did, it had been a year since they had seen the stadium like that,” Bielema said. “The whole bottom level, 8,000 people, were there.”

Rainwater works in the Illinois ticket office as a part-time employee, so he gets a front-row seat at the ticket sales that Illinois has for different sporting events. He has seen an increase in demand for tickets this season, and specifically for the season opener against Nebraska on Saturday.

“There’s quite of excitement for that first game,” he said. “Lots of Nebraska, fans will be there because they travel well and Bielema, he’s already been in the Big Ten, so people want to see how he does with Illinois.

“A lot of students are calling on tickets. You’re always going to have the freshmen that want to go to games right away, but just talking to people around the school and my friends and family members, and people around there, they’re really excited to come down and enjoy the game day atmosphere.

Illinois hasn’t experienced a sell-out crowd at Memorial Stadium since 2016 when the Illini hosted the North Carolina Tarheels in Lovie Smith’s second game with the Illini. Illinois lost that day 48-23.

While Illinois isn’t expecting a sell-out for the season opener, they are expecting a larger than normal crowd at Memorial Stadium. Bielema has routinely said that he would like to see Memorial Stadium sold out for the season opener.

“If you are sitting at home and trying to decide if you want to come to the game on Saturday or watch on TV, come help us,” he said. “Having that stadium full on Saturday is a huge, huge, huge opportunity for this program.

“I just want to fill this stadium. I understand people don’t put money and support into something they don’t believe in. I want to show them what they can believe in and that’s something that I hope will continue to grow as we get closer to kickoff.”

Many college football coaches probably don’t care too much about the uniforms or helmets that their team wears, but Bielema made it a point of emphasis in his early days with Illinois.

Trent Chestnut is in charge of the Illinois football equipment room and had a meeting with Bielema back in December shortly after the head coach was hired. Bielema wanted to get a better understanding of the uniforms and helmets that Illinois had and wanted to ask a couple of questions.

After their conversation, Bielema decided that he wanted a helmet that connected previous Illini helmet designs and something that also looked more modern.

“Love the helmets of the past, with things that had been established and things that I had seen, was some striping down the middle of the helmet,” Bielema said. “It makes it pop a little bit. I love the block I, and that made us go to the block I with the white trim. The white facemask was something that I just kind of asked when it transitioned out of that, because I remembered playing and coaching against Illinois, the white facemask and how much it popped.”

Bielema continued to say that he wasn’t able to work directly on the uniforms that Illinois will wear this season because of contractual agreements with Nike, the Illini’s longtime uniform supplier.

However, Bielema was able to make a small tweak to the pants Illinois will wear this season.

“Put the block I on there with the trim,” Bielema said. “I think it really dressed up the uniform.”

Illinois will wear white gloves, socks and cleats this season and will also wear white compression arm and leg sleeves to accent the white on the helmets.

“I gave it (the uniform) to them (the players), but they have to represent it,” Bielema said. “They are going to go out on the field and hopefully make everyone understand what that uniform represents.”

One thing that’s very clear about Bret Bielema is how much attention to detail he places on everything in his program, including the pregame routine that his team will go through this season.

Illinois announced earlier this week that the Illini Walk through Grange Grove will be altered this season. Instead of walking down First Street, the team will be dropped off outside the entrance to Grange Grove and then walk up towards the Red Grange statue before entering the stadium.

Prior to the Illini walk though, Illinois will go through a pregame team meal about four hours to kickoff.

“One of my favorite moments is to allow one of our players or coaches to give thanks,” Bielema said. “I kind of rotate it because I want to hear different people that say things, and I want to hear different things. It’s usually someone who is pretty faith-driven, and I love to hear what is coming from their heart. That’s always a special moment.”

After the game, Bielema likes to keep his locker to just the player and coaches because he treats it as a sacred moment.

“That’s a special moment because we are only guaranteed so many opportunities,” Bielema said. “I think those moments after a win are very, very special. I don’t know if that’s going to happen on Saturday, but those are things I look forward to.”