CHICAGO — After losing three-year starting center and two-time team captain Josh Kreutz to graduation, Illinois football went into the transfer portal and tried to fill that significant vacancy in the middle of its offensive line with a proven player.
The Illini certainly landed that in Jake Renfro, who started for a College Football Playoff team (Cincinnati) in 2021 and, when healthy, was a good starter for Big Ten foe Wisconsin. The Mokena (Ill.) native and Providence Catholic graduate also is an Illini legacy as his father, Rick Renfro, played for Illinois and was part of the 1983 Big Ten Championship team that went to the 1984 Rose Bowl.
Yet, that addition could’ve risked losing another Illini offensive lineman to the transfer portal. TJ McMillen was a big early in-state recruiting win for Bret Bielema as the Wheaton (Ill.) St. Francis offensive lineman chose the Illini over several Power Four offers, including Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue and Texas Tech. He waited three seasons behind Kreutz for his chance to start, so the Illini adding Renfro could’ve pushed him away.
Yet, McMillen stayed and chose to battle for a spot into his final two years of eligibility, whether at center or guard.
“Obviously, a big part of it was being from the state of Illinois,” McMillen told Illini Inquirer. “But also a big part of it, no matter what stage of football you’re going to play, high school, college, NFL, you’re always going to have competition, and just because they bring in some competition or bring in someone to play beside you — because at the same time, I’m very versatile, Jake’s very versatile. We can do either [center or guard] — but I don’t want to run away from competition. It’s not who I am. It’s not how my parents raised me. I think that was the biggest thing. I mean, I bleed orange and blue, and it’s in my blood right now, this thing. And how we built this program from where it was to where it is now and the standard we have, it’s a big reason why I stayed.”
Illini Inquirer caught up with McMillen on Wednesday at Guaranteed Rate Field as the redshirt junior center was one of three Illini player representatives at Illini Night at the White Sox game. McMillen discussed his offseason, his increased role, the new-look Illini offensive line and more.
With Jake Renfro out for the spring, you got most of the first-team reps at center during the spring. What was that like of you?
TJ McMillen: “Yeah, it was awesome. I mean, obviously having the mentor that I had in [Josh Gesky] and Kreutz these past three years, I took a lot of things that they did, and I applied it to my game. Kreutz taught me a lot of things in the football aspect, Gesky with mentality and the standard, and I applied it to my game, and you could kind of see it correlate a lot in this spring. I had a phenomenal spring and kind of just excited to keep with the leadership role and see how it keeps going in the summer and fall.”
What has been your experience at guard since you’ve been here and how comfortable are you playing that if the team needs you there?