2024 ILLINOIS FOOTBALL TOP 40 STUDENT SECTION PRESEASON RANKINGS

Off front, MidSouth, Previews, Student Section Buzz,

In 2015, yours truly began covering Student Sections in Orange County, California. We expanded to Southern California in 2017 and in 2021, we added four more states and added 15 more states. We went to 40 states two years ago.

We went to all 50 states in winter of 2023. No one has ever done that before…until now!

This is still a one-man operation for the most part, but we have some help with some partners on Instagram like OC Student Sections, Stadium Geeks, Maryland Student Section Rater, NorCal Student Sections and many more.

I know that Student Sections have a lot of work to do to get the students to the games to cheer on their classmates and go along with the theme and make sure they don’t cause trouble. These student sections deserve recognition.

We will kick off the Student Section season with Preseason Football Student Section Rankings. REMEMBER, this is a PREVIEW. It is merely a prediction. The real rankings come out in November or December. 

If you feel your student section isn’t ranked high enough or not ranked at all, let us know and we’ll keep a close eye on them.

Every week, we will also have Student Section of the Week for each state. Once you win Student Section of the Week, you can’t win it again, but you still have to battle for the top spot in your state and perhaps the Nation as we will also name a Football Student Section National Champion. 

We continue with the 2024 Football Student Section Season with a preview of Illinois.

Perhaps because they’re nearby each other, but I felt Illinois would be just as deep as Ohio, but we still have a hard time trying to get the attention of this state and hopefully this fall, we get that attention.

Last Football season, we had the St. Charles North Blue Man Group as the top Football Student Section in Illinois. The Blue Man Group social media game has gotten stronger since they took the title and it is looking like you have to go through SCN BMG to take the title!

In each state, we will name one student section to look out for. A student section that doesn’t get talked about a lot by us or others and for Illinois, we have to go with the Prospect Underground. The Underground had a down year last year or they had a good year, but didn’t document it on Instagram. They showed off their Student Section last season and I feel that this will be a big year for the Underground.

Will the Underground take the top spot in the state or will the Blue Man Group take another one in the Prairie State? Let’s find out.

2024 ILLINOIS FOOTBALL TOP 40 STUDENT SECTION PRESEASON RANKINGS

  1. St. Charles North Blue Man Group

The Blue Man Group has one of the more consistent social media platforms in this state. We definitely know that they will show off their Student Section more than anyone else. Other Student Sections may do the same this season or perhaps show off something that is second-to-none, but for right now, I’m sticking with the Blue Man Group.

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  1. Lincoln Way West Westside
  2. Leyden Nest
  3. Maine South Hawk Nation
  4. Naperville North Dawgpound
  5. Prospect Underground
  6. Fenwick Friar Nation
  7. Hersey Orange Crush
  8. Wheaton North
  9. Mahomet-Seymour
  10. Lyons Township Weirdos
  11. Bolingbrook Red Zone
  12. Brother Rice Crazies
  13. Batavia Dogpound
  14. Lockport
  15. Edwardsville
  16. Barrington Big Red
  17. Warren Township Blue Crew
  18. Glenbard West Crazies
  19. Collinsville Kahok Krazies
  20. New Trier Green Team
  21. Metamora Birds Nest
  22. St. Rita Stable
  23. Maine West
  24. Richwood Dungeon
  25. Sandberg
  26. Lincoln-Way East
  27. York
  28. Lena-Winslow
  29. East St. Louis
  30. Downers Grove North
  31. Marist
  32. Prairie Ridge
  33. Maine East
  34. St. Francis
  35. Rochester
  36. Cary-Grover
  37. Neuqua Valley
  38. Effingham
  39. Joliet Catholic

HONORABLE MENTION: Mount Carmel, Carmel, Maine South, Hansberry, Providence Catholic