Patrick Embleton is in his 13th season on the staff at Illinois in 2025 and his second as General Manager. He spent three seasons as Executive Director of Personnel and Recruiting under Bret Bielema from 2021-23 before being promoted to General Manager prior to the 2024 season.
Embleton oversees all personnel efforts for the Fighting Illini, including high school and collegiate transfer recruiting. He manages Illinois’ recruiting team, which coordinates all on-campus admissions for incoming freshmen and transfers; performs preliminary transcript evaluations for those prospective student-athletes; and manages all official and unofficial visits for football recruits. The personnel department serves as football admissions coordinators and works closely with the academics staff in that pursuit, and also works with the compliance staff regarding the recruitability of prospective student-athletes.
Embleton has helped elevate Illinois to new expectations since Bielema's arrival in 2021. The Illini have 28 wins and 18 Big Ten victories since 2021, highlighted by a 10-win season in 2024 that tied Illinois' single-season record for wins. In 2024, Illinois was ranked by the CFP selection committee for a program-record four straight weeks, appeared in 12 AP Top 25 polls, and tied the program record for ranked wins with four. The Fighting Illini capped one of the best seasons in program history by beating #14 South Carolina in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, 21-17, in one of the top bowl game victories in Illinois history.
Embleton has helped bring the Fighting Illini program back to national relevance with continued appearances in the AP Top 25 and College Football Playoff rankings, two New Year’s Bowls, three national award finalists, and 11 NFL Draft picks since 2021. Illinois has had three national award finalists and seven top-100 draft picks since Bielema's arrival. Jer'Zhan Newton (2023, Nagurski), Chase Brown (2022, Doak), and Devon Witherspoon (2022, Thorpe) gave Illinois three finalists in National College Football Awards Association awards over a two-year span for the first time since 1994-95, while Illinois is one of five schools with three or more players drafted in the first three rounds in the 2023 and 2024 NFL Drafts, along with Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, and Penn State.
Illinois has seen huge improvements in recruiting results under Embleton's direction. The three-year stretch of recruiting from 2022-24 was Illinois' best since 2007-09 according to 247Sports and Rivals, as Illinois has signed three straight top-50 classes for the first time in 15 years. The 2023 class was Illinois' highest-ranked class since 2009 according to Rivals and highest-ranked since 2011 according to 247Sports, then in 2024 Illinois was one of only six Big Ten teams to add three four-star recruits out of the transfer portal. The Illini also signed back-to-back Illinois Gatorade Players of the Year (WR Hank Beatty, RB Kaden Feagin) for the first time in program history in 2022 and 2023.
Embleton served as Director of Recruiting at Illinois from 2015-20 following a stint as a player personnel/football operations graduate assistant from 2013-14. In that role, he assisted with on-campus recruiting, including scheduling visits and itineraries, scheduling meetings with academic professors, and arranging campus tours. He also coordinated recruiting travel for coaches and served as the program’s liaison for NFL scouts. During his time as a graduate assistant, Embleton helped the Fighting Illini bring in the No. 6 recruiting class in the Big Ten in 2014.
Prior to coming to Illinois, Embleton was the wide receivers coach and assistant academic coordinator at Division III Ohio Wesleyan University. He earned a bachelor of arts in health and human kinetics from Ohio Wesleyan in 2012 and was a four-year starter at tight end for the Battling Bishops from 2008-11, earning All-NCAC honors and serving as team captain in 2011.
Embleton and his wife, Jessica, have three children, Isabella, Gibson, and Lenora.
