Upon returning to the University of Illinois, as a second semester freshman in the spring of 1947, Eddleman was immediately issued his Fighting Illini football and basketball uniforms and then flown to Berkeley, California to play in two basketball games prior to the semester commencing. The Fighting Illini played consecutive games against the University of California Berkeley on December 20 and 21. Eddleman followed that trip with another flight, this time to Pasadena to play on January 1 in the 1947 Rose Bowl game. He and his Illinois football teammates beat the UCLA Bruins by a score of 45-14, meanwhile back in Madison, Eddleman's basketball teammates would lose on the same day to the Wisconsin Badgers, the team that would go on to win the Big Ten title. Eddleman returned by train to Champaign, where he joined the reunited remaining group of ""The Whiz Kids"", Ken Menke, Gene Vance, and Andy Phillip as well as All-American guard Walt Kirk on the basketball team to play in a January 4 game against the University of Mexico in which the Illini would win by a score of 94–36. Eddleman was back for the remainder of a season where he would spend most of it as a backup to ""The Whiz Kids"". The Illini would finish with an overall record of 14–6 and a Big Ten record of 8–4, second place in the conference.