Notes From Bret Bielema's Thursday Zoom Media Conference
Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer
September 30, 2021
Bielema announces former Illini football player/current NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins will be the honorary captain for the game Saturday vs. Charlotte.
Illini Film Review - Game 5 at Purdue
Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer
September 30, 2021
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Several weeks ago, Illinois offensive coordinator Tony Petersen expressed how his team’s offensive line was a bit physically undersized but that wouldn’t completely compromise his intent to the running game.
Recruiting: 2023 Power Forward Owen Freeman updates his recruitment
Owen Freeman is a 6-foot-9, 220-pound power forward from Bradley, Illinois, who picked up an Illinois offer early this spring. The rising star big man has already visited the Illinois campus in early June. Freeman is a very important recruit for a lot of schools, not just Illinois. But the Illini are looking to add some more size to the program and Freeman would help fulfill that need.
The State Farm Redemption
By now, most know the tale told in the classic movie 'The Shawshank Redemption'. Banker Andy Dufresne is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and endures 20 years of torture behind the walls of a Maine prison for a crime he vows he didn't commit. All the while, he's patiently tunneling through the wall, literally scooping out handfuls of rock at night and gradually dumping them bit by bit in the prison yard by day, right under the watchful eye of the prison's guards.
The final leg of Dufresne's genius escape is told wonderfully by fellow prisoner Ellis "Red" Boyd and it's a line as popular as the movie itself: "Andy crawled through 500 yards of (deleted) smelling foulness I can't even imagine, or maybe I just don't want to!" Illini basketball coach Brad Underwood certainly wasn't in prison, but he had to have spent many a moment in the spring and summer months thinking that things around him didn't smell right. It was a 90-day period that was the foulest in program history and, as its leader, Underwood was stuck in the middle of it and there was no escape plan. Angry parents, a shocking transfer, a fleeing staff, an indecisive superstar, a restless and critical fan base...
Recruiting: Q & A with 2024 SG Tre Johnson
The class of 2022 is not complete and the Fighting Illini have started to work the class of 2023 very hard to stay ahead of the game. Now it is time to work on several of the 2024s. Tre Johnson is a 6-foot-5, 180-pound shooting guard from Dallas.
Bielema Attempting to Sell Close Losses as “actually a step in the right direction”
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- For the first time in his 281st day as the head football coach at the University of Illinois, Bret Bielema began pivoting to sell moral victories.
On Sept. 27, 2021, just two days removed from his team’s fourth straight loss and only the second time in his head-coaching career he’s lost that many in a row, Bielema began his attempt to inform an impatient fan base on the small progress he’s seeing on the field.
Bielema Gives Uncommitted Answer Whether Illini Will Change QBs
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COLUMN: Bret Bielema Told Everybody Who He Was & Illini Fans Didn’t Believe Him
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The Trench Report: Purdue
Steve Sturm, IlliniGuy Football Analyst
September 27, 2021
I'm going to skip over any discussion of decision-making by the head man since that's already been discussed ad nauseum.
Football Recruiting - Illinois eyes another Quad Cities prospect
Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting
September 26, 2021
It has been said more times than not in the past five years: the Quad Cities is starting to become a hotbed for talent in all sports. The football scene is deeper than it has ever been.
Mike Cagley's Heat Checks and Hail Marys - What did we learn from the Purdue loss?
Mike Cagley, IlliniGuys September 26, 2021 The frustration of […]
Bielema's Attempted Justification for 4th-and-2 decision
Illinois head coach Bret Bielema says he would’ve made the same decision to punt with nine minutes left every time.
Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer
September 25, 2021
Illinois at Purdue courtesy Journal and Courier
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Bret Bielema will not apologize or have any regret over his decision to punt on fourth and short from inside Purdue’s 35-yard-line.
Illini waste McCray's big day, defensive effort in 13-9 loss at Purdue
By IlliniGuys.com staff September 25, 2021 West Lafayette, IN […]
In preparation for Purdue’s passing attack, Illinois is back to using Tony Adams as a utility defensive back
The last time Adams’ feet hit the Ross-Ade Stadium grass, he stepped in front of a Plummer pass and walked into the end zone as Illinois cruised to a 24-6 win.
Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer
September 25, 2021
Preview Box: Illinois at Purdue
Date/Time/Place: Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021: 2:30 p.m. CST, Ross-Ade Stadium.
Surface: Grass
Capacity: 57,236
Records: Illinois 1-3 in 2021; 2-6 in 2020; Purdue 2-1 in 2021; 2-4 in 2020.
Betting Line: Purdue by 11.
Series notes: Series tied, 45-45-6. The away team has won seven of the last nine meetings between the two teams.
IlliniGuys - Illinois vs Purdue Predictions
The Illini are coming off of winning 57 minutes […]
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