Football

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

April 12, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Matt Stevens/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN -- Despite being moved inside last season, photographic evidence has suggested Alex Palczewski has been seeing playing time this spring. These photos provided by the Illinois athletics department suggest the sixth-year veteran is getting looked at again for the right tackle spot at least to avoid an issue if injuries arose in the upcoming 2022 season. It also suggests another obvious idea that was confirmed by the comments following the team’s 10th spring practice of the season.

“Palcho is having a phenomenal spring. He’s probably one of the guys on this roster who is as game-ready as you can be now,” Illinois offensive line coach Bart Miller said Tuesday. “He’s able to move better than he has in a long time and since I’ve seen him. Look, he’s healthy for the first time in a long time. You can see it on the backside cutoff (blocks). You watch the scrimmage and he’s able to get to landmarks now that he was never able to get to last year because of health.”

After trying to quickly recover from a serious knee injury that required reconstructive surgery during the 2020 season, Palczewski started the first seven games of Bret Bielema’s first season as the Illini head coach last season at tackle. It was clear in those seven games that Miller wasn’t thrilled with Palczewski’s lack of explosion coming off this injury and some of what he called “bad habits” he’d learned during his previous years at Illinois that didn’t translate to the fundamentals of what Bielema’s staff wanted to implement.

“Someone has told me that I’m officially the old man now around here,” Palczewski said on March 22. “I already love playing for (Barry Lunney Jr.) because he’s a player’s coach. He looks us in the eyes and tells us what we’re going to do.”

Vanderbilt defensive tackle Raashaan Wilkins Jr., who has one year of eligibility left, announces he’ll be “going home” by transferring to Illinois. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

April 12, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy George Walker IV/Nashville Tennessean)

CHAMPAIGN -- After a long and nationwide journey in his college experience, Raashaan Wilkins Jr.says he’s “going home” with an intention to transfer to Illinois. 

The 6-foot-3, 310-pound multi-year starter at Vanderbilt, who entered the transfer portal in February, confirmed via his Instagram page that he's committed to playing his final season of eligibility at Illinois.

In the last two seasons at Vanderbilt, Wilkins has started 19 of 21 games at defensive tackle and recorded 21 tackles, two tackles for loss. He signed with Vanderbilt out of Monterey Peninsula College in California when Illinois cornerbacks coach Aaron Henry was on the Commodores staff in 2020. When Wilkins arrives for fall camp at Illinois, he’ll be expected to compete for instant playing time at the nose tackle position along with Northwestern transfer TeRah Edwards, senior-to-be Calvin Avery and junior-to-be Verdis Brown. 

Zain Bando, IlliniGuys Student Correspondent

April 12, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, IL – Bret Bielema met with reporters Saturday afternoon in the foyer of the Irwin Indoor Practice Facility to discuss a variety of topics, which included Josh McCray’s growth and development, recruiting, a young offensive line, and Ryan Johnson.

In a lot of ways, Illinois tailback Josh McCray outperformed his own expectations for his freshman season and now, he wants a lot more in 2022. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

April 10, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Harry Figiel/Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN -- In the time period between early August and early September, Josh McCray had doubt - a lot of it. 

As a true freshman tailback prospect and one of the first players signed by then-new Illinois head coach Bret Bielema, McCray still had what he describes as a “voice of doubt” that was telling him all that was unknown about his situation with the Illini. For the first time in his life, McCray was hundreds of miles away from his hometown of Enterprise, Ala. He was behind several experienced players on a depth chart of a Power Five Conference program. Illinois was the only power program who believed he could handle being a tailback at this level of football. 

“I would agree it’s underrated how you question everything about yourself as a first-year guy at this level. I did that,” McCray said. “I mean, I didn’t see myself being the tailback here as a freshman. I think I told people that. I was trying to get on special teams and just keep getting good practice grades when I got chances.”

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Contributor

April 9, 2022

(Cover file photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

What happened last year?

It's hard to believe looking back on things, but when Bret Bielema took over as coach of the Illinois football program the likely options for quarterback in 2021 were Isaiah Williams, Deuce Spann, Coran Taylor and Matt Robinson.  With Robinson's decision to leave the program, none of those players are still in the quarterback meeting room.  Coach Bielema transformed many things about the Illini football program after he took over, but no unit has changed more than quarterback.

When Brandon Peters agreed to return for 2021 and then Artur Sitkowski transferred in from Rutgers, it signaled that the Illini under Tony Petersen were going to focus on pocket passing rather than the athleticism that prior coordinator Rod Smith favored.  Then, Ryan Johnson joined the Illini program from Northern Michigan over the summer and the Illinois had effectively found a 1, 2 and 3 on the quarterback depth chart who all transferred in from other programs.   While this was happening, the Illini had Williams, Spann and Taylor at quarterback for spring practice, but soon thereafter they all saw the writing on the wall and switched to wide receiver, wide receiver, and safety, respectively.  The result was a fairly effective "two headed" quarterback rotation that resulted due to serious injuries to both Peters and Sitkowski. 

Texas Tech graduate transfer defensive end Devin Drew is on the Illinois campus this weekend for an official visit.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

April 9, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Michael C. Johnson/USA Today Sports)

CHAMPAIGN -- Illinois is hosting a Power Five Conference defensive lineman from the transfer portal this weekend. 

Multiple sources close to the Illinois football program have confirmed to IlliniGuys.com that Texas Tech defensive end Devin Drew is on campus this weekend for an official visit. Without naming the prospect, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema confirmed the Illini program is hosting an official visit this weekend and IlliniGuys.com is able to confirm Drew was on the sidelines as Illinois conducted its second scrimmage of the spring season on Saturday afternoon.

Drew, 6-foot-2 and 280 pounds, is a graduate transfer who had 34 total tackles (21 solo) and seven quarterback hurries last season for the Red Raiders.

CHAMPAIGN -- Asking Illinois head coach Bret Bielema about his program's offensive line depth can't come without him mentioning his biggest issue with the local media since he accepted the job in Champaign.
In the third week of October (Oct. 18th to be exact) leading into the game at Penn State, Bielema made this comment about his offensive line depth and the future of that position in the middle of his first season as the leader of the Illini program.
“I don't believe we have a player in the two-deep that they've recruited here over the last three years that is really significantly doing anything for us in the playing department,” Bielema said on Oct. 18. “That's a major concern.”
To this day in April 2022, Bielema still believes, and likely always will feel, that comment was taken out of context and the overall point he was trying to make was after this 2021 season, the experience and talent of that position group is likely to dip after the eligibility of Doug Kramer, Vedarian Lowe, Jack Badovinac and (at that time believing) Alex Palczewski would be running out. This comment by Bielema in mid-October led to him announcing a 2022 signing class less than a month later that included high school signees and two junior college transfers to that position group.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

April 9, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Shaw Local)

Jaydon Wright, a 6-foot-1, 230-pound running back from Kankakee finally took his visit to his home state university after seeing other places in the country.

Wright did a podcast with me (Ked's Recruiting Roundup). He sat there with his brand new orange t-shirt that read FAM1LLY on it grinning from ear to ear. I asked Jaydon why he was so happy.

Jaydon said, "It was awesome today, I could not believe all the great things I saw there today. It was everything I wanted it to be and more."

Why Illinois quarterback Tommy DeVito is constantly being told by new Illini offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. to step up in the pocket instead of scramble sideways. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

April 8, 2022

(Cover file photo courtesy Syracuse Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN -- The concept of stepping up in sports has become such common nomenclature that it’s rare to find the idea not being associated with a cliche. 

However, on the campus of the University of Illinois, whether it be inside Memorial Stadium or in the film room at the Smith Family Football Complex, Illini offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. is constantly heard asking this task get completed in a literal sense with his quarterbacks. 

Following the first spring scrimmage on April 2, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema said one pressing thing they’ve reinforced with all their quarterbacks, especially Syracuse transfer Tommy DeVito is the idea of physically stepping up in the pocket toward the line-of-scrimmage to make a more accurate and consistent pass down the field. 

“We’ve got to make sure he makes all the plays he makes for us and not for them. So, we’ve got to retrain,” Bielema said. “He’s been a guy where at his previous stops he’s kinda been flushed out of the pocket and we want him to step up. It’s been a good learning experience for all of us.” 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

April 7, 2022

(Cover file photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN -- On the eighth practice of the spring season, Illinois was able to welcome back one of their critical personnel pieces of the offensive line in the form of Julian Pearl.

The junior from Danville, who is projected to be slotted in at one of the tackle spots during this upcoming 2022 season, was on the field in full pads Thursday and going through the two-man blocking drills during the open media viewing period. Pearl started five games at guard and five games at tackle in 2021 and is only behind Alex Palczewski in career starts by returning offensive linemen at Illinois.

Pearl had been absent from spring workouts due to an offseason injury in

Pearl was working a two-man blocking drill alongside Isaiah Adams, who is expected to compete for the tackle spot, which will likely be on the left side, that is on the opposite side of Pearl. Pearl, the 6-foot-6, 310-pound former basketball player at Danville (Ill.) High School, was wearing a piece of protective equipment on his left hand that looked very similar to the mitts typically given to baserunners in baseball to avoid them jamming their fingers, specifically a thumb, while sliding into a base.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

April 6, 2022

CHAMPAIGN -- Following Bret Bielema’s debut season, fans of Illinois football clamored for new blood in charge of the offense.

And they got it.

However, lost in the excitement among the hiring of Barry Lunney Jr. to captain an Illinois offense that was dead last in the Big Ten Conference in passing and 112th (among 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams) in total offense was the assumption the scheme definitely, absolutely, for sure had to change.

Hey, it’s not your fault you thought this. It’s a concept that has been brought to the forefront either directly or indirectly from several local media identities not named IlliniGuys.com.

With fear of being considered Captain Letdown of Illini fans want to hear, I have to question the logic in the hypothesis. Based on the intel I’m consistently being told throughout this spring season, Illinois will still be a team based on running the ball (which should come as no surprise considering the depth of talent in the tailback room) to set up a competent passing attack.

Is Illinois ever going to attempt to get close to the Ohio State or Purdue offense by attempting between 38-50 passes per game? No. And with the dearth of talent at wide receiver, why Bielema and Lunney want that? How entertaining would it be to watch Kofi Cockburn miss 80 percent or more of the three-point attempts he tried in games next season? Why try something that would be counterproductive to winning?

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

April 5, 2022

CHAMPAIGN -- For the first time since the two-year period of 2006-07, Illinois has finished dead last in passing offense in the Big Ten Conference in the last two consecutive years.
Enter Barry Lunney Jr. as the new offensive boss this spring and the 47-year-old knows his first objective before the Illini offense arrives back for fall camp sessions.
“Well, we’ve got to get better in throwing and catching, that’s for sure,” Lunney said. “That’s paramount that we do.”
However, Lunney understands this process isn’t a one-day, snap-of-the-fingers operation to turn Illinois into a respectable pass offense compared to the other 13 programs in the Big Ten.
It’s unclear what data or evaluation points Lunney and the Illini offensive staff were able to get from the intersquad scrimmage on Saturday due to the amount of nagging injuries from its veteran wide receivers including Isaiah Williams, Casey Washington and Brian Hightower.
Lunney laid out how he plans to build back the Illini pass game and as simple as this sounds from the Illini offensive coordinator, it starts with being able to consistently complete passes against air - no defense at all.
“One on none. We have to be able to throw and catch in one (wide receiver) on none, right? After that it is one on one. Can we win on a throw and catch with a defensive back charging on the ball?” Lunney said. “Then it’s skeleton (7-on-7) where can we complete a pass without a pass rush? You have to have those building blocks in place before you can expect to go to team (drills) on 11-on-11 with the pass rush and the blitzes and be able to throw and catch.”
Lunney said he was very pleased how the Illini looked in individual drills and 7-on-7 in the pass game Monday in the first practice since the weekend scrimmage but “it didn’t show up in team as much” but he’s encouraged the Illini are slowly building confidence in a relatively new offensive language to learn with a lot of inexperience together at quarterback, wide receiver and tight end.
“I know as simple as this sounds but if we can get better daily on those one on none to keep the ball off the ground, one on one to keep the ball off the ground and 7-on-7 for completions, that’s how you build competency,” Lunney Jr. said. “Confidence in the throw game is everything. We’ve made some strides in that but over these last eight practices, we have to continue to build on all of that through the summer and then in fall camp.”
Lunney Jr. fully explained Monday what Bielema mentioned after Saturday that the coaching staff is trying to get new transfer quarterback Tommy DeVito to step up in the pocket for throws instead of roll wide, which can sometimes change the pocket and make protection issues less severe.
“Our defense and a lot of defenses drop eight in coverage and when that happens as a quarterback your escape patch looks enticing to scramble wide and buy yourself more time for throwing windows and angles to open up,” Lunney Jr. said. “You always going to be better off going up and under all the time. You want to step up because it gives you better fundamentals to make a proficient throw. That’s not just Tommy. That’s any quarterback. We got get better with that for all of our guys to preach to them that good things happen when you step up instead of rolling right or left. That’s just how you’re supposed to play the position.”

Watch Illini quarterback Artur Sitkowski, defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, […]

Illinois’ first spring scrimmage was dominated by young players and backups as Bielema held out several key players with nagging injuries.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

CHAMPAIGN -- Instead of just retelling what Illinois head coach Bret Bielema said happened during the team’s closed scrimmage to serve as the sixth spring practice inside Memorial Stadium Saturday, IlliniGuys.com decided to make some phone calls in order to get a sense of what actually happened on that day. I’m told they call that the difference between reporting and stenography and on this site, we like to do the former to give you, the loyal consumer, more access than what you might find elsewhere. 

The one major takeaway was this scrimmage wasn’t actually a scrimmage at all but should be described as first and second down work for both sides of the ball. The structure was designed for the newcomers, young players and players lower on the depth chart to have success. This is something Bielema did in the 2021 fall camp when the Illini “scrimmaged” twice before going into the season opener vs. Nebraska. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bielema elected to have no part of Saturday’s session be open to the media so IlliniGuys.com was not able to personally verify any of the leaked information from the scrimmage or practice session. 

Here are some quick notes:

The first noteworthy item of Saturday’s action is the amount of inactive players who will be significantly counted on talent for the upcoming 2022 season.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting 

April 4, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Richard Luecke Hudl page)

Richard Luecke, a 6-foot-6, 325-pound offensive lineman from Rocky River, Ohio, made the visit to Champaign to check out the Fighting Illini as the Illinois coaching staff is now starting to get several outstanding recruits on campus.

IlliniGuys caught up with Luecke to see how his visit went at Illinois.

"I went to their practice, toured the campus and football facilities; it was awesome," Luecke said.