It wasn’t supposed to be that way. The 2007 Rose Bowl season came at least one year ahead of schedule. 2008 was a disappointing 5-7, but there were a few flukish losses in there, and a couple of solid victories as well. 2009 saw Juice Williams and Arrelious Benn return for what was sure to be their final seasons. The defense was stocked with better athletes than the Rose Bowl team. A low bowl birth was the absolute worst case expectation; another BCS appearance wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility.
Yet Illini fans were quickly disabused of their delusions of grandeur early in a 37-9 loss against Missouri in St. Louis. After a pounding of I-AA Illinois State, the Fighting Illini were defeated soundly in all aspects of the game by Ohio State and Penn State. The game against Michigan State was competitive, but an ill-conceived switch to Eddie McGee stifled the offense. Indiana earned its only conference victory of the year against Illinois, and Purdue rather easily handled them the next week.
That was roughly the script until, well, this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnTlztdYs_8). One goal line stand against Michigan later, and Illinois was at least competitive in their remaining games (if not markedly better at only 2-3). Even BCS-bound Cincinnati struggled to stop the Illinois offense, although the defense continued to struggle.
Juice is now gone, as is Benn. Not gone, surprisingly, is Ron Zook, widely assumed to be on one of the hottest seats in the country. This may be true, but Illinois also went out and signed a pair of hotshot coordinators—Paul “yes that” Petrino and Vic Koenning—to two year deals, and it might be that those two could never have been lured if they weren’t assured of their job for more than a year. The attitude around camp seems to be that Petrino and Koenning are in charge of Xs and Os from here on out; Zook has been “promoted” to master recruiter and motivational guru. We’ll see how that works.
Besides from the Zook chatter, the biggest storyline is the loss of “talent” the Illini have suffered. This is partially true, as the 2009 disaster preceded a wave of defections and transfers from the team. Illinois lacks Big Ten depth, and the two deep has a lot of players that would have to fight for starting positions on MAC teams.
But, interestingly enough, nearly every position on the team has at least one player that could potentially be All Big Ten caliber. On defense, defensive tackle Corey Liuget has thus far lived up to his potential as a high 4 star recruit out of Hialeah, Florida. Sophomore DE Michael Buchanan was also a 4 star recruit. Martez Wilson was a 5 star recruited by most of the schools in the nation; no one really knows what to expect from Wilson after missing all of last season with a neck injury. CB Terry Hawthorne, the hero of the clip above, was was a Parade All-American in high school, and his counterpart Tavon Wilson was one of the better defensive backs in the Big Ten last year.
On offense, redshirt freshman Nathan Scheelhaase takes over the offense. Scheelhaase boasted offers from Oklahoma and several Big Ten schools out of high school. Mikel Leshoure averaged almost seven yards a carry at running back last year. Transfer WR Jarred Fayson failed to provide a spark last year, but he was a five star recruit for Florida, and the talent seems to be there.
Once again, one problem is depth. Another problem is getting those lofty recruiting rankings to materialize; the coaching change might help, but reading tea leaves about overly optimistic spring chatter is dangerous. Illinois might not have the horses to compete against an Ohio State, but they shouldn’t be out-talented by a Northwestern or a Minnesota.
Will that materialize into wins? The schedule starts tough, with the neutral site game against Missouri and a Big Ten schedule opening against Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State. But if Illinois can start 3-3 (wins against Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois, and one of those four teams), 7-5 isn’t completely out of the question, as the season closes with home dates against Indiana and Purdue, a trip to Michigan, home at Minnesota, the Wrigley Field tussle against Northwestern, and a trip to tricky Fresno State. Then again, 3-9 or 2-10 is just as likely, and every team on the schedule is probably penciling in Illinois as a win of their own. The Zook era hasn’t gone according to the script at any point yet though, and Illinois fans are hoping that some of that unpredictability can be harnessed.
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I was thinking the same thing.
Took this thing immediately away from the area of concern.