Phall
Master
Illinois made a relative splash by hiring Lovie Smith, who will bring some NFL clout to the recruiting trail. Smith inherits a decent core of white players, so the Illini will be watchable until he can fill the roster with high-upside brothers. Lovie has indeed signed only black players in the 2017 class... except for running back Mike Epstein. So, the future is not actually a 100% black team after all. Illinois should probably finish the season with a winning record, with a big game against North Carolina in Week 2 as the first test.
Quarterback Wes Lunt returns after throwing for over 2700 yards last year. He'll have a couple of lunchpail targets to throw to and a veteran all-white line, although unfortunately phenom receiver Mike Dudek looks lost to injury again this year. The defense should have two white starters including a defensive back, bringing the total to ten overall. That is pretty consistent with previous totals since 2005 of 10, 11, 8, 5, 4, 4, 6, 8, 10, 8, and ten last season.
Starters (and backups) as follows:
QB: Wes Lunt, (Chayce Crouch)
FB: Nate Echard
TE: Tyler White, (Andrew Davis)
WR: (Zach Grant)
LT: Austin Schmidt
LG: Gabe Megginson, (Jordan Fagan)
C: Joe Spencer
RG: Nick Allegretti
RT: Christian DiLauro, (Adam Solomon)
DE: (Henry McGrew)
DT: Rob Bain
MLB: (Mike Svetina)
FS: Taylor Barton
Quarterback Wes Lunt returns after throwing for over 2700 yards last year. He'll have a couple of lunchpail targets to throw to and a veteran all-white line, although unfortunately phenom receiver Mike Dudek looks lost to injury again this year. The defense should have two white starters including a defensive back, bringing the total to ten overall. That is pretty consistent with previous totals since 2005 of 10, 11, 8, 5, 4, 4, 6, 8, 10, 8, and ten last season.
Starters (and backups) as follows:
QB: Wes Lunt, (Chayce Crouch)
FB: Nate Echard
TE: Tyler White, (Andrew Davis)
WR: (Zach Grant)
LT: Austin Schmidt
LG: Gabe Megginson, (Jordan Fagan)
C: Joe Spencer
RG: Nick Allegretti
RT: Christian DiLauro, (Adam Solomon)
DE: (Henry McGrew)
DT: Rob Bain
MLB: (Mike Svetina)
FS: Taylor Barton