In the spirit of
@Freethinker 's appreciation post for Brandon Scherff I wanted to post about Illinois OL Alex Palczewski. He's currently being ignored by the senior bowl, shrine game and thus far no combine invite.
https://247sports.com/college/illin...final-college-game-Illini-football-201581976/
TAMPA, Fla. — Somewhere tucked in a room in Boston,
Alex Palczewski sat down and pondered his future roughly a year ago.
What was his path? The NFL? He had already been in college for a long time. Like, a
long time. That road was more than fair. Expected, really. But the opportunity for a sixth season was staring him in the face, at the exact right time.
Palczewski was training for the NFL Draft in Boston following the 2021 season. For a stretch of time, that was the most likely option. To even return to Illinois for a sixth season required an NCAA waiver — one that neither Palczewski nor Illini head coach
Bret Bielema have ever laid out publicly in plain terms. That waiver was ultimately approved, likely by granting him a redshirt during the free 2020 season after suffering a torn ACL in just the fourth game played.
But Palczewski wasn’t himself in 2021. He was healthy enough to play but not healthy enough to play like the four-year starter that had been a stalwart on the line. A return could help take his body to another level, to get back to the level of play that made him an NFL Draft prospect in the first place.
Suddenly he was in decision mode, one that led him back to Illinois and ultimately paid off. Big time.
Illinois went 8-4 and will play on Monday at 11 a.m. CT in the ReliaQuest Bowl at Raymond James Stadium against No. 22 Mississippi State.
Palczewski was a Sporting News First Team All-American, the first offensive tackle named a First Team All-American in modern history of Illinois football. He was an AFCA CBS and PFF Second Team All-American. According to the Associated Press, Palczewski was a Third Team All-American and Second Team All-Big Ten by media, Third Team by coaches.
“Sitting in a room in Boston where I was training at the time and trying to picture what I was going to do and all the different paths I could take," Palczewski told Illini Inquirer. "This is what I kind of envisioned."
Palczewski arrived in Tampa on Monday in a Hawaiian button-up shirt — along with center
Alex Pihlstrom thanks to an idea presented by offensive analyst
Adam Kleffner — and an Illinois straw hat — an idea presented by director of Illinois high school relations
Pat Ryan. Palczewski very much looked like the fun uncle of the Illinois football team on the family vacation; which isn’t to say that Palczewski doesn’t desperately want to win on Monday.
What Palczewski is doing is soaking in every moment with his team for the final time. After Monday, players will go their own way. Some back to Champaign. Some home. Some to train for the NFL. Some to their next phase of life. Six years as a college football player gives Palczewski a 10,000-foot view of the operation.
“It’s awesome just having a little bit of a reward for the season and just kind of appreciating the last time,” Palczewski said. “(This is) the last week that we’re going to be together as a team so just truly appreciating these moments and having fun.”
Palczewski had his best collegiate season in a bounce-back year in which he was fully healthy. He’ll finish his Illinois career with 65 starts, the most in Big Ten history and tied for the FBS record. Entering the bowl game, he has gone 668 pass-block snaps without allowing a sack, according to Pro Football Focus, and is the No. 10 graded tackle in the nation and fourth in the Big Ten.
Several times throughout the season, Palczewski has pointed to how long he’s been in college. Pick a joke and either he’s made it or his teammate has made it. And yet when he walked into Raymond James Stadium on Wednesday for the team photo day he circled back to the start of it all. Way back in 2017, Palczewski’s first collegiate season, he was a starter on the 2-10 team that got bulldozed by USF at that very stadium. That was Palczewski’s third game. Sixty two games and six years later, he’ll finally wrap up his collegiate career.
“It’s bittersweet, but I’ve been here a very long time,” Palczewski said. “It’s just an awesome moment to be able to kind of look back at 2017 playing in this stadium. The change that’s happened throughout then has been pretty awesome. …It was wild. It’s come full circle. I saw the locker room and I had a little memory of 2017 and my gear being set up and think about how it’s changed, but it’s truly been special.”
It’s been a heck of a road for Palczewski. He recognizes that, but he’s finishing his Illinois career full of appreciation for it all. A year ago at this time he wasn’t exactly sure what his next stop would be. He played in the Hula Bowl and was ready to be a professional football player. The opportunity to come back to Illinois showed up and Palczewski took it.
It’s been everything he’s wanted.
“It feels like I’ve been living on borrowed time. …I had three senior days. I’m just truly kind of taking appreciation of it,” Palczewski said. “At this time last year I was thinking about, ‘All right, how can I increase my value for my NFL stock or whatever.' I decided to come back and kind of switched. …I just kind of got a one-year lease. That one is coming to an end, but, I mean, it’s awesome to take advantage of it.”
Palczewski will have his place in Illinois and Big Ten history. But how does he hope to be remembered?
“I hope the biggest mark I left is it doesn’t matter what anyone says, any recruiting, whatever rankings,” Palczewski said. “If you can work hard and truly care about what you're doing, you can choose something special. I’m the son of immigrants. Didn’t even know football was a thing until high school and then didn’t get this offer until a month before signing day or two months before signing day. Being able to know how much hard work can take you places is the biggest thing."
