Whatever you recall about the Minnesota defense from last season, wipe it from your memory before the Gophers face Illinois on Saturday.
Minnesota was truly pathetic last season, finishing last in the country in total defense. The Gophers allowed Illinois to…
For my preview of the Illinois-Michigan game on Saturday, I’m writing about the Illini’s problems with kick coverage, which has been poor the last four years with the exception of 2007. This year they have allowed two kickoff returns for…
When Ron Zook met the media this week, he started talking about the Illini’s upcoming bye week before mentioning Louisiana-Lafayette, Saturday’s opponent in Champaign. That’s not to say Zook is looking past the Ragin’ Cajuns, but mere suggestion that the…
Players can be pretty forthcoming when it comes to admitting mistakes or poor play. There was plenty of that going around after Illinois lost to Missouri with many of the Illini saying they could have done things better and detailing…
The new leader of the Illinois defense evaluated the damage and didn’t wait long to be held accountable for the 52 points Missouri scored (actually 38 against the defense).
Brit Miller is being held to high standards this season as the…
Ron Zook was admittedly nervous every time an Illinois player was slow to get up during Monday night’s scrimmage at Rantoul High. This was the site of last year’s scrimmage disaster when Arrelious Benn suffered a shoulder injury that hampered…
Linebacker Brit Miller typically played about 40 snaps per game as a junior. In 2008 he expects to be on the field about twice as much as he moves to middle linebacker for J Leman.
So Miller went about dropping some weight…
When the Big Ten Network approached Ron Zook about documenting the Illinois football season for its behind-the-scenes, reality-type program, his initial reaction was to run very fast in the opposite direction.
Zook is a coach who has declined TV requests to wear a…
Most of the Illinois football players who were hoping to be drafted over the weekend had to wait and sign free-agent contracts after the draft ended.
Running back Rashard Mendenhall turned out to be the only player from the Rose Bowl…
