The Fighting Illini are looking to see big strides from a year ago when they finished 4-8 as they get ready for the 2019 season. When head coach Lovie Smith, now in his fourth season first arrived in Champaign-Urbana, IL, he knew there would be some growing pains.
“A few years ago, we had 15 freshmen that started. Those guys are juniors now and are running our football team, and that’s a good thing,” Smith said. The Illini are returning 75% of their production from a year ago (70% offense, 81% defense). They will be one of the more experienced teams this year after being one of the youngest for the past few years.
The offense improved last year but the defense struggled throughout the year. Averaging 29.5 points a game last season, the Illini offense was led by the running game. The team had 2,916 yards and 25 rushing touchdowns. Reggie Corbin led the way with 1,085 yards and nine touchdowns. “Guys had career years, especially Reggie Corbin. So offensively I felt like we did enough to win more football games. Defensively we did not,” Smith said.
Quarterback AJ Bush Jr. had 733 yards and eight scores. Corbin will be back this year as well as running backs Mike Epstein (411 yards, three touchdowns), Ra’Von Bonner (395 yards, three touchdowns) and Dre Brown (180 yards, and two touchdowns). Brown also handles some of the kick return duties.
AJ Bush Jr. graduated so Smith will have to find a replacement. True freshman quarterback Isaiah Williams, redshirt freshman Matt Robinson and Coran Taylor along with Michigan transfer Brandon Peters are the possible replacements. Peters has the most experience and maybe the best arm, but he’s more of a traditional quarterback.
As for the defense, which has been Lovie’s specialty in the past, he’s taking over as coordinator. “First off, we have to be a lot better in so many areas, things we didn’t do well, gave up too many big plays. We weren’t really able to stop the run. And our signature is about doing that and taking the ball away and scoring on defense. We weren’t able to do all of those things,” Smith said.
Written by Garin Turner
