Alioneye: 90 Most Important Illini

[AHSIllini32]

The official countdown to the season has begun as Alioneye breaks out his yearly ranking of the most important Illini for the upcoming season. One per day leading up to the first game with WMU!

#90 Richard Kersten - backup LS

I have only a few rules that I live by, but one of them is this: When putting together a list of the 90 most important Illini players for any specific season, and when ranking them from the most important to the least important, do NOT leave off the backup long snapper. I mean, your season could be rolling along fine, and then someone rolls up on the ankle of starting long snapper Zak Pederson during a punt return and BOOM backup Richard Kersten is probably the 38th most important player on the entire team.

[DanvIllini]

90 days seems so far away... but man is he right!

[Dan]

#89 DT Daniel Rhodes

[cmore]

I really enjoy almost everything Robert does. However, I find this particular "piece" disturbing ever year. I wish he would do the 60 most important illini and not 90. It seems like a slap in the face to be the ninetyeth most important (aka least important) illini. After having said all of that, I am anxiously awaiting # 88.

[illiniobserver22]

Originally Posted by cmore

I really enjoy almost everything Robert does. However, I find this particular "piece" disturbing ever year. I wish he would do the 60 most important illini and not 90. It seems like a slap in the face to be the ninetyeth most important (aka least important) illini. After having said all of that, I am anxiously awaiting # 88.

As he described in the first piece, there's really more than 100 kids once you account for all the walk-ons, so 90th isn't last.

Also, most of those 70-90 guys are true or redshirt freshman, and he never insults those kids, just says they probably have weight to add and experience to gain before they are ready to contribute to the team.

Finally, who cares if he slaps some kids in the face with their ranking? Sounds like good motivation to me. Nobody is going to quit because a fan blog ranked them the 77th most important Illini.

[Dan]

#88 P Brad Janitz

[AHSIllini32]

#87 TE Tim Russell

[Dan]

#86: OG Robbie Bain

[ctblaisdell83]

#85 LB Mike Svetina

http://alioneye.com/2012/06/08/the-9...-mike-svetina/

[Kramer116]

#84: OG/C Joseph Spencer

[Kramer116]

#83: QB Chase Haslett

[AHSIllini32]

#82: WR JJ Robertson

#81: S Austin Abner

[AHSIllini32]

#80: Hayden Daniels

#79: BJ Bello

#78: Mason Monheim

[ncoillini]

I had thought Abner would get some play time and was under recruited based on his highlights from HS. I hope I am right.

[Kramer116]

#77 Nick Immekus - Kicker

#76 Justin Hardee - WR/DB/Athlete

[AHSIllini32]

#75 Chris O'Connor - DL

[AHSIllini32]

#74: S Taylor Barton 'TayBar'

[Calvin]

Enjoying the series. Should get more interesting as it goes.

[AHSIllini32]

#73: DT Vontrell Williams

Not gonna lie, I thought he'd be a little bit higher considering how thin we are at DT. Obviously, Powell is even higher than this because I'm assuming Robery expects more of an instant impact from him.

[BigStan97]

our Dline with Caldwell, Williams, Powell, Clements, Jackson, Gibbs has a bright future full of talent

[OrangeFever]

This is illustrative of the paucity of noteworthy information between seasons. A bit like so-called reality TV shows--people doing nothing important watching people doing nothing important stupidly.

[AHSIllini32]

Originally Posted by OrangeFever

This is illustrative of the paucity of noteworthy information between seasons. A bit like so-called reality TV shows--people doing nothing important watching people doing nothing important stupidly.

A lot of people actually like the countdown. If you don't then don't read or post about it.

[PGMIllini84]

Originally Posted by OrangeFever

This is illustrative of the paucity of noteworthy information between seasons. A bit like so-called reality TV shows--people doing nothing important watching people doing nothing important stupidly.

This is EXACTLY why these boards exist. I think it's great and say "keep it coming" Robert.

[AHSIllini32]

#72: The St. Anthonys Video from the KFHB

Read and you'll understand why.

[ctblaisdell83]

Originally Posted by AHSIllini32

#72: The St. Anthonys Video from the KFHB

Read and you'll understand why.

Nice.

Also, see the first comment (Chief4Life) - I liked that