#17 Tommy Davis de-striping his helmet and posting it. He is now totally a part of #Illinination. http://pic.twitter.com/oQThSU7e

Ernest Thomas is his #Illini big brother who helped him get there!
coachbeckman

All of the newcomers, freshmen and transfers alike, wear a stripe on their helmet. Starting today, following each practice, one of the players is going to lose his stripe, Which is a good thing. This morning, it was Northern Illinois transfer Tommy Davis who got to take the stripe off of his helmet and put it on a dry-erase board. He signed his name next to it, signaling the end of newcomerism. And he was given a T-shirt that reads "Invest." "Tommy worked hard and he's done a lot of great things for us," Illinois coach Tim Beckman said. "We talked about it as a staff and he got 10 votes." The newcomers each are assigned a big brother. For Davis, it was fellow safety Earnest Thomas, who went in front of the team with his protege. "We all embraced him," Thomas said. "I had a plan that I was going to make sure he was the first one. We got that done."
Asmussen