Illini Football 2017

#351      

Illiini

Illiini
In the land of the Nittany Lion
Illiini
ballislife17 said:
Thanks for sharing, I always like to see other schools writer's perspectives on the conference.

It did seem a bit weird that the writer harped on Lovie for being blasé, but almost praised Franklin and D'Antonio for the same thing [emoji848]


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Lovie is unique, or close to it. The writer has never seen anyone like Lovie before, but Lovie has seen reporters. That happens when you take a team to the Super Bowl.

Lovie knows that he will be judged on the success of the team on the football field, and not his skill at the mic. He doesn't care about the optics, and as we know, he plays his cards close to his chest. Lovie's attitude is not one of not caring. For one thing, like the rest of us, he doesn't want his last job to be a failure: "Yeah, he took the Bears to a Super Bowl once, but otherwise, what did he do? He couldn't even coach a college team."

And the other thing is that he truly wants the young men under his tutelage to succeed on the field and in life. This PennLive writer is taking as real slap at Lovie's character. It's an insult. I don't think that Lovie would be much rattled by it.

At this point his goal is putting a successful team on the field. And when that happens, you'll get that patented honey-sweet smile that Lovie has patented. And he'll credit everyone but himself.




(Interesting side note: Just yesterday I was talking to a PSU fan and he thinks that the team's record was too good last year. Franklin must repeat, in the eyes of Penn State fans, and that's all but impossible. PSU fans will be screaming for his head, especially if a lot of games just don't go his way. But I digress...)
 
#352      

LannyBudd

L
Chicago, IL
LannyBudd
FiveStar said:
At what weight are you allowed to start barking?
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When I was 17, I could did 500 lbs. six times...that doesn't include the three my coaches did not count because I didn't go parallel.

For a Power 5 school, at a minimum every O-Line, D-Line, and Linebacker should be squatting 500 lbs.
 
#356      

ballislife17

ballislife17
ballislife17
#359      

IlliniJim20

I
IlliniJim20
LFOD said:
It was a simpler time. If we look at that fumble, we'll have to go back and look at A-train's fumble.
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:mad: :mad: :mad:

Like the OSU author, this one still gets me angry after many, many years.

But good point, how long can we choose to apply today's replay standards?
 
#361      

LFOD

LFOD
LFOD
IlliniJim20 said:
:mad: :mad: :mad:

Like the OSU author, this one still gets me angry after many, many years.

But good point, how long can we choose to apply today's replay standards?
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I feel similarly. That was a turning point in Illinois football, and not in a good direction. But yes, maybe it was a Dufrene fumble. Maybe we caught two TD passes against tOSU in 2002 when they went on to win the game and the NC. Don't look for me to shed any tears over one maybe missed call in 2007.
 
#362      

Illiini

Illiini
In the land of the Nittany Lion
Illiini
james81 said:
This has nothing to do with 2017, but, if you're an Illinois fan, this is a fun article to read from an Ohio State supporter who, ten years later, still can't get over the 2007 Illini upset.

Almost 10 years later, the performances of Illinois, Juice Williams against Ohio State still cause me to lose sleep
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I have a Marching Illini CD that apparently was recorded that afternoon--when the MI would have "the afternoon off." At the very end of the CD, as a sort of extra, someone reads off the score of the game. There's a cheer (to say the least) and the band breaks into a spontaneous "Oskee-wow-wow." Chills.
 
#363      

NScale

N
NScale
Time Out!

The writer failed to mention that it was Tressel himself that contributed heavily to tOSU's demise in The Game. Illinois had 4th down and Zook was going to punt. But caught in a moment of indecision, Tressel called time out. Juice came to the sidelines and told Zook he could make it. And he did. Had Tressel not called time, the tide of the game would have turned.
 
#364      

Dan

Dan
Admin
Dan
Lovie Smith Media Day press conference

Lovie: Football season is here. The guys have done an awful lot of good things in the offseason.

Lovie: We have a few injuries right now. Some guys won't be able to go full speed right now. But nothing major.

Lovie: Ricky Smalling and Ahmari Hayes won't be here tomorrow for personal reasons.

Lovie: Excited about Chayce Crouch being our QB, what he brings to the team.

Lovie: Allegretti and DiLauro are great leaders. Kendrick Foster is in best shape of life.

Lovie: Mike Dudek is ready to go.

Lovie: Jaylen Dunlap a little banged up with a lower leg injury. Nothing major.

Lovie: First two days we'll only be in shorts and helmets. Then we'll put the pads on.

Lovie: Dunlap might be out just for a few days, a week. No surgery involved.

Lovie: Player safety always important in training. Never interested in knocking out our guys during practice.

Lovie: The goal of training camp is to teach and try to get your team ready to go.

Lovie: Kendrick Foster won't take many hits, and Chayce Crouch won't take any hits during camp.

Lovie: Dre Brown will be limited starting off practices. Dre isn't 100 percent yet.

Lovie: Joey Boese and strength staff have done a super job. We have made unbelievable gains in the weight room.

Lovie: Feel like we're stronger and in better shape to go into this training camp.

Asked about Smalling again, #illini coach Lovie Smith said Smalling is excused for personal reasons right now. No further info provided.

Lovie: Players will be loaded on buses to get to campus rec fields near FAR dorms.

Lovie: Once school starts we'll get back to the practice fields next to stadium. Just like room, setup better at rec fields for camp

Lovie: Tre Watson is an extremely bright, smart football player. Need a leader of defense. That's Tre.

Lovie: 2nd CB is one of the positions we need someone to step up. Haven't been pleased with play there.

Lovie: Tony Adams is close to 100 percent. He's making a lot of progress. He'll be limited a bit early on.

Lovie: We showed everyone last year that we'll play young players right away.

Lovie: As much as anything, you want competition at training camp. Want players to feel like they have to earn their job.

Lovie on what he learned most last year: "Didn't like winning three games."

Lovie: I like where our football team is. I'm not disappointed in anyone. They've all been vocal with their actions, gains.

Lovie: Chayce knows he has to get down a little bit more. Have to be a bit more cautious. He'll do that.

https://twitter.com/JWernerScout
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#365      

Illiini

Illiini
In the land of the Nittany Lion
Illiini
Good to see Lovie has standards. Sad to see someone not live up to them.
 
#368      

ballislife17

ballislife17
ballislife17
I like that Lovie calls out the secondary. Hopefully that motivates some of our guys to step up.


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#369      

jbr1997

J
jbr1997
What game is everyone planning on going to in here bc trying to figure out what game to get tickets too

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#370      

mdonsbach

M
mdonsbach
Anyone find it odd that Lovie said that he wants player to feel like they have to earn their jobs yet emphatically states that Crouch is the starting QB? Shouldn't he have to earn his job as well?
 
#371      

FiveStar

F
FiveStar
mdonsbach said:
Anyone find it odd that Lovie said that he wants player to feel like they have to earn their jobs yet emphatically states that Crouch is the starting QB? Shouldn't he have to earn his job as well?
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Could be that it's already been earned? When they earn their spots can happen at different times i would imagine.
 
#373      

Illiini

Illiini
In the land of the Nittany Lion
Illiini
Dan said:
[YOUTUBE]6U9sru3W044[/YOUTUBE]
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Hey, I just ordered that shirt from fansegde.com--well, a week and a half before leaving for vacation--but it didn't arrive in time. If you order from them, don't expect prompt service. 😡
 
#374      

breadman

B
Herndon, VA
breadman
Here is Shannon talking about how young the O&B are this year:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...perienced-roster-spt-0731-20170730-story.html

A previous poster put up the numbers that 55 of 77 players are young.
To me that is a very sobering thought. It kind of gives credence to those predicting a low win total for this season.
In the article, though, Lovie mentions that even though we are young, we have talent, and competition for positions. I thought that was a good thing to call attention to.
 
#375      

FT35

FT35
Naperville
FT35
breadman said:
Here is Shannon talking about how young the O&B are this year:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...perienced-roster-spt-0731-20170730-story.html

A previous poster put up the numbers that 55 of 77 players are young.
To me that is a very sobering thought. It kind of gives credence to those predicting a low win total for this season.
In the article, though, Lovie mentions that even though we are young, we have talent, and competition for positions. I thought that was a good thing to call attention to.
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What's even more sobering is the fact that some of the upperclassmen that we're counting on have had few if any starts. Sean Adesanya is a RS JR who is expected to start and he has never played a down for Illinois. James Crawford has made around 7 starts in his career but none of them have been at DE. Crouch has only started one game. Even Kendrick Foster, a fifth year Senior and the MVP of the Offense last year, only has 7 career starts.

That doesn't mean these guys can't be successful but we're counting on players to be leaders who have limited experience themselves.

If injuries happen at certain positions, we are in a lot of trouble. There's just too many Freshmen that we have to count on this season so count me down for 2 wins this year, plus or minus 2 in either direction. I'm looking forward to seeing the Freshmen play and can only hope for improvement as the season goes on. I actually liked what I saw out of some of the Freshmen as the season went on last year.

I hope the issue with Smalling isn't serious and he is out there practicing soon. I was hoping he would be returning punts this year. I'm guessing C. Green and Hobbs are also possibilities.

The battle between Sumpter and Watkins for the 2nd CB spot should be interesting. I'd give the edge to Watkins but am not seeing that much difference between the two. Maybe Hobbs works his way in to some playing time this year as well.

BTW, I noticed on the latest roster that Trenard Davis is listed as a WR.