Excited? Does that mean he believes this isbour best group in his time here? That would be great to hear.
Illini Football 2025
- Status
What I’ve tried to tell my friends is that Pat Bryant was an unknown until he wasn’t. One or two of these receivers will emerge by week two or week three.
The staff was raving about Pat from the beginning though, and they've given us reasons to trust them.
Im still just worried about Run D.
Collin Dixon is ready to fill that void.
Most talented as a whole.
I believe that Dixon will be the next PB. Clement could be similar to Franklin. Now we have Bowick, Beatty, Hollins, Capra-Jones plus our TE group, Luke will have multiple weapons to use. We could easily use the passing game to set up open lanes for the run game or vice verse. Lunney will thrive with this much talent with a QB who is in year three and much stronger.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
This is a bit of a bummer to me, as I was hoping to have a pretty sizable Illini contingent invading the fake Memorial Stadium. However, the slightly smaller capacity (under 53k), fairly indirect route to Bloomington for the main population centers of Illini fans and the excitement from IU fans probably makes that difficult. Hoping our reputation for traveling well and bringing a ton of our fans to visiting basketball arenas can translate to football, and it seems the away game at Purdue could be a prime opportunity for Illini fans to take over a rival stadium!
Single-Game Tickets for Football Game Against Illinois Sold Out - Indiana University Athletics
Bloomington, Indiana – Single-game tickets for Indiana Football's Sept. 20 game against Illinois are sold out.iuhoosiers.com
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
McDonald lifted that corps. While the talent under Stepp is largely unproven, it's chock full of potential. We're blessed with a lights out passer. I'm expecting our receivers to feast. They're much more of a complementary group, but I'm fine with that. Spread the wealth, make it harder to get a bead on us.
side note: the Stepp hire has been a near masterstroke by Beilema
Our passing game will be just fine. The WR's are being disrespected because be don't have a big star returning. Elzy had 4 NFL receivers in front of him, but now he will take the reigns. Beatty is the type of receiver every successful team has - the clutch guy you look to for a first down on 3rd and 5. Bowick and Clement are proven commodities. Dixon is poised for a breakout year. The TE's will produce far more yards this year. On top of that, two of our top 3 RB's are speed demons that are a threat out of the backfield. As 0440 inferred, the Illini passing attack will put pressure across the whole defense. Luke has got to be licking his lips in anticipation of picking 'em apart.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
It's tough to describe to folks how much the WR room has improved since the Lovie tenure (and Cubit, and Beckman, and even Zook after Rejus). It was a complete black hole after 2008 to the point where Illinois might have produced the least amount of NFL WRs of any P4 team during that period. It's AJ Jenkins and little beyond.
Now? The 4th all-time receiving yards leader graduated in 2023 and the 9th all-time receiving yards leader graduated last year. Oh, the 12th all-time receiving yards leader also graduated in 2023 (Casey Washington). If you have a strong stomach, go ahead and pull up the 2012 or 2016 or 2005 versions of Illinois football and decide how many current WRs would start for those teams (there's an alternate universe where Chris Pazan is throwing a million dump-offs to Hank Beatty). The floor of the current WR room is high, with the past 2-4 seasons being the best WR run that Illinois has had in decades.
The best thing that could happen is one of the non-senior WRs becomes a #1 WR, someone that can haul in 50+ catches. Would allow Barry and Altmyer to make things that much easier on the rest of the WRs, plus it would be a great selling point if the staff needs a transfer QB next offseason.
I forget his name, but the D-Lineman they added from Florida State is such a X factor. IMO the biggest X factor on the team. Basically a guy that if he can be a solid strater - just takes your unit to another level.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I still cannot believe how much we psychologically broke them, hahaha. Like, they claimed it was a meaningless bowl game and that their energy was devoted to being mad about being "robbed" of a CFP spot ... so why get so worked up about your loss?!?!
I can't remember the awesome author of this work of art, but some poster (who IIRC lived in SEC Country, and possibly South Carolina) wrote this spectacular summary of why losing the Citrus Bowl to us was just something Gamecocks fans couldn't mentally accept. It was SUCH an awesome post, but my super-simplified summary is effectively that because they have a pretty unimpressive history overall, they NEEDED to cling to some sort of inherent status/prestige obtained by merely being a part of the SEC. They could handle a perceived CFP snub and rationalize it away as them "being screwed" ... what they could not handle is taking the field in a bowl game where it was OBVIOUS both sides were playing their hearts out to get a win, and losing that game to not only a Big Ten team (automatically inferior in their view) ... but a basketball school like Illinois who was "supposed" to be a doormat.
Frankly, it shattered their entire self image and sent them spiraling, haha.
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
game should be optional
I can’t think of a more intimidating lineup for opposing defenses than Elzy-Dixon-Rusk-Arkin on the field together. Your best 4 perimeter run blockers, the size, and also a group that can very much vertically stretch you out. Just a nightmare against the RPO.
Don't think we'll need until after week 3 to know who the top option(s) are.
I still cannot believe how much we psychologically broke them, hahaha. Like, they claimed it was a meaningless bowl game and that their energy was devoted to being mad about being "robbed" of a CFP spot ... so why get so worked up about your loss?!?!
I can't remember the awesome author of this work of art, but some poster (who IIRC lived in SEC Country, and possibly South Carolina) wrote this spectacular summary of why losing the Citrus Bowl to us was just something Gamecocks fans couldn't mentally accept. It was SUCH an awesome post, but my super-simplified summary is effectively that because they have a pretty unimpressive history overall, they NEEDED to cling to some sort of inherent status/prestige obtained by merely being a part of the SEC. They could handle a perceived CFP snub and rationalize it away as them "being screwed" ... what they could not handle is taking the field in a bowl game where it was OBVIOUS both sides were playing their hearts out to get a win, and losing that game to not only a Big Ten team (automatically inferior in their view) ... but a basketball school like Illinois who was "supposed" to be a doormat.
Frankly, it shattered their entire self image and sent them spiraling, haha.
Illinois 21, South Carolina 17 Postgame
will become one of the most iconic moments of his tenure, i think Apologize if this has already been posted somewhere within these 33 pages, but if not then add this one to the Beamer post game Hall of Shame. Still can't believe how deeply Bret crawled into Beamer's cranium! "Shane Beamer and...
www.illinoisloyalty.com
Courtesy of @SuperintendentChalmers
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
I wish I could like that again.Illinois 21, South Carolina 17 Postgame
will become one of the most iconic moments of his tenure, i think Apologize if this has already been posted somewhere within these 33 pages, but if not then add this one to the Beamer post game Hall of Shame. Still can't believe how deeply Bret crawled into Beamer's cranium! "Shane Beamer and...
Courtesy of @SuperintendentChalmers
I know plenty of downstate illini fans that will be in attendance on 9/20. There should be a relative large amount of orange in the stands.
I knew I forgot one.
I think the reality is that either Dixon (most likely), Beatty, or Elzy set themselves apart and become a 40+ catch guy.
I'm not bought into this off-season fantasy where we have 4 or 5 25-catch dudes in the receiver room. It's just like basketball where we think that 9 or 10 guys are gonna get serious minutes but over the season it shakes out and you have a 7/8 man rotation.
Someone is going to win the battle and get the majority of the reps. If noone truly sets themselves apart then I don't see that as a good thing
I'm hoping for a PB13 junior season type breakout for Elzy with Dixon slightly behind him in catches.
I'm not bought into this off-season fantasy where we have 4 or 5 25-catch dudes in the receiver room. It's just like basketball where we think that 9 or 10 guys are gonna get serious minutes but over the season it shakes out and you have a 7/8 man rotation.
Someone is going to win the battle and get the majority of the reps. If noone truly sets themselves apart then I don't see that as a good thing
I'm hoping for a PB13 junior season type breakout for Elzy with Dixon slightly behind him in catches.
- Status