Spring Football 2017

#3      

ILLmatic04

I
ILLmatic04
Too bad the open practice is at the same time as the Rutgers game. That would have made for a nice early spring weekend if they could have spaced them out so that fans could attend both if they wanted to.
 
#6      

Illiniwek66

Illiniwek66
Illiniwek66
March 4 is really early for any kind of a spring fan experience (tailgating, etc.) I would love to see a fan appreciation day later in the spring with merchandise, Grange Grove open, etc. that would allow fans a day at the stadium to get excited about the future.

Also a chance for me to tailgate and drink copious amounts of been on a nice day.
 
#7      

LurkLongandProsper

L
C-U
LurkLongandProsper
Staff hoping Crouch can get some actual reps in at end of month, else will be walkthrough

"Chayce is our quarterback"

Presser is going pretty in-depth on some of the (pre-spring) depth chart. Fagan/Darta Lee/Allegretti/Megginson/DiLauro starters on OL heading into spring,

(All of this from Werner's twitter feed)
 
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#8      

Dan

Dan
Admin
Dan
Lovie previews Spring football

Lovie: What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with Spring football!

Lovie: Our numbers are down a bit b/c of large senior class. But should just be a better situation for some of our guys.

Lovie: Depth charts don't mean a lot but we have some guys who will be first up in the rotation. They'll have to prove themselves.

Lovie: Dudek and Brown are both making progress. With Mike it's about slow down, not speed up. You won't see a lot of him in Spring.

Lovie: Knowing Chayce Crouch, he'll take a lot of mental reps. But he won't be in any position where he can get even a bump.

Lovie: There will be a lot of individual instruction going on.

Lovie: Jordan Fagan, Darta Lee, Nick Allegretti, Gabe Megginson, Christian DiLauro should start on the line.

Lovie: We were worrying about the names on the helmets last year. We're in a lot better place personnel-wise.

Lovie: Very pleased so far with our early-enrollees. We've had a chance to see them running around and they look good.

Lovie: Pleased with our first class, but we should keep getting better with those classes.

Lovie: Peoria's Kendrick Foster (@KFos_22) is a poster child for a breakout season. Expect more from him this season.

Lovie: We've graduated four captains. Foster should be one of those under consideration to fill one of those roles.

Lovie: My favorite player of all time is Roger Staubach. But Brady's somewhere up there. How can you argue?

https://twitter.com/pbaileywells
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[YOUTUBE]GxVetS0MAA4[/YOUTUBE]
 
#9      

IllinoisFanAtFSU

I
IllinoisFanAtFSU
http://www.scout.com/college/illinois/story/1754109-lovie-change-happens-new-year

^All of the info from the press conference. My personal favorite pieces are "Chayce is our quarterback", "Pleased with our first class but every class from here on out should be a lot better", and (in regards to the recruiting process) "There are things we can do before we get to the players. We can improve the evaluation process, mailings, etc."

I really like our coach guys. As for the Chayce portion, I think that Lovie appreciates how fired up and physical he gets. Opposite of Lunt's leadership or lack thereof.
 
#11      

FT35

FT35
Naperville
FT35
That explains why we were scrambling to pick up more Safeties in the Class of 2017.

That leaves us with 53 scholarship players plus the 4 early enrollees?
 
#13      

Dan

Dan
Admin
Dan
Roster updated-
http://fightingillini.com/roster.aspx?path=football


https://twitter.com/IlliniFootball/status/831228688930832384
C4kbPwuWMAAIm1w.jpg
 
#14      

audsssy

A
audsssy
Man very excited for this program this year (but then again I say this every year :()!
 
#16      

Dan

Dan
Admin
Dan
[YOUTUBE]uTwwqYztjkk[/YOUTUBE]
 
#18      

Illiini

Illiini
In the land of the Nittany Lion
Illiini
#19      

LurkLongandProsper

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C-U
LurkLongandProsper
#20      

breadman

B
Herndon, VA
breadman
It's just that it seems as if Lovie has chosen to take a back seat this spring, running a tight ship of no comment at this point in time. I thought we would be hearing more, but I guess I was wrong. Not a big deal because I'm sure you all know by now that in Lovie we trust!!
 
#21      

abc123

A
abc123
LurkLongandProsper said:
It happens, it's a fiery sport, I don't think it's a big deal. Fairly certain a similar thing happened in camp last year as well.
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If you stop practice for something it's a big deal. Good to see that Lovie is jumping on this stuff early, as illinois isn't a good enough team to shrug off 15yd penalties against better teams (who are the majority of our opponents). A little extra curricular pushing and shoving during somee blocking drills or in the trenches that takes place at the whistle can be expected ...but this sounds different.
 
#22      

Illiini

Illiini
In the land of the Nittany Lion
Illiini
abc123 said:
A little extra curricular pushing and shoving during somee blocking drills or in the trenches that takes place at the whistle can be expected ...but this sounds different.
Click to expand...

No doubt you've seen the movie "Miracle." Do you remember the scene where the team lost badly and as they were getting back on the bus and there were, well, recriminations? Herb Brooks used that (fostered it?) to make the guys realize that they were going to have to work together if they were going to win.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but could this be the proverbial learning experience? You don't hve time to reach that kind of team melding if you wait until the fall. But midway through spring training? That's the ideal time for the blowup and amends, etc.

I saw something like this (but not for football or hockey) by an avowed acolyte of Herb Brooks and it worked like a charm. But like I said, maybe I'm reading too much into it. :gossip:
 
#23      

abc123

A
abc123
I'm not looking to second guess technique in this situation ...sure the offenders could have been made part of a"breakfast club"and made to run stadium steps daily for a period of time...but Lovie chose differently.

I don't have the facts...but I see this as some WR/DB B.S. over a hard hit or some other perceived "disrespect"..Lovie needs to nip that in terms bud..or it WILL cost us a game this season
 
#24      

LurkLongandProsper

L
C-U
LurkLongandProsper
abc123 said:
I'm not looking to second guess technique in this situation ...sure the offenders could have been made part of a"breakfast club"and made to run stadium steps daily for a period of time...but Lovie chose differently.

I don't have the facts...but I see this as some WR/DB B.S. over a hard hit or some other perceived "disrespect"..Lovie needs to nip that in terms bud..or it WILL cost us a game this season
Click to expand...

you are all reading way too far into this
 
#25      

Illiini

Illiini
In the land of the Nittany Lion
Illiini
LurkLongandProsper said:
you are all reading way too far into this
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Well, conspiracy theories are fun.

That said, Lovie did already have to deal with one discipline event where he sent two players to the locker room. That wasn't enough, apparently, to prevent this display of un-teamlike behavior.

So I doubt Lovie set this up--though Brooks did make his team lose on purpose as a team-building exercise--but I have no doubt (or at least I hope) Lovie is good enough of a coach to treat is as a learning experience.

The kids aren't stupid, but sometimes you have to let them know who's in charge, and you have to make sure that they know they have to be a team instead of, as the Olympic hockey team was, a bunch of talented individuals. And they had to learn to be a team. So do the Illini. Get over yourself. [Insert more team philosophy here.]

I don't think that's reading too much into it.