Illinois was back on the practice field today from 2:30 to about 5:10. Full pads.
* Out today: Vederian Lowe (knee), Tito Odenigbo, Jaylen Dunlap (knee), Larry Boyd (shoulder), Malik Turner, Sam Mays, Mike Dudek, Dre Brown (knee), Reggie Corbin (hamstring), Nate Hobbs (illness). Christian DiLauro, Stanley Green, and Lere Oladipo were back full-go.
* After walk-thrus, warms-ups, and some special teams work there was nearly 2 hours of 11on11 today. Hitting, but no tackling to the ground.
* It wasn't a great practice, and Lovie Smith acknowledged that after practice. He said it's typical to not be as sharp after a day off. They saw a lot of mental errors on both sides of the ball, and the offense got some post-practice pushups for too many false starts.
* What really jumped out was that the younger players got a lot of first-team reps today. The coaches saw some things on film over the weekend from last week's practices, and are starting to figure out what players can help them get better.
* A scout from the Washington Redskins was at practice today. We usually see a few more scouts. Not many this year.
OFFENSE NOTES:
* Freshmen who got some first team reps included WR Carmoni Green, WR Kendall Smith, WR Ricky Smalling, QB Cam Thomas, and OL Alex Palczewski.
* With Boyd still out with the shoulder, the starting offense line is guard Nick Allegretti and tackle Gabe Megginson on the strong side, center Doug Kramer, guard Alex Palczewski and tackle Christian DiLauro on the quick side. Adam Solomon and Jordan Fagan also repped at strong-side tackle, moving Megginson inside.
* The Illini worked a lot on the inside ground game today. The read options and quick traps inside worked well, especially when they ran behind Allegretti. He was dominant, as he has been throughout camp. There were some big holes for Kendrick Foster and Mike Epstein.
* The passing game was bad. It was mostly short and intermediate stuff, plus at least 25 plays in the red zone. With Dudek, Mays, and Turner all sitting, there wasn't much experience in the receiving corps and it showed. And the quarterbacks were off again after a couple of poor days to close out last week. Some are mental errors, but mostly due to just not having enough arm or accuracy on the throws. Crouch lacks the arm strength to split defenders, and the touch to drop it in over the top of coverage. Lets hope he's a gamer.
* Freshman QB Cam Thomas is a fast learner, but still makes freshman mistakes when it comes to reading defenses and seeing the entire field. He zeros in on the primary target and tries to force some throws. That said, if Thomas had the mental part of the game down he would play this year, and still could. He may beat out Jeff George Jr. for the No. 2 spot. Thomas got at least 10 plays with the 1's and a bunch with the 2's as they rotated in a lot of players on all three units.
* The most effective throws were to the tight ends on stick routes in the red zone. Andrew Trainer and Grifin Palmer both had TD catches. Crouch and George were off target on a lot of the longer routes, though Smalling did have a TD on fade route from Crouch.
* I talked about PK James McCourt last week, and he may beat out Chase McLaughlan. McCourt did all of the field goal kicking today and looked good.
* Punt returners were Carmoni Green, Reggie Corbin, Tony Adams, and Trenard Davis. Adams will eventually play a big role on special teams.
DEFENSE NOTES:
* Freshmen who got first team reps included DE Bobby Roundtree, CB Tony Adams, and S Bennett Williams.
* The linebacker crew continues to impress. They're getting good play 6 guys deep. Starters are MIKE Tre Watson SAM Julian Jones and WILL Jake Hansen. The second group is MIKE Dele Harding, SAM Justice Williams and WILL Del'Shawn Phillips.
* Two freshmen are now starting in the secondary. Cornerback Tony Adams and strong safety Bennett Williams. Adams is still learning a little bit, but he makes up for mistakes with good closing speed. He had an INT on a play where Crouch targeted Smalling down the sideline. Williams isn't as physical as Stanley Green, but he's much faster. Green was running with the 2's today. With Jaylen Dunlap still out, Adams is playing field-side corner and Ahmair Hayes on the boundary side. The No.1 nickel is Cameron Watkins. Second team DB's were SS Stanley Green, FS Dawson Degroot, Frank Sumpter and walk-on Nolan Bernat at corner. Freshman Nate Hobbs will be in the mix when he gets back. Hobbs has mono.
* Bobby Roundtree played some right end on running downs, and James Crawford came in on passing downs. That makes a lot of sense. Crawford isn't very physical. Christian Abercrombie, who moved to DE from LB, is starting to get more reps with the 2's - playing the same pass-rushing role as Crawford. The fact that some of the younger guys are getting good pressure on the quarterbacks - Carney, Roundtree, Gay, etc - is not a good sign for the Illini offensive line. And they were getting pressure without blitzing much at all today.
* Freshman Blake Hayes will be the punter.
Practice on Tuesday is at 2:20.
What are your questions?
* Out today: Vederian Lowe (knee), Tito Odenigbo, Jaylen Dunlap (knee), Larry Boyd (shoulder), Malik Turner, Sam Mays, Mike Dudek, Dre Brown (knee), Reggie Corbin (hamstring), Nate Hobbs (illness). Christian DiLauro, Stanley Green, and Lere Oladipo were back full-go.
* After walk-thrus, warms-ups, and some special teams work there was nearly 2 hours of 11on11 today. Hitting, but no tackling to the ground.
* It wasn't a great practice, and Lovie Smith acknowledged that after practice. He said it's typical to not be as sharp after a day off. They saw a lot of mental errors on both sides of the ball, and the offense got some post-practice pushups for too many false starts.
* What really jumped out was that the younger players got a lot of first-team reps today. The coaches saw some things on film over the weekend from last week's practices, and are starting to figure out what players can help them get better.
* A scout from the Washington Redskins was at practice today. We usually see a few more scouts. Not many this year.
OFFENSE NOTES:
* Freshmen who got some first team reps included WR Carmoni Green, WR Kendall Smith, WR Ricky Smalling, QB Cam Thomas, and OL Alex Palczewski.
* With Boyd still out with the shoulder, the starting offense line is guard Nick Allegretti and tackle Gabe Megginson on the strong side, center Doug Kramer, guard Alex Palczewski and tackle Christian DiLauro on the quick side. Adam Solomon and Jordan Fagan also repped at strong-side tackle, moving Megginson inside.
* The Illini worked a lot on the inside ground game today. The read options and quick traps inside worked well, especially when they ran behind Allegretti. He was dominant, as he has been throughout camp. There were some big holes for Kendrick Foster and Mike Epstein.
* The passing game was bad. It was mostly short and intermediate stuff, plus at least 25 plays in the red zone. With Dudek, Mays, and Turner all sitting, there wasn't much experience in the receiving corps and it showed. And the quarterbacks were off again after a couple of poor days to close out last week. Some are mental errors, but mostly due to just not having enough arm or accuracy on the throws. Crouch lacks the arm strength to split defenders, and the touch to drop it in over the top of coverage. Lets hope he's a gamer.
* Freshman QB Cam Thomas is a fast learner, but still makes freshman mistakes when it comes to reading defenses and seeing the entire field. He zeros in on the primary target and tries to force some throws. That said, if Thomas had the mental part of the game down he would play this year, and still could. He may beat out Jeff George Jr. for the No. 2 spot. Thomas got at least 10 plays with the 1's and a bunch with the 2's as they rotated in a lot of players on all three units.
* The most effective throws were to the tight ends on stick routes in the red zone. Andrew Trainer and Grifin Palmer both had TD catches. Crouch and George were off target on a lot of the longer routes, though Smalling did have a TD on fade route from Crouch.
* I talked about PK James McCourt last week, and he may beat out Chase McLaughlan. McCourt did all of the field goal kicking today and looked good.
* Punt returners were Carmoni Green, Reggie Corbin, Tony Adams, and Trenard Davis. Adams will eventually play a big role on special teams.
DEFENSE NOTES:
* Freshmen who got first team reps included DE Bobby Roundtree, CB Tony Adams, and S Bennett Williams.
* The linebacker crew continues to impress. They're getting good play 6 guys deep. Starters are MIKE Tre Watson SAM Julian Jones and WILL Jake Hansen. The second group is MIKE Dele Harding, SAM Justice Williams and WILL Del'Shawn Phillips.
* Two freshmen are now starting in the secondary. Cornerback Tony Adams and strong safety Bennett Williams. Adams is still learning a little bit, but he makes up for mistakes with good closing speed. He had an INT on a play where Crouch targeted Smalling down the sideline. Williams isn't as physical as Stanley Green, but he's much faster. Green was running with the 2's today. With Jaylen Dunlap still out, Adams is playing field-side corner and Ahmair Hayes on the boundary side. The No.1 nickel is Cameron Watkins. Second team DB's were SS Stanley Green, FS Dawson Degroot, Frank Sumpter and walk-on Nolan Bernat at corner. Freshman Nate Hobbs will be in the mix when he gets back. Hobbs has mono.
* Bobby Roundtree played some right end on running downs, and James Crawford came in on passing downs. That makes a lot of sense. Crawford isn't very physical. Christian Abercrombie, who moved to DE from LB, is starting to get more reps with the 2's - playing the same pass-rushing role as Crawford. The fact that some of the younger guys are getting good pressure on the quarterbacks - Carney, Roundtree, Gay, etc - is not a good sign for the Illini offensive line. And they were getting pressure without blitzing much at all today.
* Freshman Blake Hayes will be the punter.
Practice on Tuesday is at 2:20.
What are your questions?
