Jul. 29—The Illinois football team gathered Sunday for the start of fall training camp. Monday marks the first day of practice, and beat writer Scott Richey has a roster breakdown, position by position, to catch you up on Bret Bielema’s latest squad:
is back for year two as QB1 for the Illini with a sense of comfort in coordinator ‘s offense after making nine starts in 2023. Comfort that should help Altmyer avoid the interception trouble he had early last fall and build off his 1,883-yard, 13-touchdown season. Illinois needs Altmyer — the only quarterback on the roster to have appeared in a college football game — to stay healthy or at least get in some blowouts so backup can get some experience.
No one was safe from injury last fall in Illinois’ running backs room, with none of the four of the primary options playing more than nine games. Leading rusher left for Purdue, leaving (438 yards, two touchdowns) as the top returner. But the 6-foot-3, 250-pound sophomore will split carries with at least and in what ‘s basically called a timeshare. (once he’s healthy) and true freshman might also figure into the rotation.
The task of replacing a 1,000-yard receiver () and an NFL draft pick () will fall to , star transfer and a slew of young wide receivers. Landing Franklin, who has 3,386 receiving yards and 38 touchdowns in his career, was a borderline necessity to inject experience into the Illini’s receiver options. Some combination of , , , and will have to step into a more prominent role.
Illinois was sort of planning on still having at tight end this season. Then the former walk-on essentially maxed out the physical testing at the NFL draft combine and wound up a third-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals. So the Illini hit the portal to fill out its tight end room, adding FCS All-American (Murray State) and Division…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ready-football-174800430.html
Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Publish date : 2024-07-29 17:48:00
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