I plan on dedicating 1,200 words later this preseason to the topic of interceptions.  Why we threw so many.  Why we grabbed so few.  And why it’s better to be lucky than good.  But for now, in hopes of not mentioning the topic too many times in this cornerbacks preview, I’ll just say this: The most glaring statistic behind our 5-7 season was not 16 (Juice’s INT’s), it wasn’t 319 (total points given up by our defense), nor was it 31.6 (net punting).  It was 408 minutes and 19 seconds.  That’s the amount of time that elapsed on various game clocks around the midwest between Dere Hicks’ interception in the 3rd quarter of the EIU game and Donsay Hardeman’s interception in the 2nd quarter of the Iowa game. September 6th to November 1st. Six complete games and parts of two others. 408 minutes and 19 seconds without one. single. interception.

But enough about that.  I mean, why would a preview of cornerbacks need to mention interceptions? On to the breakdown.

Starters: Dere Hicks (SR), Tavon Wilson (SO)

Dere Hicks will probably be called on to be the vocal leader of the secondary. To put that a different way, as Pilch, Tez, Dere, and Donsay go, so goes the defense.  Each needs to be a leader, from team meetings to defensive huddles. I wholeheartedly believe in Ron Zook’s “a team will only go as far as their upperclassmen take them” coaching mentality, which means Dere Hicks needs to get in Patrick Nixon-Youman’s face when he drops too deep in the zone.

I don’t know if it will happen, but I want Dere Hicks to be the 3rd safety when we go into the nickel.  Justin Sanders was perfect in that role in 2007, most often acting as a third cornerback taking the slot receiver.  My wish for this year is that we bring in a cornerback as our 5th DB (Miami Thomas is my boy), and slide Hicks over into the Justin Sanders role.  Conventional wisdom has Travon Bellamy as the nickel guy, but I’m hoping for Hicks.

I was surprised when Tavon Wilson was given the number 3 last fall.  “Don’t we save the single digits for the blue chippers?”, I mused.  Apparently, we do.  Wilson quickly worked himself into the two-deep, and gained more and more minutes as the season wore on.  No, he won’t be Vontae Davis.  But he’ll certainly play a lot like him.  I remember hearing an Illini position coach mention this spring that the best tackler on the defense is Tavon Wilson, and watching him on the spring scrimmage highlights, he certainly backed that up.  Watch him at the :57 mark of the fantastic Oklahoma Drill video from this spring.  The kid just won’t give up on a tackle.

Now, whether he knows his spacing in a zone, or how he physical he plays the receiver off the line – that is all yet to be seen.  But who cares about that stuff? It’s not like a momentum changing interception here or there would change the outcome of an entire season or anything. (Last time, I promise)

Backups: Miami Thomas (rs-SO), Travon Bellamy (rs-JR), Antonio Gully (rs-JR), Nattiel Perkins (rs-FR)

I was really, really excited to see what Miami Thomas could do in 2008.  And then that awful knee injury in the second quarter of the EIU game, and he was done.  Goofus says it takes more than 12 months to recover from an ACL injury – Gallant says that if Northwestern defensive end Corey Wooten can tear his ACL in a bowl game and still be declared ready-to-go in September, then Miami Thomas can do it in 11 months.

Then again, I was excited to get Travon Bellamy back from injury last year, and he never looked comfortable.  I’m hoping it was because he was out of position (he played a fair amount as a freshman in 2006 at corner, then moved to safety in 2008, and now back to corner). So yes, I’m saying “Bellamy had a poor season last year because he was still recovering from injury” and “Miami Thomas doesn’t need 2 years to recover – he should be ready Thursday” in the same breath. With a take like that, I should start getting some featured-poster offers from Illinois football message boards.

Antonio Gully’s future appears to be as a special-teamer.  The rotation in front of him (and the young talent behind him) probably squeezes him out of a corner spot.  But special-teams-specialist sounds pretty good to me.  Our special teams aren’t very special.

Nattiel Perkins is a walk-on from Chicago Simeon.  I wouldn’t normally mention a walk-on in this space, but if the spring is any indication, Perkins might find his way on to the field this fall.  I haven’t seen enough of him on film or in person to make a determination as to whether or not he’ll ever find himself in the two-deep, but he made enough plays on the ball this spring to make me look up the roster to find out who wears #37.

Freshmen: Patrick Nixon-Youman, Joelil Thrash

Patrick Nixon-Youman (officially now PNY on ALE – told you I’m perfect for the message boards) was a member of the 2008 recruiting class, but is placed here because academic issues kept him from enrolling last fall.  He cleared it up, made it in at semester, participated in spring practices, and is likely our 4th corner in 2009.  Scouts Inc. was very high on PNY in high school, rating him the highest of any of our 2008 recruits.  And by all reports, he looked pretty good this spring before getting injured.  He should be fully healed and fully ready to push for playing time at Camp Rantoul.

I was surprised when Joelil Thrash was given the number 6 this summer.  “Don’t we save the single digits for the blue chippers?”, I mused.  Apparently, we do.  Thrash might quickly work himself into the two-deep and gain some minutes as the season wears on.  No, he won’t be Vontae Davis.  But he’ll certainly play a lot like him.

Summation: No Vontae, No Problem

I’ll say it.  I was disappointed in Vontae Davis’ final season at Illinois.  No, not just because of the lack of interceptions. He tackled well, he made big plays, and most importantly he made the other team game-plan against him.  But he never really made that play, you know?  Some have gone as far as saying he was playing it safe prior to the NFL draft.  I didn’t see that, but I didn’t see Vontae.

So I see a secondary without Vontae as “has a chance to be better”.  The young guys will make mistakes – both in coverage and in penalties – but with experienced players like Hicks, Bellamy, and even Thomas on the field, plus a burgeoning star in Tavon Wilson, I think this is the start of a solid secondary.  Can the safeties keep up?  We’ll find out on Wednesday.