It’s strange.  I do all of these quick-hitter podcasts yesterday, and now I sit down at my laptop and my brain says “Typing? Can’t we just talk like yesterday?” Quiet, brain. There is much to cover.

+ Kudos to those pointing out that I was missing Whitney Mercilus and Wisdom Onyegbule on my depth charts.  Very true.  Here’s what I think happened.

During the drill I watched, those were the three strings.  Justin Staples was the rush end on the second string defense, and Daryle Ballew was the defensive tackle on the same line.  When they called for the “3′s”, it was mostly freshmen.  Thomas-Bates-Brown at linebacker, Denmark-Howe-Teitsma-Kynard on the line, etc.  What does that mean?  I think it means that the Staples/Mercilus battle for backup rush end is a good one.  Same with Ballew/Onyegbule.  And the “3′s” are probably settling in as the scout team.  So maybe I should have viewed it as first string, second string, and scout team.

To those who tweeted and commented on this, good catch.  I love that the depth chart matters to more people than just me.

+ I’ll finalize my Camp Awards tomorrow (I know – you’ll lose sleep).  Here’s a sneak peak.  The Camp Crush award is probably a two-horse race between Corey Liuget and Nathan Scheelhaase.  With a slight edge to Liuget. Beast.

The Eye Opening player award is probably also a two horse race.  STEVEHULL! (I’m vowing to write his name like that the rest of the season) is probably far out in front, but the darkhorse is Chris Willitt. (You can find the first ever A Lion Eye player interview – featuring Chris Willitt – here).

Who’s Chris Willitt?  A smart kid, that’s who.  He’s from Missouri.  He walked on at Missouri last year.  He found his way onto their kick coverage units by the 4th game.  And he made 5 special teams tackles on the season.  Then, he realized the darkness that hung over Columbia, MO (not really) and decided he needed to escape the evil empire (he didn’t say this at all), so he transferred to Illinois.  And because there is one exception per year for an unrecruited, non-scholarship player to be added to the roster without a required redshirt, he gets to play this fall.  And he might get to play a lot this fall.  Chip Long seems to like him as an H-back.  Ron Zook seems to like him on special teams.  Robert the Blogger (doesn’t have the same ring as Robert the Bruce, does it?) likes him as all of these things.  I think he might pull a Zach Becker and start getting more looks than the scholarship guys.  He’s brand new, so he’s still learning the system, but the kid is a hustler and a hard worker.  Robert the Blogger like.

And for the record, here are the other recipients of these distinguished awards:

Spring 2009 – Spring Ball Crush: Mikel LeShoure; Eye Opening Player: Jerry Brown (*snif*)
Camp Rantoul 2009 – Camp Crush: Juice Williams (*sigh*); Eye Opening Player: Joelil Thrash
Spring 2010 – Spring Ball Crush: Nathan Scheelhaase; Eye Opening Player: Justin Staples

+ I got an email asking about the special teams.  Today’s practice was the most special-teams-heavy practice I’ve ever seen in Rantoul.  Maybe it was the heat, so they decided to work on lane assignments and such while most of the players got a breather.  But there was lots and lots of special teams work.

A few guesses: Terry Hawthorne and Justin Green return kickoffs (they worked 5 or 6 guys back there, but I think Hawthorne and Green eventually win the job). Fastest Illini kickoff return tandem ever?  Absolutely.  Justin Green almost broke one in practice today (yay kickoff blocking! boo kickoff coverage!), but Derek Dimke guessed right and stopped him at midfield.  And by stopped him I mean “kind of ran into him which counted for a tackle in this non-tackling kick return.”  It was a legit return, though.  Nobody got a hand on Green until Dimke.

Punt return?  My vote obviously goes to Terry Hawthorne.  And I think he’s won the job.  They worked Hawthorne, Ramsey, and I want to say Darius Millines back there, but I think it’s Black Cat’s job to lose. After 50 punt return yards on the season last year, we obviously have a lot to prove in that area.  Bold prediction: Black Cat surpasses that in the Missouri game.

+ I really do think the starting defense is set.  The main camp battles were Buchanan v. Palmer at Bandit, Foster v. Spence at DT, and all 4 safeties versus each other.  After this week, it appears that Buchanan has held off Palmer, Spence has beaten out Foster, and Sanni & Henry have grabbed hold of the starting safety positions (Sanni strong and Henry free).  I can’t see any changes to this before the Missouri game. Buchanan-Liuget-Spence-Nurse, Thomas-M. Wilson-Bussey, Hawthorne-Sanni-Henry-T. Wilson.  In ink.

+ Almost forgot – here’s a thought on Walt Aikens working at cornerback: experience on the outside so he can be the nickel? That’s what I’m currently leaning towards.  Bellamy appears to be the nickel right now, but maybe Aikens is making a push for 5th-DB-on-the-field.  Get him experience out there, because when he comes on in the nickel or dime, he might be taking a slot receiver in man coverage.

+ You know who looks like he’s having a good camp? Craig Wilson (backup offensive tackle).  He was highly ranked coming out of prep school, but has been buried in the depth chart since.  He looks a little more in shape, and he’s really pushing it out there.  When the offensive line broke out into unit drills yesterday, they had to run to the far end of the field to the blocking sled.  Wilson beat his teammates there by 20 yards.  After practice on Thursday, Wilson was the last player to leave the field, staying late to work on footwork drills with freshman walkon Edward VanderHeyden.  I think Wilson wants to play.

+ Also of note: true freshman tight end Evan Wilson.  This kid is getting lots of reps at tight end.  He’s listed at 6′-6″ on the official roster, but I swear he’s 6′-8″.  It’s so easy to pick him out when there’s a mass of offensive players standing around – he’ll be the one with the orange helmet sticking up above everyone in the pack.

His conditioning probably isn’t that great (not many freshmen are ready in that regard), and I saw him really dragging a couple times in 11 on 11.  But he toughed it out, caught a few nice balls, and probably made the coaches really discuss whether he could be a factor this fall.  (Which, by the way, might put 4 Wilson’s on the field this fall – Martez, Tavon, Craig, and Evan.  WILLLSONNNN!!)

+ One last thing.  Here’s the shaky video I took of the first flyover.  The second one was better (plane seemed lower, and the pilot turned on the afterburners – so very loud), but I didn’t have my camera (er, phone) ready for that one.