First off, I need to acknowledge a mistake. I made up a master list of 103 players back in May, and I adjusted that list as I went along (a wide receiver leaves, so I bump up a walkon to take his place, etc.) I think it was when Tommy Davis transferred in that I made a mistake. I added him at #34, which bumped everyone down a notch, and I want to say I tried to accommodate this change by eliminating Jake Kumerow after he left the team, but I think what I did was bump off one player by mistake. That player: tight end Justin Lattimore.

This is both discouraging and encouraging. Discouraging because I pride myself in these rankings and the requisite joy that some parent might find if they stumble upon this blog and read the ramblings of some strange bearded man who knows entirely too much about their son. But encouraging in that my Illini spidey senses are still working. I’m relaxing on a raft in the middle of a lake yesterday when my inner Illini Lassie came barking. “What is it, girl? What’s that? I forgot Justin Lattimore in The 90 Illini?”

So I have righted this wrong. I still had JJ Robertson on the list, and he didn’t make grades, so I have replaced #82 with Justin Lattimore. You can read the updated post here.

OK, to Tommy Davis:

Tommy Davis
Safety
5′-11″, 205 lbs.
Senior (on scholarship, 1 year to play 1)
Althoff HS / East St. Louis, Illinois

ALE Ranking last year: NR

What I Know About Him:

Before someone says something, I’m listing high school and home town in each of these, not town where the high school is located. So yes, Althoff is in Belleville, but Davis is from East St. Louis.

Davis is our newest addition, having transferred in from NIU after graduating there in May. He’s a Maniscalco transfer who will be eligible to play right away. Where will he play? Well…

What I Expect From Him:

As he was at NIU, I’m expecting him to be mostly a return guy. Kickoffs and punts. Which, of course, kind of makes me ridiculously sad. Because I want Terry Hawthorne to play every down on offense and defense, return every kickoff, return every punt, and call the coin flip. So taking punt returns away from him – remember, he got to return punts for one game (the KFHB) last year and had 40% of our season punt return yards in one game – makes me sad. Of course, if that means 5 more snaps on offense for Black Cat, I’m for it.

Will Davis play much at safety? Maybe not. Learning a new system, incumbent starters, young guys we need to get ready for next years… I’m thinking Davis only gets spot duty in the secondary. But I do think he returns every punt and returns our return game to respectability. Team motto alert! Return our return game to respectability. And maybe win an extra game or two because of it.