The Final 8. The Eight most important Illini. The other 80 players? Important. These eight? Vital. Brass tacks: If these eight players consistently play up to their ability, we can go to a bowl. 4 on offense, 4 on defense. Elite. Eight. Ok, you probably get it by now. 8. Clay Nurse I was fascinated [...]

16. Derek Dimke WILL HE EVER MISS? Yes, he will, but it’s fun to have a kicker who is 5-5 on his young career. I was a Dimke fan last summer in Rantoul and started a “Free Derek Dimke” campaign in early November. Here’s what I said at the time: Matt Eller has made one [...]

24. Anthony Santella OK, time for the top 24. Which, give or take a few players, should be the 22 starters plus the kicker and the punter. Poor punter. Nothing to do at practice, sits at the kicker table in the lunchroom, finishes 24th out of 24 on the starters + kickers list. Nobody ever [...]

32. Justin Lattimore Too high, you say? What’s a 3rd-string guy like Lattimore doing in the top 32? Allow me to take you back to the press conference where Paul Petrino was introduced. It was a cold December day. The Illini were coming off a disastrous ending to a disastrous season, and a new, young, [...]

40. Tyler Sands When he verballed in the summer of 2007, I could be heard telling people that we had wrapped up the right side of our offensive line for 2010 forward: Graham Pocic at right tackle and Tyler Sands at right guard.  Then I thought Pocic might be our future left guard and Sands [...]