Scouting the Illini

This Season

Illinois enters this game 2-1 with a loss in the opener at Missouri, win against Southern Illinois, and win against Northern Illinois. The Illini had a bye last week and that separates the "Illinois School" part of the schedule and now Illinois enters the "State" part of the schedule with games against Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State. Against Missouri, Illinois had 200 yards rushing, 81 yards passing, and 13 points. Missouri had 23 points, 98 on the ground, and 281 yards in the air. The running game was down at 168 yards against Southern Illinois and jumped up to 319 yards against Northern Illinois. Illinois is averaging 25 points/game and allowing teams to score 16 points/game. Illinois is averaging 229 yards on the ground and allowing teams to only run 102 yards/game. The Illini average 359 yards in the air, but the defense allows 333 yards in the air/game.

 

Offense

At QB is redshirt freshman Nathan Scheelhaase who is 54% for 380 yards with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Scheelhaase also runs the ball and has 204 yards with a 5.1 yards/rush average and one rushing touchdown. He had 16 carries for 115 yards in the Northern Illinois game. Leading the running game is 6' junior Mikel Leshoure who averaged 67 yards/game last season and is averaging 132 yards/game this season. He is second in the Big Ten and seventh in the nation in rushing. At receiver is Jarred Fayson, AJ Jenkins, and Eddie McGee. Fayson has 46 receiving yards this season. Jenkins averages 62.3 yards/game in receiving. McGee missed the Northern Illinois game with an ankle injury, but he was in the Southern Illinois the week before as a receiver and a little bit as QB (his backup role last season). McGee could return for the OSU game as a receiver.

 

Defense

Leading the defense are a couple linebackers, junior Ian Thomas and junior Martez Wilson. Thomas has 24 tackles this season, including seven in the Northern Illinois game. Wilson has 25 tackles this season including eleven in the Northern Illinois game. The D-Line is young with Whitney Mercilus and Akeem Spence as first year starters. Clay Nurse is the most experienced on the D-Line. In the secondary both CB Justin Green and Safety Tavon Wilson lead the Big Ten and are 20th in the nation in passes defended.

 

Special Teams

Returning kicks are CB Justin Green and WR Jack Ramsey. Returning punts are Ramsey and WR Jerred Fayson. The placekicker is Derek Dimke, who is 4/4 on FG and 8/0 on PAT. He has a long of 52-yarder against Missouri. Punting is being handled by Anthony Santella who is second nationally with an average of 48.9 yards/punt. He has had two punts over 50 yards, with a long of 67 yards.