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Year two of the Bret Bielema era officially began this week as Illinois had its first spring practice on Tuesday. The Illini had practice on Thursday and Saturday, as well, and the pads came over the weekend for the first time.
Illinois is working towards its Orange and Blue Spring game on Thursday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. CT.
Back to Work
After an 8-week period of offseason training with Director of Football Strength and Conditioning Tank Wright, the Illini football team got back to field work on Tuesday. Because Illinois had the most super-seniors in the country on its 2021 roster, the spring season will feature a lot of new faces.
For some key contributors from last season like Josh McCray or Casey Washington this is the first spring football ever, let alone under Bielema and his staff. McCray, now a sophomore running back, didn’t join the Illini until the fall while Washington, a junior, didn’t have a spring season his freshman year then briefly left for Wake Forest last year.
Both Washington and McCray were surprised by how different spring ball is from fall training camp, but they were just excited to get back in Memorial Stadium and see some of their new teammates play.
“It’s been good. It’s always good to get back in the flow of things, Washington said. “Good to be back in a team environment like that with the guys. The offense looks good. We’ve got young guys here, so it’s good seeing them step up and make plays. Today, Shawn Miller, good, good player coming in, we all knew he was good. But just to see him make players out there. It’s fun to watch.”
New Energy on Offense
Over the offseason, Bret Bielema made one coaching change after his first season, bringing in Barry Lunney Jr. from UTSA as the offensive coordinator. Because of NCAA rules, Lunney hasn’t been able to spend significant time with his new roster….
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