Football
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Dan Ellington has joined the Illinois coaching staff as the program’s assistant wide receivers coach, head coach Bret Bielema announced Friday. Ellington spent last season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Itawamba (Miss.) Community College after previously spending four seasons on the offensive staff at his alma mater, Georgia State.
“It is great to bring in another bright young coach who has experience coaching multiple positions and has been a coordinator at the junior college level,” said Bielema. “Coach Ellington comes highly recommended from around the coaching world. We’re excited to get him to Champaign.”
“I’m extremely excited to join Coach Bielema’s staff and the Illinois football program,” said Ellington. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity Coach Bielema has given me. I have been a fan of his for a while, and I have seen nothing but greatness from him. Big things are happening here in Champaign, and I am honored to be a part of this program. My fiancée Angela and I are very thrilled to be here!”
Ellington helped Itawamba to a 6-3 record as the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2024, the program’s best season since 2017, when Ellington was a standout player for ICC. Ellington was the 2017 MACCC Player of the Year and a junior college All-American as a player at Itawamba, before he finished his standout playing career at Georgia State.
Ellington helped Georgia State to some of its best seasons in program history when he was on the offensive staff from 2020-23 and a player from 2018-19. Georgia State won 25 games over Ellington’s four-year stretch on staff, including victories in the 2020 LendingTree Bowl, 2021 Camellia Bowl, and 2023 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. He coached the team’s running backs for his first two seasons from 2020-21, before transitioning to tight ends coach from 2022-23.
In his first two seasons on the staff, Ellington coached three All-Sun Belt Conference running backs who each gained over 750 yards. In 2021, his All-Sun Belt backs Tucker Gregg and Jamyest…
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