CHAMPAIGN — The football talk continues each day for M.J. Rivers II. Long after he leaves Memorial Stadium.
In the evenings, the Illinois freshman quarterback phones home to chat with his dad, Marcellus.
It’s much more than “Hi, how are you doing?”
Father and son talk for 30 to 45 minutes.
“It’s about each one of our days and what we did,” Rivers said. “Now, he’ll ask me ‘How is practice?’ ‘Anything you need to work on?’ and things like that.”
Dad knows what he is talking about after playing seven seasons in the NFL as a tight end with the Giants, Texans, Raiders, Saints and Patriots.