Illinois brought in a new head coach by the name of Lovie Smith. He replaced Bill Cubit who was let go after a new athletic director entered the picture.
With this coaching change at the top comes coaching changes for each position.
Lovie hired his own offensive coordinator and that man is named Garrick McGee.
McGee came from Louisville where he was roughly in the same position with the Cardinals. The Lovie Effect kicked in and McGee decided to join the Illini staff.
This coaching change on offense usually hurts a team in the first year because it is a whole new playbook and system to learn for such young players.