Illinois’ freshman class has already seen 17 players see the field in the first two games, and possibly no player has made the impact equal to running back Mike Epstein.
The 6-foot, 195-pound back from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, picked up 111 yards Saturday on 21 carries and is our Illini performer of the game to help Illinois (2-0) down Western Kentucky, 20-7. It’s hard to imagine his career getting off to much of a better start as Epstein found the end zone twice in the team’s season opener against Ball State.
But there was concern just six months ago that Epstein, who committed to Illinois in 2015 under former coach Tim Beckman, would decommit after bigger programs such as Michigan, Miami and UCLA started showing increased interest in three-star recruit.