Today we start a weekly series where we analyze what’s left position by position for Illinois Football and what needs to be recruited. This week we’ll start with the offensive line.
Only a parent would know what it’s like watching a child take its first steps. Only a football aficionado, someone who gets visceral excitement watching an offensive tackle’s kick step get quicker, would glow with the anticipation of watching offensive lineman develop.
At Illinois, superb run-blocking linemen were in vogue for almost a solid decade. But since Ron Zook’s recruiting fell off and Tim Beckman redefined the word “failure”, the line stopped moving people off the ball and the running game dried up.