Everyone wants to talk about Ryan Walters and Barry Lunney, Jr.
Countless articles are written about the defensive schemes and the new uptempo offense.
But very, very, very few people pay attention to the backbone of the entire operation — Tenarius “Tank” Wright, the Director of Strength and Development.
Here is a portion of his bio from the Illinois website:
Wright came to Illinois after serving seven seasons on strength and conditioning staffs at Arkansas and Michigan and a stint as the defensive line coach at Army West Point during the 2020 season.