Isaiah Williams’ commitment to the Illini in March set off a storm on college football Twitter.
Up to this point, Lovie’s Illini had been largely ignored, but on this chilly Friday morning in March, they seemingly had everyone’s attention.
We previously mentioned William’s commitment as a Favorite Illini Moment. So my favorite moment is not the commitment itself but the confluence of events that led to Illinois being the toast of Twitter in late March and, more importantly, the realization that Lovie knows what he’s doing.
From August 2015 until March 2016, Illinois entered a period of massive instability: the University suddenly fired Tim Beckman prior to fall camp, named Bill Cubit as interim coach, and then doubled down on Cubit by naming him head coach only to fire him a few weeks before spring practice, long after coaching changes are ordinarily made.