Things are a bit out of order here. I am still waiting on a response for the Nebraska Q&A, but I have the next few games in line and ready to go, so we’ll soldier on. Today Brandon Birkhead of The Champaign Room stops by to talk about the Illini.
T-Mill: Lovie Smith went with the extreme youth movement last season. How does it pay dividends this year?
Brandon: I guess the obvious answer is all those young players are now a year older. The 15 true freshman that started (led the nation in 2017) and 22 who played (also led the nation) will be sophomores and should improve with their first full offseason with Illinois.