Illinois Football: Illini offensive line relying on young talent
The Illinois football team needs to protect their playmakers and having a good offensive line is the way to go about doing that.
After the 2016 season, more than one starting offensive lineman graduated from the program. Joe Spencer and Austin Schmidt weren’t just run-of-the-mill players, though.
Spencer was a team captain last year and started in 11 games. He was an All-Big Ten honorable mention and a Phil Steele All-Big Ten third team member. It is difficult to replace a center of his caliber but Illinois will attempt to do so this season.
The same can be said for Schmidt as well. He started all but one game in the last two years. Replacing a talented tackle like him is not an easy task, but the Illini will have to do it this year.
These two players leave two big holes in the offensive line. Illinois didn’t protect the quarterback well last season, but that wasn’t because of Schmidt and Spencer. These two were the glue that held that line together.
It looks like the two players that will be replacing these talented offensive linemen will be Doug Kramer and Adam Solomon.
Kramer is slotted as the starting center as of right now and that is impressive because he is a redshirt freshman. He hasn’t had the playing time like some other offensive lineman but has already caught the eye of Garrick McGee and Luke Butkus.
When Kramer came into the Illinois football program he was a two-star guard. In less than a year he has developed into a starting center on this team and that is an impressive transformation.
Solomon has done a great job developing as well. He will be replacing Schmidt at tackle without much experience on the football field at the college level.
Illinois redshirted Solomon during his freshman campaign in 2015. He then played in eight games last season, but a lot of those snaps were on special teams. He is now looking to be the starting tackle and that is more than I thought he would achieve by this point.
Solomon came in as a three-star recruit who was the No. 54 offensive tackle in the class of 2015. There is some young decent talent behind him as well, so that makes his rise awfully impressive.
Both Solomon and Kramer are being called upon to fill two major holes. These two have developed enough for the coaching staff to rely on them, and that makes me excited for the future.
Next: Top 3 in-state recruiting targets for Lovie Smith
The offensive line is getting better and they are extremely young. As long as they continue to progress, the future will be bright for this Illinois football program.