Illinois Football: Projected Defensive Depth Chart
DT Chunky Clements
Next: DT Rob Bain
Another member of this experienced strong defensive line is senior Chunky Clements.
Clements is coming into his senior season as one of the more underrated defensive tackles to come through Champaign.
Coming out of high school Clements was actually a decently recruited prospect. He was a 3-star recruit that had offers not only from Illinois, but also from Louisville, Tennessee and West Virginia.
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Illinois snagged this talented defensive lineman and made him a great defensive tackle.
The first season in Champaign Clements didn’t play very much. He saw 4 games and had 4 tackles in the playing time he received.
In Clements’ sophomore campaign he improved his production. He played in 13 games while recording 24 tackles and 2 sacks.
Last season Clements continued to improve tallying 35 tackles, in which 11.5 of those tackles were for negative yardage.
Clements is now coming into a role where he is the leader of this Illinois defense. He is an experienced senior that needs to be the main run stopper up the middle.
I look for Clements to continue to improve. Much like Smoot, Clements needs to play well this season because his future depends on it.
I think Clements will have a great season under new head coach Lovie Smith. This will help propel the Illini to a bowl game and Clements to NFL Draft status.