Illinois Football: Lovie Smith Nailed Big Ten Media Day Presser
The Illinois football team, led by head coach Lovie Smith, took Big Ten Media Day by storm.
Lovie Smith was the person everyone had their eyes on today because in the past Illinois fans have been embarrassed by the presentation that former head coaches have displayed.
But, we are in a different era of Illinois football now. The current coaching regime will present itself as a strong powerful front that will win games and represent the program well.
This powerful front is led by Lovie.
During Lovie’s press conference today I saw some great things and very, very, few flaws in his approach.
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I will start with the single flaw that I witnessed as Lovie stood up at that podium.
The only issue that might come about Lovie is that sometimes he seems to have low energy.
The low energy sometimes comes out of him and this dates back to when he was with the Chicago Bears. I wonder if this is also happening in recruiting pitches to athletes as well.
But, what seems like low energy also could be wisdom and thoughts being compiled before he speaks.
Lovie is a brilliant mind and that comes through in these press conferences as well.
There were multiple facets of Lovie that came through in the media day.
I loved Lovie’s poise and look. He is clearly here for business and to build a program to national prominence. I am excited to see what he can do with this football team.
While I think Lovie is going to make Illinois relevant again, he does have realistic goals.
In the press conference, Lovie mentions that he wants to make Illinois a national title contender, but he realizes that this team is not there yet.
What this says to me is Lovie knows he has only been with the program for a little over four months. In not so many words he is saying give the process some time and the results will come.
Lovie is also focusing on changing the program’s perception. In a great question by Chicago Tribune’s Shannon Ryan, she asked how Lovie was planning on changing the team’s perception.
The answer from Lovie was spot on in my books. He said that Whitman and himself have been reaching out to alumni and building a relationship with them.
Lovie also says that the perception change also takes place on the field. This makes sense because winning solves everything and that would change perception.
Toward the end of the presser with Lovie, he talked about some of the players this upcoming season.
Lovie said that the captains haven’t been named yet, but Dawuane Smoot is going to be one. This is a great move to show he has his players back and recognizes Smoot’s greatness.
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The other player Lovie talked extensively about is running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn.
Vaughn is set to be the starting running back for the Illini this season and Lovie is excited about the player he has in his sophomore workhorse.
Lovie mentioned on multiple occasions how he wants to give Vaughn the ball because he can make defenders miss around the line of scrimmage and in open space.
The exciting part about Lovie mentioning Vaughn is that he does know what a great player looks like. He mentioned that you can tell when a player is going to be great and he sees that in Vaughn.
In my opinion, Vaughn could end up being like former Chicago Bears running back Thomas Jones.
Both of these players are of similar size and their running styles remind me of one another.
Jones spent three years with the Bears and was extremely productive. He was also a member of that team that made it to the Super Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts.
Lovie transformed Jones from a backup running back to one of the best in the league. He had over 1,300 yards from scrimmage in each of the three seasons with the Bears.
This is what I want from Vaughn in the next three seasons and I think Lovie could bring it out of him.
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Big Ten Media Day got me even more excited for the upcoming season. Lovie has this team on the right path and Illinois fans just need to have patience.