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Illinois Football: Class of 2017 Position Grades for the Illini

By Rees Woodcock

Oct 1, 2016; Lincoln, NE, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith watches during the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers Illinois Fighting Illini in the first quarter at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 1, 2016; Lincoln, NE, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith watches during the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers Illinois Fighting Illini in the first quarter at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Illinois Football
Sep 3, 2016; Champaign, IL, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini wide receiver Samuel Harlib (82) and Illinois Fighting Illini offensive lineman Joe Spencer (71) celebrate with head coach Lovie Smith after the game against the Murray State Racers at Memorial Stadium. Illinois defeated Murray State 52 to 3. Mandatory Credit: Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports /

Offensive Line C

To start the 2016 season, Illinois had Gabe Megginson and Nick Allegretti starting at guard, Austin Schmidt and Christian DiLauro starting at tackle, and Joe Spencer starting at center.

This seemed like a pretty good offensive line last season and for the most part, it was.

But, there were some deficiencies, though.  I thought two of the best offensive linemen the Illini had were Spencer and Schmidt and both have departed.

DiLauro will be starting again at tackle for the Illini and he is by far the best offensive lineman Illinois has now.

Megginson is likely to start again this season as well.  He is projected to be the other starting tackle for the Illini.

To fill Spencer’s open center spot, Allegretti is projected to move over to that position and snap the ball.  He started every game last season at guard and one at center.

The guard positions then will be filled by sophomore Darta Lee, who made two starts and played in six games last season and Jordan Fagan, who played in seven games and had one start.

Let’s just say, the offensive line isn’t set in stone by any means.  Quite frankly I think it is one of the weakest positions on the team.

Lovie did bring in some nice talent from the class of 2017, though.

Howard Watkins enrolled early and will be a nice piece for depth.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a chance to start some games early on.

Illinois also has Alex Palczewski, Larry Boyd, and Vederian Low all coming in as well.  All three have potential to see some snaps this season due to the line being so uncertain.

The recruiting class of offensive linemen coming in is solid, but I can’t tell if there are any starters day one and that is what Illinois needs.

Lovie’s grade on the offensive linemen dips a little bit but isn’t terrible.

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