Illinois Football: Position evaluations midway through the 2017 season

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IOWA CITY, IOWA- OCTOBER 07: Head coach Lovie Smith of the Illinois Fighting Illini argues with an official during the second quarter against the Iowa Hawkeyes on October 7, 2017 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

The Illinois football team is now halfway through the 2017 season and they sit with a 2-4 record overall.

This isn’t where I wanted to see the program record-wise. After winning the first two games of the season, the Illini have now dropped four in a row and there isn’t an answer in sight. Illinois has two road contests in the next three games, and the only home game is against No. 5 Wisconsin. This could be a rough season.

But, now that we are at the halfway point, I wanted to do an evaluation of each position group. There are some positions that are more responsible for the current record of the Illini program than others. Development is key at this point in the season, though.

I will break down the current squad for the Illini and then preview what is coming in to help that squad improve from the performances we are seeing in 2017. This way, we can see the bad first and then end on a positive note about the future.

There is a lot of improvement that can be made over the final six games. I would like to see the team continue to fight for the current coaching staff. Overall, though, I would like to see each player improve at their respective position.

Here are the position evaluations halfway through the season.

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