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Illinois Football: Position evaluations midway through the 2017 season

By Rees Woodcock

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)
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) /
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CHAMPAIGN, IL – NOVEMBER 16: A general view of Memorial Stadium as the Ohio State Buckeyes take on the Illinois Fighting Illini on November 16, 2013 in Champaign, Illinois. Ohio State defeated Illinois 60-35. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Offensive Line

Current: D+

The offensive line is the most important position on any football team, and that is where the Illini are currently lacking. They need more offensive line help and the current roster needs to develop.

The one upside to the current Illinois offensive line situation is how young they are. They started four freshmen against Rutgers and that is a positive to get those guys experience on the football field.

Christian DiLauro and Jordan Fagan will be the only two offensive linemen departing after this season. They are contributors to this program but right now, this team is about the future and developing the young talent.

Hopefully, Gabe Megginson continues to develop. He struggled during his freshman season last year and hasn’t done well in 2017 either. He has a lot of talent but needs to step up into more of a leadership role. I expect him to be a starter next season as a junior. Nick Allegretti is going to be a starter in 2018 as well. He will be the lone senior on the offensive line for the Illini. He has been the rock for this group this season as well.

Illinois has played a tremendous amount of freshmen this season. Alex Palczewski, Larry Boyd, Vederian Lowe and Doug Kramer are really logging a ton of snaps and that bodes well for the future. Kramer is looking to be the starting center for this team and the others should fall in place wherever Luke Butkus sees fit.

The youth really has lowered the current grade for the Illini. They also have some experienced guys who haven’t stepped up this season as well. The current situation on the offensive line is a mess but the future is bright.

Future: B-

The future grade is a grade and a half above the current grade because there is so much youth on the offensive line. I truly believe the Illinois offensive line will take a tremendous jump forward from this season to next. They have a lot of young guys who are just six games into their careers and are still learning the speed and playbook of the college game.

Illinois has also focused on the offensive line in the class of 2018 as well. Kievan Myers was a big pickup from the state of Texas. He and defensive tackle Calvin Avery are from the same high school program. I like the local product pickup of Jordyn Slaughter as well. He is listed as a three-star recruit who is the No. 521 player in the class of 2018. The Illini also snagged big-man Braeden Daniels who is also from the state of Texas.

There is no doubt Illinois is struggling right now on the offensive line but the future is bright. They have so much youth on the team and they have some solid players coming in. This grade seems about right.

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