Illinois Football: 5 storylines to begin Illini training camp

2. Defensive end is a position to watch

There were a few defensive ends who emerged as potential starters moving forward. Bobby Roundtree was one of those defensive ends who came into the program and started almost immediately. He ended up starting nine games during his freshman campaign.

Jamal Woods and Isaiah Gay were two other defensive ends who made an impact on the team last season. Woods started four games for the Illini and really started to develop nicely. Gay started two games and showed that he had the potential to start in the future as well.

It looks like we need to keep an eye on at least one more defensive end. Last season, Owen Carney did end up playing in 10 games but didn’t get a start. This season, though, he might make a bigger impact. It is early in training camp, but Robert from Illiniboard.com says Carney has gotten better in the offseason.

The fact the Carney seems to have improved is big news. He was a top 500 recruit in the class of 2017 and having him emerge as a potential starter or at least a player who can play a lot of snaps is important because Illinois needs to improve on defense. Their run defense was sub-100 in the nation and that needs to improve. Maybe Carney can be a solution to their run defense problems.