Illinois Football: Illini will have to adjust to life without Bennett Williams

The Illinois football team was dealt a big blow on Wednesday night.

Bret Beherns first reported that Illinois safety Bennett Williams has been kicked off the team. This is a sad ending to what could have been a legendary career for Williams at Illinois. Beherns mentions that Williams was kicked off the team for a violation of team rules.

Williams wasn’t the most highly rated recruit coming out of high school. He was a 5-foot-11, 192-pound cornerback from St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California. He was rated as a three-star recruit who was the No. 1916 player in the class of 2017 and the No. 191 cornerback in the nation.

Lovie Smith and Hardy Nickerson saw the potential in Williams and decided to move him over to safety where he shined. Williams earned ESPN Freshman All-American status and made the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. His potential was through the roof and many expected him to be the stalwart for this Illini secondary in 2018.

Williams entered his sophomore campaign suspended for the first three contests due to a violation of team rules. He did make it back for the Penn State game, though. Now, something happened with Williams and the team where he is not a part of the Illini program anymore.

What does this mean for the Illini? Well, I never want players to be suspended or kicked off the team. I want them to be smart and not violate team rules. But, at least the Illini defensive backs had a chance to enter the season without Williams so we aren’t entering game six with a huge hole in the defense. Illinois has pretty much adjusted to life without Williams this season.

I really like what Illinois is developing right now at the safety position. Sydney Brown is really starting to come into his own. The Illini are using him in many different looks to throw off the opposing offenses. I also noticed, specifically in the Rutgers game, that Tony Adams has been playing a safety role as well. He was dropped back with Brown as one of the two-deep safeties. He is also the lone safety when Illinois just goes with the one-deep safety.

Having Williams this season would have been amazing. He was coming off a Freshman All-American season. He would have made this Illini defense better. But, the coaches are starting to develop some players to fill in for Williams. The only thing I am worried about right now is depth. Illinois has to stay healthy.