Illinois Football: The 30 greatest Illini players of all time

The offensive line doesn’t get enough love when talking about legends in the game of football. There have been some great players to don the Illinois uniform. One offensive lineman who is relatively unknown is Bernie Shively.

Again, there won’t be stats on Shively. He was an offensive guard who would help the Illini win a lot of games while he was in Champaign. The offense wouldn’t be the same without a player like Shively blocking for the quarterback and running back.

Illinois had some great seasons with Shively blocking. The man he was mainly blocking for was legendary running back Red Grange. So, you could argue that one of the reasons why Grange was so good was that he had a player like Shively blocking for him.

During Shively’s time with the Illini, the team went 17-6-1 and set up the team for a national title run. He was recognized as one of the best in the country during this time. In 1926, Shively was named a consensus First-Team All-American.

That is a great honor that not many Illini players have received. The legend of Shively might not be known, but he was one of the best during the prime of Illinois football.