Illinois Football: Wole Betiku has helped Illini to hot start

The Illinois football team that we have seen on the field over the past two weeks has come together with one goal in mind; to win.

That sounds like an obvious statement. Well, duh, each player wants to win and that is why they play football. But this Illinois team is different. I don’t want to say they are a patchwork bunch because that has negative connotations. They are a group of players – many of whom came from different paths – who want to succeed on the football field.

Illinois’ coaching staff has done a great job putting this team together. The Illini consist of players who started with the program, transfers who had to sit out a year and graduate transfer who have come in and given a shot in the arm to this rising program. One of the graduate transfers who is suiting up for the Illini is Wole Betiku Jr.

Betiku came to Illinois from USC where he barely saw the field. He received smatterings of playing time over the 2016 and 2017 campaigns and then dealt with injury after hip surgery in 2018. Sometimes a fresh start is what a player needs, and that is what Betiku got with the Orange and Blue.

Coming out of high school, Betiku was looked at as the best defensive end and a top 15 player in the country. Sometimes programs don’t see what they have with their players. But one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Betiku has come to this Illinois program and showed the world why he was so highly regarded at one time in his career. In the first game with the Illini, he racked up 6 tackles and 1.5 sacks in a win over Akron. This past weekend, Betiku was at it again as he had 4 tackles and 3.5 sacks in a win over UConn. The combination of strength and speed Betiku shows on the field has enabled him to put up big, unprecedented, numbers.

Through two games this season, Betiku now has 6.5 tackles for loss and 5 sacks. These numbers have rarely been seen for the Illini. Single-season defensive stats are hard to find prior to 2004, but I can definitively say that Betiku has had the most sacks and is tied with the most tackles for loss since 2004. I would assume he is up there with the best of them all-time as well.

Carroll Phillips had 6.5 TFL, which ties Betiku, and 2 sacks, which is second to Betiku, back in 2016. He is the closest player to replicating Betiku’s performance through two games. Some other notables included Whitney Mercilus who had 2 TFL and 1 sack, and Will Davis who had 2.5 TFL and 1.5 sacks through two games.

I realize Betiku will probably slow down a little bit once we hit Big Ten season, but his hot start has helped the Illini have a hot start. With that great game against UConn, he is now No. 5 all-time in single-game quarterback sacks for the Illini. He is only four sacks short of getting into the top 10 all-time in single-season sacks. This guy has been a menace already and will etch his name in many Illini records when it is all said and done.