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Illinois Football: Top 3 areas for the Illini to address in the class of 2021

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - SEPTEMBER 21: Head coach Lovie Smith of the Illinois Fighting Illini is seen before the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium on September 21, 2019 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - SEPTEMBER 21: Head coach Lovie Smith of the Illinois Fighting Illini is seen before the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium on September 21, 2019 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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Illinois football
LINCOLN, NE – NOVEMBER 10: Quarterback AJ Bush Jr. #1 of the Illinois Fighting Illini and offensive lineman Nick Allegretti #53 and offensive lineman Alex Palczewski #63 and offensive lineman Kendrick Green #55 and offensive lineman Vederian Lowe #79 lead the team on the field against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium on November 10, 2018 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /

1. Offensive line

The area that I believe is the strongest heading into the 2020 campaign is the offensive line. But I also think this grouping is the weakest when you look forward to 2021.

Illinois’ starting offensive line for the upcoming campaign will, likely, feature Vederian Lowe (LT), Kendrick Green (LG), Doug Kramer (C), Black Jeresaty (RG) and Alex Palczewski (RT). That is a stacked offensive line that should be one of the best in the entire country. That is great for the 2020 season but most of these talented offensive linemen won’t be here for 2021.

Lowe, Kramer, Jeresaty and Palczewski are all seniors this season. That means we are losing four out of the five starting offensive linemen after the 2021 campaign, with Green the only returning player. Depth behind these departing players is concerning as of right now.

I am not sure who is going to move over into the starting center role. Losing someone like ironman Kramer is going to hurt this program. I think the graduate transfer route might be the best option. You could always slide Verdis Brown over to center because he has experience playing the position. That weakens the right guard spot, though.

The projected starting offensive line in 2021, as of right now, looks something like Julian Pearl (LT), Green (LG), no one (C), Brown (RG) and Jordyn Slaughter (RT). I think it is fair to say that Illinois needs to load up on offensive linemen in the class of 2021.

Illinois’ game plan should be to land four or five offensive linemen coming out of high school. We need to snag a graduate transfer starting center and left tackle. This would make me feel a lot better about what we have on the front lines in 2021.

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