Illinois Football: Illini mend depth issues with Tony Adams to safety

The Illinois football depth chart is getting a little shake-up despite still being about a month away from the opening kickoff.

Tony Adams was an integral part of Illinois’ resurgence this past season. The build-up to the successful 2019 campaign comes on the backs of players who put everything into this program as Adam has. The talented defensive back continues to do whatever it takes to improve the team.

On Tuesday, Adams announced that he will be moving back to the safety role. Adams, a consensus three-star by the national recruiting sites, entered the Illinois program in 2017 as a cornerback. Playing in five games and starting two of those contests, Adams racked up eight tackles and had an interception during his freshman campaign.

As Illinois dealt with injuries in 2018, Adams became a football chameleon, changing his position to fit whatever the program needed. He started his sophomore season five times at safety and two other times at cornerback.

Playing mostly cornerback in 2019, Adams continued to make a huge impact for the team. He started in 10 games for the Illini with some of the biggest plays of the year being produced by the playmaking defensive back.

But, while Adams is great at cornerback, the Illini need him more at safety in 2020.

With the departure of Stanley Green and the TreSean Smith transfer not working out, Illinois was in desperate need of more safety talent.

Sydney Brown will man one of the safety roles on the team. He will help stabilize the position. Illinois has potentially moved Derrick Smith to safety after thinking he would transition into a linebacker role. Quan Martin will provide depth at safety along with Smith.

Beyond depth issues at safety, another reason Adams can move over to this role is that Marquez Beason is healthy and ready to go. Beason, the superstar talent out of Texas, tore his ACL before the 2019 season could begin. He is now healthy and ready to take over the starting cornerback job.

Across the board, the starting defensive backs for Illinois are the best group I have seen in a long time. While depth might end up being an issue, I love what we have starting from day one. This Illinois football team is going to sneak up on some people in 2020.