Illinois Football: James McCourt earns Special Teams Player of the Week

Illinois football changed the negative momentum on Saturday with a big win over Rutgers.

The win was a solid comeback that featured some great plays and a game-winning field goal by James McCourt. This great kick isn’t the only notoriety that McCourt is getting, though.

On Monday morning, the Big Ten announced their weekend awards and McCourt ended up taking home the Special Teams Player of the Week honor. This is some great recognition for arguably the biggest play this season for the Orange and Blue.

This is McCourt’s first time receiving the honors of Special Teams Player of the Week. Illinois did have Blake Hayes win the award in 2019, but McCourt is starting to fill up his trophy cabinet with some nice hardware.

Third time is the charm for McCourt

I love that McCourt earned the award of the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week. His kick not only won him the award, but it also erased some of the heartbreak he had in the previous two drives leading up to the game-winner.

Illinois had the game tied at 20-20 and forced Rutgers to punt the ball away. The offense drove down the field and set up McCourt for a long 54-yard field goal. The kick missed to the right.

On the next Rutgers possession, they throw an interception. Illinois moved the ball down the field and set up McCourt for another field goal, this time it was a 46-yard kick. Again, it went a little bit right.

Another Rutgers drive and another interception by the defense. The Orange and Blue didn’t have too far to go to get McCourt back into field goal range. This time, McCourt lined up the kick on the right hash and nailed it from 47 yards out.

Let’s also not forget, McCourt missed some games due to COVID-19 trace testing. He wasn’t sharp in this game because he wasn’t able to play much this season. Even with the lack of reps this year, the clutch kicker still nailed the game-winner. This kid is special.