6. DE Owen Carney Jr.
Illinois’ most feared defensive lineman last season was Owen Carney Jr. He finished the 2020 campaign with 27 tackles, 5 sacks and 1 forced fumble. After saying he was transferring, Carney announced on Sunday that we would return to Champaign. This was big for both the program and his development.
The Numbers
I have documented the talented rush defenses that Bret Bielema has brought to his teams over his 12-year coaching career. Wisconsin had some great rush defense teams, finishing in the top three in the Big Ten twice and even having the best rush defense in the conference in 2009.
Coach Bielema’s Arkansas teams had some good rush defenses as well. They finished top three in the SEC on two different occasions during his time with the Razorbacks.
Carney is coming back for one more season, and he should have a great year. While he finished with five sacks this season, he did that in only seven games. If you expand that out to a 12-game season, he would finish with 8.5 sacks.
Illinois is now bringing in a coach in Bielema who knows how to get to the quarterback. In 10 out of his 12 seasons as a head coach, Coach Bielema’s teams have had a player with at least five sacks on the year. In six of those seasons, the player had at least six sacks.
Talent Development
Coach Bielema has put some great talent into the NFL level as well. Matt Shaughnessy spent two years with Wisconsin, and he finished those two seasons with 100 tackles, 26 tackles for loss and 9 sacks. He was picked in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft.
A guy you may have heard of is JJ Watt. A transfer tight end from Central Michigan, Watt moved to defensive end where he was great with Wisconsin. Watt finished his two seasons under Coach Bielema with 106 tackles, 36.5 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks. Watt went in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft.
With Arkansas, Coach Bielema continued to develop players. He had defensive end Chris Smith finish his senior season with 36 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks. He was picked in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
Trey Flowers spent two years under Coach Bielema and improved each season. He finished his senior year with 68 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss and 6 sacks. Flowers would get picked in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft.
And the final example of talent development I want to point out is with Deatrich Wise Jr. In his last two seasons with the Razorbacks, Wise had 80 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks. He was picked in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft.