Illinois Football: Bret Bielema picked the wrong place for the brutal truth

In the weekly press conference on Monday afternoon, Illinois football head coach Bret Bielema made some headlines.

So far through the first seven games of the season, the Illini sit with a 2-5 record. During this stretch, Bielema would step to the stage on Mondays and talk about areas of improvement and how this is a process. Yesterday’s press conference was different, though.

Bielema came out with his true feelings on where the program is and what needs to be fixed. Arguably, the biggest quote from Bielema was about the offensive line. Here is the quote about the offensive line.

"“I don’t believe we have a player in the two-deep, um, that they recruited here over the last three years this is really significantly doing anything for us in the playing department, and that is a major concern, right."

The video of the press conference was tweeted out by WCIA3’s Bret Beherns. From that tweet, many fans, enemies, and people across the country grabbed ahold of the video and have commented on it. Some of the people commenting included LaMont Carroll, the father of former Illini offensive lineman and current Pittsburgh Steelers center Kendrick Green, who tweeted, “Wow. Smh. Smh.”

Another prominent tweeter was former Illini offensive lineman and NFL veteran, Jeff Allen. He simply tweeted, “This isn’t a good look. What type of leadership is this?”

Bret Bielema picked the wrong place for the brutal truth about the Illinois football program.

I think you have to break the press conference clip down into two parts. You have to look at the content of what Bielema said, and you also have to look at where he said it.

Let’s look at the content first. Is what Bielema said about the offensive line current? I would say the answer is, yes. He is spot on with what he said. Actually, read the quote. Bielema is saying that Illinois doesn’t have a player in the second string on the offensive line that is ready to step in play significant snaps.

Not having depth on the offensive line does fall on the shoulders of the previous regime. They didn’t recruit young talent enough when it comes to the offensive line, among other positions. They tried to bring in microwave players, and that is biting the Illini in the butt right now.

But this also doesn’t mean the players in the second or third string can’t develop into good offensive linemen. Brody Wisecarver is just a freshman and has plenty of time to develop. Zachary Barlev and Josh Kreutz could have very bright futures. All Bielema is saying is if he calls on the second-string offensive line to play significant snaps, then the program is in trouble.

Bielema also goes on to talk about the quarterbacks for the Illini.

"“Top two quarterbacks who played to this point are both transfers, right um, so there hasn’t been any development at that position that is significantly playing right now.”"

Again, the content isn’t untruthful. Bielema is spot on with the lack of quarterback development with the past regime and, honestly, you can go back to Nathan Scheelhaase as the last time Illinois had a solid quarterback.

But, with that being said, Bielema picked the absolutely wrong place to express his feelings about the offensive line and other positions. A weekly press conference is not the place to spew feelings about what you think about the roster.

I would imagine Bielema would want the players to keep in-house stuff in the locker room, as most coaches do. So, the same should go for Bielema. He should have kept these feelings about the roster closer to the vest. He should probably have talked to players who he doesn’t see as a fit for this program one-on-one to let them know, rather than air out his issues via the microphone.

If we really look at this program, what Bielema said isn’t wrong. But where he said it was the issue. Hopefully, this doesn’t affect the program too much in a negative way, especially on the recruiting trail.