Illinois Football: A thank you to the departing Illini seniors

I wanted to take a few minutes today to send out an appreciation post to the Illinois football seniors.

Most of the Illini senior class has been through a lot. It has been four or five years of ups and downs, but most importantly, we were all in this together. You, on the field playing hard, and we, as fans, rooting you on no matter the circumstances. We were all in this together.

There are quite a few seniors I would like to thank from the Illinois football team.

Let’s first look at the defense. There were so many players who started at one position and then switched to another in the past few years. Some of those players, like Tony Adams, switched multiple times.

Without the Illini defense, especially for the 2021 campaign, the number of losses would have been astronomical.

Adams was one of the main stalwarts in the Illinois defense the past number of years. He went from cornerback to safety back to cornerback during his career. Owen Carney Jr. and Isaiah Gay moved from defensive end to outside linebacker this past season. These three doing whatever it takes for the team to win means a lot to this Illini fan.

I’ll never forget players like Rod Perry and Prather Hudson who both transferred into the program and took a chance on the Illini. Their decision to come help the team doesn’t go unnoticed.

Even the players on defense who didn’t see a ton of action, I appreciate you greatly. Kendall Smith has switched positions multiple times during his Illinois career. He was one of the first in-state commitments from the previous coaching regime. Smith is still with the team today.

Lastly, on defense, I want to thank Jake Hansen. You dealt with some tough injuries throughout your career, but you continued to battle back. You continued to fight. For that, I say thank you.

Thank you to all of the senior defensive players: Tony Adams, Kendall Smith, Prather Hudson, Christian Bobak, Tailon Leitzsey, Jake Hansen, Jamal Woods, Isaiah Gay, Rod Perry, and Owen Carney.

Illinois’ offense is about to lose some serious talent as well.

The offensive line is about to be gutted. Doug Kramer has anchored the center of the Illinois offensive line for years now. Kramer, Vederian Lowe, and Alex Palczewski have all been staples in the Illini front five for the past five seasons. They didn’t just stick with the program, but all three came back for an extra year. That is greatly appreciated.

Illinois had a couple of big offensive linemen transfer into the program as well. Blake Jeresaty and Jack Badovinac helped bolster one of the best run-blocking offensive lines in the country. They took a chance on the Illinois football team, and that means a lot.

Thank you to all of the senior offensive players: Desmond Dan Jr, Brandon Peters, Mike Epstein, Michael Marchese, Blake Jeresaty, Alex Palczewski, Doug Kramer, Jack Badovinac, and Vederian Lowe.

And now I want to thank the Illinois special teams. Blake Hayes has been one of the best punters, if not the best punter, in school history. When the rest of the team was struggling, Hayes was still pinning the opponent inside the 10-yard line. Let’s not forget his great juke moves against the ghosts out there on the field as well.

James McCourt also gave Illini Nation some great memories. His kick to beat a top 10 Wisconsin Badgers team was something special. Without that kick, we would have never made a bowl game.

Thank you to all of the senior special teams players: Blake Hayes, James McCourt, Ethan Tabel.

While the season has come to a close and this senior class is moving on to bigger and better things, I wanted to stop for a moment and say thank you to all of the seniors. I know it wasn’t easy, but you mean a lot to Illini Nation.