Illinois Football: Key freshman wide receiver out for the 2022 season
By Zain Bando
Head coach Bret Bielema revealed that an Illinois football true freshman wideout is done for the year.
During his weekly press conference, Bielema previewed the Virginia game, ways to improve as a team, and touched on players who plan to return from injury. One of those players who unfortunately won’t return to the Illini, at least for this season, is true freshman, turned redshirt wide receiver, Shawn Miller.
Bielema did not specify the type of injury but did reveal that it was season-ending and will require surgery.
“Unfortunately he won’t be with us the rest of this year,” Bielema said at his press conference. “He’ll have surgery that will be a season-ending deal. They haven’t nailed down exactly how it’s at but it’s obviously something that will take him out for the rest of this year.”
Miller was a three-star recruit who committed to Illinois in July 2021. The IMG Academy product was the 99th best player in Florida and was rated on a national scale. He was part of a recruiting class that included Hank Beatty, Jared Badie, Magnus Moller, and Isaiah Adams, to name a few.
Miller’s mom also weighed in on her son’s injury on Twitter.
Tough for our family to process initially since Shawn had done everything in his power to enroll early & have an amazing spring. He came back from a broken collarbone diving for a ball. To be 1 of 3 freshman to make it in the 2 deep. He got in the 1st game 2nd qtr. https://t.co/SGVLeCJY9P
— Melissa Miller-Cisneros (@Cisneros_Miller) September 5, 2022
The thread then continued, talking about his commitment to the Illini.
Anytime you are a freshman able to make your way on the field is a huge accomplishment that we are so proud of him for. We are extremely hopeful for his future as overcoming adversity is what we do. This option to have surgery is long term investment-he will redshirt Thank you🙏
— Melissa Miller-Cisneros (@Cisneros_Miller) September 5, 2022
Shawn Miller enrolled early with the Illinois football program.
Miller spoke on how he improved his game throughout the offseason.
"I took that extra time and put it into the playbook, attacked the mental side of the game, watching my techniques from spring when I was healthy and learning the hand signals,” Miller told 247 Sports. “That transferred over to the summer and I feel like I’m playing the game at a faster pace because I know the offense way better.”"
Miller had yet to make an immediate impact on the roster throughout the first two weeks, but once he is fully healthy for the 2023 campaign, expect big things from the Chandler, Arizona native.
For now, though, only time will tell if the Illini can stay healthy as the schedule gets tougher with the Virginia Cavaliers traveling to Champaign on Saturday afternoon.
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