Illinois Football: 7 Illini players who have struggled so far in 2023
Illinois football has had a less-than-ideal start to the 2023 campaign after splitting the first two games.
A win is a win, but the Illini were still lucky to sneak away with a victory over Toledo two weeks ago. This past Saturday, the team didn’t look great either. We came out of the gates lackluster, and Kansas jumped on the opportunity to put us away early.
I know Illinois has talent on this team, but there have been a couple of handfuls of players who haven’t played well. These players need to improve this week if we want any chance to win.
Here are seven Illinois football players who have struggled so far in 2023
1. Josh Gesky – Offensive Guard
If the Illinois football team wants to succeed, the offense is going to have to score points. We can’t do that with an offensive line that isn’t blocking well.
For much of the game, the Illini offense failed to move the ball against Kansas. Most of the lack of movement had to do with the air game not getting off the ground.
A player who needs to improve heading into the Penn State game is Illinois guard, Josh Gesky. He is an important piece to the Illinois offensive line, but he hasn’t played well this season.
Through two games, Gesky currently ranks No. 248 out of 516 guards in the country. While that is middle of the pack, I am going to need it to be much better than average.
In 2022, Gesky had a grade of 89.7 while being a backup. Now that he is getting starter snaps, that grade has dropped down to a 60.8 this season.
The strength of Gesky’s game is his run blocking. His grade is at 67.5 right now, which ranks No. 112 in the country. There were times he struggled with run blocking against Kansas, but this wasn’t his weakness by any means.
Gesky really struggles in pass blocking. He has a grade thus far of 45.0, which is one of the worst in the nation. He ranks No. 397 in pass blocking.
If Illinois’ offense wants to move the ball more efficiently, a player like Gesky has to start stepping up. He is a big part of this team, and when he doesn’t play well, the Illini will struggle.