Illinois Football: 7 Illini players who have struggled so far in 2023

2. Zy Crisler – Offensive Tackle

Illinois is still 1-1 this season despite the struggles of many players on the team. The defense can’t stop the opposing team consistently, and the Illini offense isn’t putting points on the board to help the defense out.

Many players should shoulder the blame for the team struggling to start the 2023 campaign, and there is one player who has noticeably been bad.

Offensive tackle Zy Crisler hasn’t played up to his potential in the first two games this season, and he knows this. He continuously gets burnt on the edges, and he is slow coming off the line of scrimmage.

Currently, Crisler is one of the lowest-graded offensive tackles in all of college football. He ranks No. 550 out of 563 offensive tackles graded, as he sits with a 37.4  grade through two games.

Crisler’s run blocking hasn’t been good, but it is his best attribute right now. He has a 55.0 grade for run blocking, which is No. 361 in the country. Where things really fall off is pass blocking. Crisler has a grade of 7.3. That is insanely low, and he ranks No. 462 out of 466 offensive tackles who have been graded for pass blocking.

Without even seeing the grades, I could have told you that Crisler was struggling with pass blocking. There were numerous times over the past couple of weeks that a defensive end has just blown by or did a spin move and gotten by Crisler on the end of the line. I need to see massive improvement out of Crisler moving forward. Illinois has to have him perform better, especially against Penn State.