5 biggest surprises from the Illinois football win over Eastern Illinois

2. The low snap count of Terrance Brooks

Illinois had a pretty good offseason when it came to recruiting. The traditional freshman class was solid and has already paid dividends for the program. The transfer portal haul wasn’t bad either.

The top transfer portal player Illinois was able to land was cornerback Terrance Brooks from Texas. He was highly touted in the transfer portal, but Illinois made him a priority and brought him into the program.

I figured Brooks would be the starter and star of the Illinois defense in 2024. He had a ton of talent with the Longhorns, and I fully expected him to be on display against Eastern Illinois. That didn’t end up being the case at all, though.

Brooks only played a total of 14 snaps on defense, which was tied for the lowest among all six of our cornerbacks who played on Thursday night.

Even though Brooks only played 14 snaps, Pro Football Focus has him with a grade of 74.9, which far outpaces every other Illinois cornerback who played in the game. That shows you how talented this kid is on the football field.

After the game, Matthew Stevens of IlliniGuys.com posted a quote from Bret Bielema about Brooks’ participation against Eastern Illinois.

“The more he does things in our program the right way and with consistency, his role with definitely continue to grow.”

I fully expect Brooks to see more snaps against Kansas and potentially even make a start. He is way too good not to have play early and often.