5 biggest surprises from the Illinois football win over Eastern Illinois

5. Matthew Bailey’s immediate impact on the Illinois secondary

There are a lot of players who end up getting injured in the college game. Last season, Illinois dealt with a few big blows early on.

One of the biggest losses for the program was safety Matthew Bailey. Bailey missed the first couple of games last season with an ankle injury. He then suited up in the Penn State game only to go down with a season-ending shoulder injury.

Bailey ended up only playing 22 snaps in 2023 thanks to those injuries. So, now that he is back healthy, I figured he might be eased into action to get his feet wet again. That didn’t end up being the case against Eastern Illinois.

Not only did Bailey play often, but he led all Illini safeties in snaps. Bailey finished the game on Thursday with 44 snaps, and they were good snaps as well.

According to Pro Football Focus, Bailey had the second-highest safety grade on the Illinois roster at 74.9. This was only second to Miles Scott’s massive game.

I know Bailey has a ton of talent, but this quick of an impact from him surprised me. I thought we were going to see him play, but the fact he literally doubled his snap total from last season in game one is crazy.

Illinois needs Bailey on the field, and not only has he not missed a beat, but he looked great for the program. I now expect Bailey to have a big year for this program.