Illinois football to face a myriad of receivers on the Biletnikoff Award watchlist

To no surprise, Illinois football has been left off the award for the top receiver in college football.

The Biletnikoff Award is given out each season to the most outstanding receiver in the college game. This doesn’t have to be a wide receiver, though. Anyone who catches a football is qualified, but for some reason, a member of the Illini squad currently isn’t in the running for this award.

On Wednesday, the Biletnikoff Award watchlist was released with a myriad of names from different schools around the country. None of those names are on the Illinois roster, though.

Six Big Ten receivers made the list, which includes Daniel Jackson from Minnesota, Tez Johnson from Oregon, Colston Loveland from Michigan, Emeka Egbuka from Ohio State, Will Pauling from Wisconsin, and Elijah Sarratt from Indiana.

For the 2024 season, Illinois’ defensive backs will have to go up against four players who made the list. Jackson, Johnson, and Loveland are three out of the four. The fourth is Kansas wide receiver, Lawrence Arnold.

Illinois football has a long history of missing out on the initial Biletnikoff Award watchlist

Am I completely surprised that Illinois didn’t have a receiver make the watchlist? No, we lost our top two wide receivers, so it isn’t shocking by any means.

I could make a case for Pat Bryant to be on the list, though. He had 43 receptions for 560 yards and seven touchdowns as Illinois’ No. 3 wide receiver last season. He is our No. 1 in 2024 and should have a big year.

Also, among all of the Big Ten wide receivers and Arnold, Bryant had more touchdowns than Arnold, Loveland, Egbuka, and Pauling last season. He also had more receiving yards than Egbuka.

Illinois missing out on the Biletnikoff Award watchlist isn’t anything new. On their website, they have watchlists dating back to 2014. Not a single Illinois receiver has made the initial watchlist.

In 2023, Isaiah Williams made the list on November 13. Geronimo Allison made the list on September 29, 2015. After a tear of a freshman season, Mike Dudek made the list on October 7, 2014.

If I had to guess, I would say Bryant appears on the Biletnikoff Award watchlist sometime this season. He is our best wide receiver, and with a year to gel with Luke Altmyer, the sky is the limit for the Illinois offense.