Football Gabby Hajduk
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For the first time since the April, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema and his staff saw their players in full game action as the Illini had their firsts scrimmage of the fall on Monday.
With new NCAA rules limiting teams to just two full contact scrimmages during camp, Bielema placed an emphasis on Monday's practice. The team focused on early down situations, but also got looks in the red zone and on the special teams side.
"We had 72 snaps before halftime of live, old American football," Bielema said. "Live tackling, live blocking. Football games really get down to three things: how you run with the ball, how you tackle the ball and how you get on and off blocks. All downs kind of pertain to that. … Our guys are kind of locked into that. They know the answers, now they've got to be able to give them."
Fresh Faces
Nearly the entire coaching staff — Bielema included — saw the Illini in a game-like setting for just the second time on Monday. But for players who were in the maintenance program through the spring and transfers who joined the team this summer, the scrimmage was their first opportunity to showcase their talents.
Bielema got his first look at proven contributors coming off injuries like Mike Epstein, Alex Palczewski and Khalan Tolson. The staff also saw late returners like Jake Hansen and Casey Washington in live action for the first time.
"We put a huge importance on today. Certain guys stepped forward," Bielema said. "We've got a lot of new faces in here, not necessarily new faces to the program, but guys we haven't seen. … There's a lot of newness which is really fun to watch and see and to see it ignite their teammates."
Game Day Environment
One of the more important parts of Monday was seeing the depth at most positions unfold. Unlike the spring game, Bielema had the ones going against the ones, two against twos and threes against threes.
The staff did roll more than just 11 players through the potential starting rotation in order to get a good grasp on who they feel confident with in those roles. Bielema wanted to get a variety of guys competing alongside one another as he believes part of the players' obligation is to feel comfortable with "the partnership of the guy next to you."
Bielema also had his assistant and position coaches lay low when the ones were playing to make the scrimmage as similar to a game as possible.
"We didn't necessarily split up the coaches as we would on game day, next week we will," Bielema said. "But this week, especially when the ones were out there, I really had our coaches low volume. I wanted them to treat it as a game day environment. I wanted to see what our ones knew and what they're able to handle as a game unfolded."
What's Next?
With a little over two weeks until game day, the Illini will take this next week to look at film from the scrimmage, install more of the game plan then prepare for the second and final scrimmage next Monday.
The team's next scrimmage will be more "advanced and game realistic" and feature situations across all downs, including kicking downs. Then after analyzing the film and making the necessary adjustments, all eyes will be on Week 0.
"About midweek next week on Wednesday or Thursday we'll begin to transition to our Nebraska preparation," Bielema said. "It's an exciting time. Guys are working and hopefully we'll keep moving forward."
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August 10, 2021 at 08:30PM
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Illini Move Forward in First Fall Scrimmage - University of Illinois Athletics - Fighting Illini
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