CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The Illini were back under the lights of Memorial Stadium on Thursday for the annual Orange and Blue Spring Game. The White Team, made up of the Illini's first-team offense and defense, dominated the Blue Team, winning 58-40.
Thursday's game marks Bret Bielema's second spring game as the Illini head coach as he readies for season No. 2 two in Champaign. The Illini played four quarters under a mostly traditional format, with the first and third quarters ending in a field goal shootout. Scoring was normal for the White team, while each point put up by the Blue squad counted for double.
Lunney's Offense Shines
New offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. coached the Illini for the first time on Thursday, debuting his new offense which he describes as a combination of tempo and pro-style. Syracuse transfer QB Tommy DeVito was the White team's leader to start the game.
In the first half, DeVito showed off strong connections with wide receivers Isaiah Williams, Miles Scott and Pat Bryant along with tight end Tip Reiman. DeVito threw his first touchdown pass to Williams with a 25-yard connection. The pair scored again later in the second quarter on a 44-yarder.
DeVito also found Reiman in the end zone during the second quarter, completing a 21-yard touchdown pass.
Running backs Chase Brown and Josh McCray both played with the 1s on Thursday, combining for 151l yards. McCray scored the first touchdown of the game with a short run in the first quarter. He reached the end zone again right after halftime to extend the White team's lead. Brown also had a rushing touchdown in the first half.
The starting offensive line featured some different faces with Alex Pihlstrom at center, Jordyn Slaughter and Isaiah Adams at guard and Alex Palczewski and Zy Crisler at tackle.
On the Blue team, Samari Collier, Ryan Johnson and Jake Huber each took snaps at quarterback. Freshman running back Jordan Anderson showed strong flashes, rushing for 30 yards. Sophomore tight end Mike Cerniglia Jr. led the Blue team with four receptions.
Young Defense Grows
Defensive coordinator Ryan Walters showed off his Year 2 defense which will feature several young or new players. In the first half, the White defense allowed just 158 total yards with the White offense nearly doubling that.
The starting defense gave up just one touchdown in the first half and shutout the Blue team in the first quarter. They also held the Blue offense to two straight three-and-outs to open the game.
The highlight of the first half was defensive back Kendall Smith's interception – the only takeaway of the game. Linebackers Seth Coleman and Isaac Darkangelo led the White defense in total tackles while Devon Witherspoon and Tahveon Wilson each broke up passes.
On the Blue defense, defensive back Prince Green impressed with eight total tackles, including four solo stops. Defensive back Kionte Curry and linebacker Ryan Meed each totaled five tackles and Curry had three solo tackles.
New Faces on Special Teams
With The Lads — Blake Hayes and James McCourt — now graduated, kicker Caleb Griffin and Punter Hugh Robertson stepped into the spotlight.
Griffin made eight extra points on Thursday night and won the kicking competition after the first quarter. Robertson punted for both teams, averaging 42.5 yards per punt for the Blue team and 38.5 yards per punt for White. His longest punt was 43 yards and he landed one at the five-yard line.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Bret Bielema
Opening Statement...
"Anytime you enter one of these situations you just want your guys to play hard, play healthy, and come out on the back end better than when you came out, and I thought that happened tonight. A lot of really positive steps in the right direction, a lot of mistakes that are correctable. I get excited because I think this is a team that really wants to be coached, a group that really listens to not only their coaches but their other teammates. I thought there was a lot of good communication between our older players and our younger players with some of the players seeing bullets flying for the first time. Some of the newcomers came in and did some good stuff.
"Offensively, I like the way Tommy DeVito handled the huddle and we've always known he has a good live arm, from the first time we saw him on film to where we saw him today, and the first extensive action that the public has seen him, but he definitely is a guy that can throw the ball around. He's athletic, he's dynamic, had a lot of positive things today."
"I thought Ryan Johnson did some good things, and I think Samari Collier has definitely had his best three weeks of practice here on the back end and has done some things that you can be really excited about, but we will see how that position grows. Obviously, Art Sitkowski is right on the verge, when we start camp in June, he will be full-go so we are excited to get him back and have great competition in that room, as iron sharpens iron and overall we will be better at that position."
"Offensively we wanted to see how they performed in a game like atmosphere, the communication, the execution, there are a lot of coaching points but overall, I thought they handled it and played pretty clean."
"Defensively I wanted to see the way we tackled in space, and we saw some good things there. You saw Kendall Smith make a break on the ball, and he has been a pretty impressive guy during spring ball. Overall, our returning players especially on the back end like Jartavius Martin and Sydney Brown are playing at a high level. Inside with C.J. Hart, Isaac Darkangelo, and Tarique Barnes give us some really good value. Obviously, we lost some edge players but I thought Ezekiel Homles and Seth Coleman had a good spring, wanted to get a bit more out of Alec Bryant but he cramped up a little at the beginning and couldn't get him back out there. The kicking game has been a little inconsistent throughout the spring, but a lot of good work to get done there. We stayed healthy, and I don't think there is anything that won't require just a short recovery time."\
RB Chase Brown
On how he thought the team played today...
"You know, I thought we did really well. Obviously, we're no where near where we need to be for the Fall, but you know, this is just a stepping stone for what we're gonna do."
On how much the team has improved in spring ball...
"You look at our first practice, then you look at practice 14, which was the spring game, we look 1000 times better than even last year too."
On playing alongside Tommy DeVito...
"I think he did well, I think he made smart decisions, especially when he rolled out, making sure he wasn't going to give away possession."
QB Tommy DeVito
On his offensive command...
"It was pretty vanilla, everything was our basic stuff. Just being able to get out there and execute and do everything that we had to do was great."
On playing in front of Illini fans for the first time...
"It brings so much energy out of me, having people like my family being there…it was really special to have them there as well as fans in the stands."
About using his legs on offense...
"Always help the offense however I can. I wouldn't consider myself a run first guy but I believe I have the ability to get first downs when I need to."
On how impressed he was on the gameplay today...
"Very impressed, I think we executed well and did what we needed to do…I'm looking forward to the fall."
On Isaac Darkangelo...
"Real savvy player. Bringing a lot of talent and edge to the game, he is very smart, you know, so we love having him out there."
On areas the team needs to work on...
"I wouldn't say weaknesses, I think everything is a lesson, we need to work on the little things like communication and staying in a good stance."
https://fightingillini.com/news/2022/4/21/football-spring-game-recap.aspx
2022-04-22 02:34:08Z
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