2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football
2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
	West Division
Record	4–8 (2–7 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lovie Smith (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	Rod Smith (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Hardy Nickerson (3rd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
	Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
East Division
No. 3 Ohio State xy$	8	–	1	13	–	1
No. 14 Michigan x	8	–	1	10	–	3
No. 17 Penn State	6	–	3	9	–	4
Michigan State	5	–	4	7	–	6
Maryland	3	–	6	5	–	7
Indiana	2	–	7	5	–	7
Rutgers	0	–	9	1	–	11
West Division
No. 21 Northwestern xy	8	–	1	9	–	5
Wisconsin	5	–	4	8	–	5
No. 25 Iowa	5	–	4	9	–	4
Purdue	5	–	4	6	–	7
Minnesota	3	–	6	7	–	6
Nebraska	3	–	6	4	–	8
Illinois	2	–	7	4	–	8
Championship: Ohio State 45, Northwestern 24
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The 2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as a member of the West Division of the Big Ten Conference during the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by third-year head coach Lovie Smith, the Fighting Illini compiled an overall record of 4–8 with a mark of 2–7 in conference play, placing last out of seven teams in the Big Ten's West Division. Illinois played home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.

Offseason

Recruiting

Position key

Back	B	Center	C	Cornerback	CB	Defensive back	DB
Defensive end	DE	Defensive lineman	DL	Defensive tackle	DT	End	E
Fullback	FB	Guard	G	Halfback	HB	Kicker	K
Kickoff returner	KR	Offensive tackle	OT	Offensive lineman	OL	Linebacker	LB
Long snapper	LS	Punter	P	Punt returner	PR	Quarterback	QB
Running back	RB	Safety	S	Tight end	TE	Wide receiver	WR

Recruits

The Fighting Illini signed a total of 17 recruits on Early National Signing Day on December 20, 2017.

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award	Player	Position	Year
John Mackey Award^[1]	Louis Dorsey	TE	SO
Wuerffel Trophy^[2]	Nick Allegretti	OL	SR

Schedule

The 2018 schedule consisted of seven home and five away games in the regular season. The Fighting Illini hosted Big Ten foes Penn State, Purdue, Minnesota, Iowa, and traveled to Rutgers, Wisconsin, Maryland, Nebraska and Northwestern.^[3]

The Fighting Illini hosted all three non-conference opponents, Kent State from the Mid-American Conference, Western Illinois from Missouri Valley Football Conference, and South Florida from the American Athletic Conference. The South Florida game was played at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	11:00 a.m.	Kent State*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	W 31–24	31,898
September 8	6:30 p.m.	Western Illinois*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	W 34–14	39,252
September 15	2:30 p.m.	vs. South Florida*	Soldier Field Chicago, IL	BTN	L 19–25	21,725
September 21	8:00 p.m.	No. 10 Penn State	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	FS1	L 24–63	34,704
October 6	11:00 a.m.	at Rutgers	HighPoint.com Stadium Piscataway, NJ	BTN	W 38–17	36,702
October 13	2:30 p.m.	Purdue	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	FS1	L 7–46	41,966
October 20	11:00 a.m.	at No. 23 Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	FS1	L 20–49	79,736
October 27	2:30 p.m.	at Maryland	Maryland Stadium College Park, MD	BTN	L 33–63	30,387
November 3	2:30 p.m.	Minnesota	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	W 55–31	35,774
November 10	11:00 a.m.	at Nebraska	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	BTN	L 35–54	88,316
November 17	2:30 p.m.	Iowa	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	L 0–63	33,313
November 24	2:30 p.m.	at No. 20 Northwestern	Ryan Field Evanston, IL (rivalry)	BTN	L 16–24	37,124
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[3]

Game summaries

Kent State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	7	10	7	0	24
Fighting Illini	3	0	21	7	31

Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Leathernecks	7	0	7	0	14
Fighting Illini	0	14	10	10	34

South Florida

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulls	7	0	0	18	25
Fighting Illini	10	6	3	0	19

Penn State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Nittany Lions	7	14	7	35	63
Fighting Illini	7	10	7	0	24

At Rutgers

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	10	14	0	14	38
Scarlet Knights	7	7	0	3	17

Purdue

	1	2	3	4	Total
Boilermakers	14	15	7	10	46
Fighting Illini	7	0	0	0	7

At Wisconsin

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	0	10	7	3	20
No. 23 Badgers	14	14	14	7	49

At Maryland

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	3	6	10	14	33
Terrapins	14	14	21	14	63

Minnesota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Gophers	7	10	0	14	31
Fighting Illini	14	10	21	10	55

At Nebraska

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	14	7	0	14	35
Cornhuskers	21	17	7	9	54

Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hawkeyes	7	28	14	14	63
Fighting Illini	0	0	0	0	0

At Northwestern

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	3	3	0	10	16
No. 20 Wildcats	7	14	3	0	24

Roster

2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
QB	`1`	A. J. Bush	Sr
RB	`2`	Reggie Corbin	Jr
RB	`3`	Jakari Norwood	Fr
WR	`4`	Ricky Smalling	So
WR	`5`	Carmoni Green	So
WR	`6`	Dominic Stampley	So
QB	`7`	Coran Taylor	Fr
QB	`8`	M. J. Rivers II	Fr
WR	`9`	Sam Mays	Sr
QB	`10`	Cam Thomas	So
WR	`11`	Carlos Sandy	Fr
QB	`12`	Matt Robinson	Fr
TE	`13`	Caleb Reams	Jr
QB	`14`	Drake Davis	Fr
QB	`15`	Trenard Davis	Jr
QB	`16`	Cam Miller	So
WR	`18`	Mike Dudek	Sr
TE	`19`	Louis Dorsey	So
RB	`21`	Ra'Von Bonner	So
RB	`22`	Kenyon Sims	Fr
RB	`25`	Dre Brown	Jr
RB	`26`	Mike Epstein	So
LB	`32`	Justice Williams	Jr
TE	`36`	Austin Roberts	Sr
WR	`37`	Zach Holman	Sr
OL	`52`	Adam Solomon	Jr
OL	`53`	Nick Allegretti	Sr
OL	`55`	Kendrick Green	Fr
OL	`58`	Preston Engel	Fr
OL	`63`	Alex Palczewski	Fr
OL	`65`	Doug Kramer	So
OL	`66`	Jordyn Slaughter	Fr
OL	`68`	Jake Stover	Fr
OL	`70`	Reuben Unije	Fr
OL	`71`	Zeke Martin	Jr
OL	`72`	Kievan Myers	Fr
OL	`73`	Jake Cerny	So
OL	`74`	Andrew Trainer	Jr
OL	`75`	Kurt Gavin	So
OL	`76`	Larry Boyd	So
OL	`79`	Vederian Lowe	So
WR	`80`	Edwin Carter	Fr
TE	`81`	Griffin Palmer	So
WR	`82`	Dylan Thomas	Fr
TE	`83`	Bobby Walker	Jr
WR	`84`	Jordan Holmes	Fr
WR	`85`	Cam Stacy	Fr
WR	`86`	Donny Navarro (I)	So
TE	`87`	Daniel Barker	Fr
TE	`88`	Brandon Jones	So
TE	`89`	Alex Pihlstrom	Fr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB	`3`	Del'Shawn Phillips	Sr
DB	`4`	Bennett Williams	So
LB	`5`	Milo Eifler (I)	So
DB	`6`	Tony Adams	So
DB	`7`	Stanley Green	Jr
DB	`8`	Nate Hobbs	So
LB	`9`	Dele Harding	Jr
LB	`10`	James Knight	So
DB	`15`	Delano Ware	Fr
DB	`17`	Kendall Smith	So
DB	`20`	Nick Walker	So
DB	`21`	Quan Martin	Fr
DB	`22`	Dylan Wyatt	Fr
DB	`23`	Ron Hardge III	Fr
DB	`24`	Dawson DeGroot	So
DB	`25`	Kerby Joseph	Fr
DB	`27`	Alec Andrea	Fr
DB	`28`	Nolan Bernat	Jr
DB	`29`	Christian Bobak	So
DB	`30`	Sydney Brown	Fr
DB	`31`	Cameron Watkins	Jr
DL	`33`	Ezekiel Holmes	Fr
DB	`34`	P. C. Daniel II	Fr
LB	`35`	Jake Hansen	So
LB	`41`	Jimmy Marchese	Jr
DB	`42`	Michael Marchese	So
LB	`44`	Drew Murtaugh	So
LB	`45`	Khalan Tolson	Fr
LB	`46`	Alex McEachern	Fr
LB	`47`	Jacob Hollins	Fr
DL	`48`	Julian Pearl	Fr
LB	`51`	Sean Coghlan	Fr
LB	`52`	Ayo Shogbonyo	So
LB	`54`	Marc Mondesir	So
DL	`55`	Jamal Milan	Jr
DL	`90`	Lere Oladipo	Fr
DL	`91`	Jamal Woods	So
DL	`92`	Isaiah Gay	So
DL	`93`	Calvin Avery	Fr
DL	`94`	Verdis Brown	Fr
DL	`95`	Kenyon Jackson	Jr
DL	`96`	Tymir Oliver	Jr
DL	`97`	Bobby Roundtree	So
DL	`98`	Deon Pate	Fr
DL	`99`	Owen Carney Jr.	So

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
P	`14`	Blake Hayes	So
K	`17`	James McCourt	So
K	`38`	Caleb Griffin	Fr
K	`43`	Chase McLaughlin	Sr
LS	`56`	Ethan Tabel	So
LS	`62`	Ron Gaines III	Fr

Head coach

Lovie Smith

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Hardy Nickerson – Defensive coordinator / linebackers
Rod Smith – Offensive coordinator / quarterbacks
Gill Byrd – Passing Game Coordinator / Safeties
Bob Ligashesky – Special teams coordinator
Luke Butkus – Offensive line
Austin Clark – Defensive line
Andrew Hayes-Stoker – Wide receivers
Cory Patterson – Tight ends
Thad Ward – Running backs
Rob Delaney – Graduate assistant – offense
Joe Fotu – Graduate assistant – defense
Zach Grant – Graduate assistant – offense
Miles Smith – Graduate assistant – defense
Peter Collins – Defensive analyst
Cody Gibson – Offensive analyst
Bob McClaine – Offensive analyst
Kingsley Osei-Asibey – Defensive analyst
Robert Wright – Defensive analyst
Jake Zweig – Special team analyst
Jake Ellsworth – Defensive analyst
Joey Boese – Head football strength and conditioning coach
Tim Knox – Director of football operations

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster
Last update: August 22, 2018

Awards and honors

Individual Awards
Player	Award	Ref.
Chase McLaughlin	Bakken–Andersen Kicker of the Year	^[4]

All-Big Ten
Player	Position	Coaches	Media
Chase McLaughlin	K	1	2
Nick Allegretti	OG	HM	2
Reggie Corbin	RB	3	3
Blake Hayes	P	HM	3
Alex Palczewski	OT	–	HM
Del'Shawn Phillips	LB	–	HM
Bobby Roundtree	DL	–	HM
HM = Honorable mention. Reference:^[4]

Players drafted into the NFL

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
7	216	Nick Allegretti	C	Kansas City Chiefs

References

^ "2018 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List Released" (PDF). July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
^ "Wuerffel Trophy Unveils 2018 Watch List". July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Illinois Athletics – Football Future Schedules". University of Illinois Department of Athletics. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "2018 All-Big Ten Football Teams and Individual Award Recipients" (PDF). BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. November 28, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.

[1] "2018 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List Released" (PDF). July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.

[2] "Wuerffel Trophy Unveils 2018 Watch List". July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.

[fightingillini.com-3] "Illinois Athletics – Football Future Schedules". University of Illinois Department of Athletics. Retrieved December 21, 2017.

[big_ten_awards-4] "2018 All-Big Ten Football Teams and Individual Award Recipients" (PDF). BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. November 28, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.

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[4]

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini football
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National championship seasons in bold