Illinois Game Primer: The Fighting Illini Offense

Courtesy of @TheChampaignRoom, Illinois' awesome blog on SBNation, I was able to stumble across not only some insight into all things Illinois Football but also a copy of the latest and greatest depth chart heading into Week three of the season.

The Illini Football program has gone through many peaks and valleys the last month. One week prior to the season, former head coach Tim Beckman was fired for allegedly lying to players about injuries, borderline hazing, and as SBNation reports "being an enormous jerk." Kudos to the Illinois squad who's rallied around their new interim coach, Bill Cubit and strung together two wins when they could have written the season off as a loss. And the improvement started with the offense...

The Illini offense has impressed against inferiro competition the first two games of the season racking up big numbers through the air while putting up sub par numbers on the ground. The surprising start to Illinois season has earned them a 28th ranking in the weekly Sagrain Rankings. Let's start with the talented backfield

The Fighting Illini Backfield

QB1 Wes Lunt (#12) 6-5 225 lbs Junior - The man that shares my name has been impressive in his first two outings in 2015. Possessing a 19 to 4 TD to INT ratio in his career at Illinois it's easy to see where the 4 star recruit talk came from. He's coming off a 300 yard passing outing. Hunt can pick a secondary apart if he can stand tall in the pocket. The defensive line will have to get in his grill early and often. Lunt's completed 68% of his passes this season.
QB2 Chayce Crouch (#7) 6-4 225 lbs Redshirt Junior- The back ups' faired well in limited action. He has a better ability to escape the pass rush but we wouldn't see Crouch unless Hunt got hurt or if it's in garbage time.

RB1 Josh Ferguson (#6) 5-10 195 lbs Senior - A Doak Walker Watch List member from preseason Ferguson is one of the more unique threats in the B1G no one's talking about. He has over 4000 all purpose yards in his career and is a big play threat every time he touches the ball. He's a receiving threat out of the backfield as well after posting 50 catches this past year. Carolina will have to keep tabs on his whereabouts all game on Saturday.
RB2 Ke'Shawn Vaughn (#5) 5-10 205 lbs True Freshman - Former Mr Tennessee in football chose the Illini over the likes of Notre Dame , Ohio State and Carolina. He was a big time recruit coming out of high school has has faired decently so far in his first year with a nearly 4 yards per carry average. He's a physical runner who's been a nice change of pace guy from Ferguson
RB3 Henry Enyenihi (#23) 5-11 210 lbs Junior - JUCO transfer who saw his first FBS action this past week finishing with 47 yards rushing and a score.


The Fighting Illini Receivers

**** Illinois is without former Freshman All-American Mikey Dudek who was lost this past spring to a Torn ACL.

X Receiver (Split End)
X1 - Geronimo Allison (#8) 6-4 195 lbs Senior - Following the Mike Dudek injury, Allison became the biggest home run threat in the Illini offense. He's a big receiver that has been active his first two weeks (already has 180 yards+ receiving). Hunt loves to stretch the field deep with this guy and Allison is tremendous at finding holes in zone (GIF H/T @TheChampaignRoom)

X2 - Sam Mays (#9) 6-3 200 lbs Freshman - Sam Mays has already recorded a touchdown in back up duty. He's a lanky receiver that should continue to improve.
X3 Tyrin Stone-Davis (#15) 6-3 195 lbs Junior - Only really seen this guy on special teams and mop up duty.

T Receiver (Flanker)
T1 Marchie Murdock (#16) 6-1 195 lbs Sophomore - The sophomore from Texas has made his impact felt in multiple phases of the game this year scoring from air and by blocking a punt on special teams. He's currently the second leading receiver filling in for the normal starter at flanker, Justin Hardee, who's out with a broken foot.
T2 Desmond Cain (#86) 5-11 185 lbs Freshman - The freshman's already the most targeted freshman on the team with 3 receptions. He's been used to stretch the field horizontally.
T3 Zach Grant 6-0 195 lbs Junior  - Seen minor time. Most of his work comes during garbage time and on special teams.

Z Receiver (Slot)
Z1 Malik Turner (#11) 6-3 205 lbs Sophomore - An oversized slot-possession receiver who's not had the production many expected so far. Look for Illinois to go to this guy early with the secondary focused on containing Allison and Murdock.
Z2 Dionte Taylor (#4) 6-0 180 lbs Junior - Taylor's picked up where Turner's left off nabbing 7 receptions already through two games from the slot.

TE (Tight End)
TE1 Tyler White (#87) 6-5 225 lbs Junior - White was the only tight end on the roster with any receiving experience coming into 2015 and outside of Ainslie's Johnson's one reception in the last game, that story remains the same. He's a decent blocking tight end in which the offense likes to split out in passing situations. Carolina will likely not get exposed by any of the members of the position group. While the Illini use many different formations with two and three tight end sets, this is the only guy that's proven to be a threat receiving the ball.
TE2 Andrew Davis (#89) 6-6 235 lbs Junior
TE3 Ainslie Johnson (#80) 6-2 225 lbs Junior

The Fighting Illini Offensive Line

LT1 Austin Schmidt (#57) 6-6 300 lbs Junior - The protector of Wes Lunt's blindside has shined so far in 2015, contributing to a a line thats opened up the run game and give up no sacks. I haven't seen his side to side moving ability challenged but that could be because of competition. Hopefully Carolina's pressure off the edge can get the best of him.
LT2 Patrick Flavin (#75) 6-5 300 lbs Senior

LG1 Chris Boles (#55) 6-4 320 lbs Senior - Boles is a massive interior lineman at guard who shows good push in the run game. His combo blocks with the above Schmidt are good at the first level but he must work better at reaching scraping linebackers.
LG2 Chris O'Connor (#73) 6-5 300 lbs Senior

C1 Joe Spencer (#71) 6-4 300 lbs Junior - Spencer's played well so far in his first year as a starter. He struggles to make second level blocks which tells me that Schoettmer and Rashad could give this guy trouble.
C2 Chris O'Connor (#73) 6-5 300 lbs Senior
C3 Harry Black (#78) 6-5 285 lbs Sophomore

RG1 Ted Karras (#68) 6-4 310 lbs Senior - Played tackle the last couple of years, but even after the position change to guard, he remains the Fighting Illini's best offensive linemen. Big, mean, smart, and quick feet are traits  that you want every lineman to have and Karras has em'.
RG2 Connor Brennan (#74) 6-5 295 lbs Junior

RT1 Christian DiLauro (#67) 6-5 300 lbs Sophomore - DiLauro looks very much like a first year starter.He's plays like he's thinking too much. For as talented as he is, all I want to tell the kid is "When in doubt, fire out."
RT2 Jordan Fagan (#66) 6-6 295 lbs Sophomore

The Illini lost 3 long time starters last year from an offensive line that was less than desirable. This year they've fared very well moving the ball at will, even if it was against very questionable competition. There are veterans of this program in the two deep, and with Lunt's numbers on the season, it makes me think that Carolina will have to work to force pressure against this big group.
The Illini have yet to give up a sack this season. That has to change Saturday.

Up next is a look at the Fighting Illini defense that's only given up 3 points so far this year.