Bret Bielema addresses earlier comments on current Illinois roster

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema got in some hot water earlier this week with comments about the team he inherited from former coach Lovie Smith. The first-year head coach is now trying to walk them back.

“#Illini coach Bret Bielema says his comments about personnel Monday were ‘completely taken out of context,’” ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg tweeted on Thursday. “Says he wasn’t talking about current Illini roster. Bielema showed the entire transcript of his comments to the team Tuesday.”

In a Monday press conference, Bielema railed against his 2-5 team and was particularly critical of his offensive line.

“I don’t believe we have a player in the two-deep that they’ve recruited here over the last three years that is really significantly doing anything for us in the playing department,” Bielema said of the line. “That’s a major concern.”

Bielema more broadly critiqued his team using a sports analogy. 

“As a head coach, you’re only as good as your roster,” Bielema said. “I kind of learned that the first time I went to the Kentucky Derby. Nobody was betting on the jockeys. Everybody was betting on the horses.”

Illinois returned 21 “super seniors” and had nine offensive starters back in Champaign in total. They have some young talent in freshmen Brody Wisecarver and Josh Kreutz, but they will need time to develop. 

The state of Illinois, largely, is not a hotbed for college football talent, and with the recent rise of Northwestern, it is becoming even more difficult to convince in-state recruits to come to Champaign. Their previous four recruiting classes have been no higher than 12th in the Big Ten, and their 2020 and 2021 classes had zero four-star recruits. Additionally, Illinois has had 14 players enter the transfer portal since December 2020.

Regardless of the factuality of the statements, the sentiment expressed publicly from the podium does not exactly instill confidence in a struggling team with just a 0.8% chance to reach six wins and become bowl eligible.

Illini face first Top-10 test since huge 2019 upset

Illinois heads to Happy Valley on Saturday to play No. 7 Penn State as a 23-point underdog. They have not faced a Top-10 opponent since they upset No. 6 Wisconsin in October 2019. 

Penn State’s quarterback situation remains unclear. Starter Sean Clifford was injured during the Iowa game, and the Nittany Lions have not disclosed the exact injury. Clifford has been splitting reps with backups Ta’Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux this week in practice.

Roberson replaced Clifford in Iowa City and struggled mightily, throwing two interceptions during what was a penalty-ridden second half for Penn State. Presumably, he has proven to be more in lockstep with his offense after nearly two weeks of practice should he be tapped to start.