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Two former Illini, offensive lineman David Diehl and punter Steve
Weatherford, helped lead the New York Giants to a 21-17 victory over the
New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday night. Diehl, who was
also part of the 2008 Giants Super Bowl team, won his second career
championship while Weatherford earned his first-ever Super Bowl ring.
Two former Illini, offensive lineman David Diehl and punter Steve
Weatherford, earned a trip to the Super Bowl following the New York
Giants' 20-17 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship. Diehl, who was
part of the 2008 Super Bowl Champion Giants team, will make his second
Super Bowl appearance while Weatherford, who held for the game-winning
field goal on Sunday, will make his first-ever appearance in the game.
The Giants will play the New England Patriots on Sunday, Feb. 5 at 5:30
p.m. CT on NBC.
A pair of former Illini on the New York Giants advanced to the NFC
Conference Championship following a victory over the defending Super
Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers during the Divisional Round of the
playoffs. Offensive lineman David Diehl and punter Steve Weatherford
will play the San Francisco 49ers with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line on Sunday, Jan. 22 at 5:30 p.m. CT on
FOX.
All six former Illini who suited up for Wild Card Weekend helped their teams
advance to the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. Pierre Thomas put on a
solid performance with over 100 yards of offense and a rushing
touchdown, Neil Rackers nailed a 39-yard field goal and David Diehl
helped pave the way for 172 rushing yards.Take a look at how former Illini fared in the final week of the NFL
season. Eight former Illinois football players have helped lead their
teams to the playoffs and six will suit up for the postseason,
including Pierre Thomas, Neil Rackers, David Diehl, Steve Weatherford, Martez Wilson and Nate Bussey. Rashard Mendenall and Kelvin Hayden will both miss
the playoffs due to injuries. Check out the video links for highlights from NFL.com.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how
former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous
weekend. Rashard Mendenhall had a solid outing with a touchdown,
100-plus rushing yards and a career-long catch while both Pierre Thomas
and Arrelious Benn recorded scores to highlight Week 16. Read up on how
the rest of the past Illini played and check out the links for video
highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how
former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous
weekend. Vontae Davis picked off Ryan Fitzpatrick twice and Pierre
Thomas scored his sixth TD of the season to highlight Week 15. Read up
on how the rest of the past Illini played and check out the links for
video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous weekend. Neil Rackers sealed the Texans' comeback win with an extra point with two seconds remaining to highlight Week 14. Read up on how the rest of the past Illini played and check out the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how
former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous
weekend. Rashard Mendenhall is up to eight touchdowns on the year after
two more TD runs while a couple Illini wide receivers made nice catches to highlight Week 13. Read up on how the rest of the past Illini played and
check out the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how
former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous
weekend. Brandon Lloyd scored a TD for the third week in a row,
Vontae Davis nabbed his second interception of the season and Pierre Thomas had a touchdown and over 100 yards of offense to highlight
Week 12. Read up on how the rest of the past Illini played and check out
the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how
former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous
weekend. Brandon Lloyd found the end zone on a 30-yard TD catch and
Arrelious Benn caught five passes to highlight Week 11. Read up on how
the rest of the past Illini played and check out the links for video
highlights. 
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how
former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous
weekend. Rashard Mendenhall found the end zone twice, Brandon Lloyd
caught his second TD as a Ram and Vontae Davis had his first
interception of the year. Read up on how the rest of the past Illini
played and check out the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how
former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous
weekend. A pair of past Illini, Pierre Thomas and Rashard Mendenhall,
scored touchdowns, Kelvin Hayden picked off Curtis Painter and Neil
Rackers was perfect on three field goals. Read up on how the rest of the
past Illini played and check out the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous weekend. Five past Illini squared off in the Rams-Saints game, which included touchdowns by Brandon Lloyd and Pierre Thomas. Read up on how the rest of the past Illini played and check out the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous weekend. Pierre Thomas gained over 100 yards in a blowout of the Colts, Brandon Lloyd made his debut for the Rams and Brandon Moore started his 112th consecutive game, the longest active streak for a guard in the league. Read up on how the rest of the past Illini played and check out the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous weekend. Rashard Mendenhall had his best game of the year thus far with a touchdown and over 100 yards rushing, Arrelious Benn turned in a career-long TD catch and Brandon Lloyd was traded to the St. Louis Rams. Read up on how the rest of the past Illini played and check out the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous weekend. Pierre Thomas caught the game-winning TD pass, his first of the season, for the Saints, Brandon Lloyd made a highlight reel catch and a handful Illini were off with the first bye week of the season. Read up on how the rest of the past Illini played and check out the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous weekend. Brandon Lloyd turned in his best receiving game of the year, Rashard Mendenhall scored his second TD of the season and Neil Rackers remained perfect with his 10th field goal to highlight week four. Read up on how the rest of the past Illini played and check out the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous weekend. Neil Rackers was a perfect 4-of-4 on field goals, Martez Wilson made his first career start for the Saints, and Alan Ball had four tackles in a Monday Night victory. Read up on how the rest of the past Illini played and check out the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous weekend. Two Illini (Arrelious Benn and Rashard Mendenhall) found the end zone while two others (Kelvin Hayden and Alan Ball) had interceptions in victories for their team. Read up on how the rest of the past Illini played and check out the links for video highlights.
Each week the Illini in the NFL Update will provide coverage on how former Fighting Illini football players fared during the previous weekend. In all, 19 Illini made active 53-man rosters for the opening weekend. That does not count rookie Lions' RB Mikel Leshoure, who is on IR for the season with an Achilles injury, or the three former Illini that were named to practice squads (Nate Bussey, J Leman and Eddie McGee).
With former Illini and current New Orleans Saints Pierre Thomas and Martez Wilson opening up the NFL season tonight in Green Bay (7:30 p.m. CDT, NBC), I thought this might be a good time to take a roll call of all former Illini on NFL opening week rosters. In all, 19 Illini made active 53-man rosters for the opening weekend. That does not count rookie Lions' RB Mikel Leshoure, who is on IR for the season with an Achilles injury, or the three former Illini that were named to practice squads (Nate Bussey, J Leman and Eddie McGee).
The Illini had some special guests at Wednesday morning's practice.
University of Illinois president Michael Hogan and new Illinois Director
of Athletics Mike Thomas were both at Memorial Stadium for team's 8:30 am workout. Both
spoke to the team briefly expressing their support heading into
Saturday's season-opener against Arkansas State (2:30 pm CT, Big Ten
Network). The Illini have just one full practice left on Thursday and then a walk-through on Friday before kicking-off the 2011 season. 
It's finally here...game week is upon us. The Fighting Illini open the season against Arkansas State this Saturday (2:30 pm CT, BTN) at Memorial Stadium. The game marks the first of five straight home games for Illinois, something that is unprecedented in the long history of Memorial Stadium. 
The Fighting Illini returned to the Memorial Stadium practice fields
early Monday morning for practice #19. The team spent the last two weeks about
20 miles north of campus at Camp Rantoul, closing with a scrimmage on Saturday
morning.
The Illini wrapped up Camp Rantoul 2011 with a very competitive
scrimmage on the grounds of the former Chanute Air Force Base. Both
units had a number of highlight plays, with running back Jason Ford
posting a nice day of work and the defensive backfield repeatedly
turning heads with big hits.
The Fighting Illini held a morning workout in helmets and shorts Friday
at Camp Rantoul. After two weeks at the former Chanute Air Force Base, Friday
marked the second-to-last practice in Rantoul before the team returns to
Champaign-Urbana for the fall semester.
Only two practices remain at Camp Rantoul before the Fighting Illini
return to campus, but the Orange and Blue are definitely getting the
most out of the time they have remaining. While the team doesn't often
go "live" often during practice, today was an exception during the final
segment of the 11-on-11 portion of practice. 
Illinois went through its final two-a-day practice on
Wednesday, and after a number of practices in which the offensive unit set the
tone, the Illini defense answered in both practices. The defense stymied the
offense in many of the 7-on-7 and team drills throughout both workouts, drawing
repeated chants of "hoo-ahhh" from the sideline, a salute that has clearly
become the unit's battle cry.
The Fighting Illini held
practice number 13 on Tuesday afternoon at Camp Rantoul. With just four days
left before returning to campus, the intensity level of both the coaches and
the players continues to climb.
With Saturday's annual Rantoul High School scrimmage cut short after just 15 minutes due to thunderstorms, the Illini took to the familiar fields of Camp Rantoul on Sunday afternoon to finish it off. The team was on the field for over two hours simulating full drives, goal line situations, coming out (from deep in own territory), red zone, third downs and two-minute drills. 
The first scrimmage of the fall for the Fighting Illini was cut short after just 15 minutes and two drives due to lightning and heavy rain at Rantoul High School's Bill Walsh Field on Saturday night. The Illini will finish the scrimmage on Sunday at 3 pm at Camp Rantoul. 
In the last regular day of practice of Camp Rantoul's first
week, the Fighting Illini switched the schedule a bit, doing most of their team
scrimmage work in the middle of practice and finishing with two-minute
situations and special teams. The practice had good energy and enthusiasm on
both sides, with the offense and defense each making their share of big plays.
The Illini held practice No. 8 Thursday afternoon at Camp Rantoul. Fans were treated to a spectacular touchdown pass from Nathan Scheelhaase to Anthony Williams in the back corner of the end zone during 7-on-7 drills. Then during the live, short yardage situations Jason Ford had a long touchdown run and freshman running back Donovonn Young had several nice runs, including a first down run where he broke several tackles and carried a defender across the first down line. After he finally did go down, he got up to helmet slaps and high fives from his offensive teammates. 
The Fighting Illini battled through the first two-a-day
practice of Camp Rantoul on Wednesday but were aided by unseasonably cool
temperatures that stayed below 80 degrees. There was a good deal of physical
action during the 9-on-7 and team periods, including the first live tackling of
training camp during the 9-on-7 session.
Tuesday Photo Gallery
The Illini held practice number four on Monday afternoon at Camp Rantoul. After three days of split squad workouts at the Memorial Stadium practice fields, the Illini kicked off their 13th year at Camp Rantoul with their first full squad practice.
It was clear that the
intensity picked up on Monday, and it figures to go even higher on Tuesday as
the Illini will strap on full pads for the first time this fall. Be on the
lookout for the always entertaining Oklahoma Drill video tomorrow night.
After what's seemed like weeks of buildup, the Fighting Illini finally returned the practice field today, beginning preparations for the 2011 season. The team was split into two groups, the orange and blue, so that the young players can get more hands-on instruction. While that certainly helps them learn the ropes faster, it does make for a long day for the coaches and support staff, who are on the field and out in the heat for four-plus hours. By all accounts, day one was a success. It's clear that the team worked hard in the off-season and that they're ready to go this fall.
Day one of the Big Ten Media Days and Kickoff Luncheon started early - 5 a.m. to be exact. I made it to the Varsity Room parking lot a few minutes before 6:30 and just after I pulled the Google Maps directions (no GPS on my phone for me; I'm one of the last people I know who is holding out on the smartphone craze.) out of my laptop case, Tavon Wilson and A.J. Jenkins both walked up to the car.
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