2017 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

The 2017 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign during the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Fighting Illini played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois, and competed in the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by second-year head coach Lovie Smith. They finished the season 2–10, 0–9 in Big Ten play to finish in last place in the West Division.

2017 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Division	West Division
Record	2–10 (0–9 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lovie Smith (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Garrick McGee (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Hardy Nickerson (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium

2017 Big Ten Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
No. 5 Ohio State xy$		8	–	1					12	–	2
No. 15 Michigan State		7	–	2					10	–	3
No. 8 Penn State		7	–	2					11	–	2
Michigan		5	–	4					8	–	5
Rutgers		3	–	6					4	–	8
Indiana		2	–	7					5	–	7
Maryland		2	–	7					4	–	8
West Division
No. 7 Wisconsin xy		9	–	0					13	–	1
No. 17 Northwestern		7	–	2					10	–	3
Iowa		4	–	5					8	–	5
Purdue		4	–	5					7	–	6
Nebraska		3	–	6					4	–	8
Minnesota		2	–	7					5	–	7
Illinois		0	–	9					2	–	10
Championship: Ohio State 27, Wisconsin 21
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

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 25 recruits.

College recruiting information (2017)
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Mike Epstein RB	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	St. Thomas Aquinas HS	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Aug 6, 2015
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Ricky Smalling WR	Chicago, Illinois	Brother Rice HS	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	189 lb (86 kg)	Apr 26, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Kendall Smith WR	Bolingbrook, Illinois	Bolingbrook HS	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Apr 26, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Cameron Thomas QB	Richton Park, Illinois	Marian Catholic HS	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	May 31, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Vederian Lowe OG	Rockford, Illinois	Auburn HS	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	352 lb (160 kg)	Jun 12, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Marc Mondesir LB	Chicago, Illinois	St. Rita HS	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jun 12, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Tony Adams WR	St. Louis, Missouri	St. Louis University HS	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Aug 12, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Larry Boyd OG	St. Louis Missouri	Trinity Catholic HS	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	310 lb (140 kg)	Aug 13, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Carmoni Green WR	Miami, Florida	Miami Central HS	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	Aug 25, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Olalere Oladipo DE	Huntley, Illinois	Huntley HS	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	238 lb (108 kg)	Aug 25, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Ra'Von Bonner RB	Cincinnati, Ohio	Sycamore HS	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sep 27, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Del'Shawn Phillips LB	Highland Park, Michigan	Garden City Community College	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Dec 14, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Howard Watkins OG	Cincinnati, Ohio	Colerain HS	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	280 lb (130 kg)	Dec 19, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Kendrick Green DT	Peoria, Illinois	Peoria HS	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	270 lb (120 kg)	Dec 22, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Nate Hobbs CB	Louisville, Kentucky	Male HS	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Dec 23, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Owen Carney DE	Miami, Florida	Miami Central HS	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	232 lb (105 kg)	Dec 25, 2016
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
James Knight S	East St. Louis, Illinois	East St. Louis HS	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jan 16, 2017
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Louis Dorsey TE	Jacksonville, Florida	Ribault HS	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Jan 21, 2017
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Alex Palczewski OT	Prospect, Illinois	Plant HS	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	260 lb (120 kg)	Jan 20, 2017
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Deon Pate DE	Jacksonville, Florida	Trinity Christian Academy	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	246 lb (112 kg)	Jan 30, 2017
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Bennett Williams CB	Watsonville, California	Saint Francis HS	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	Jan 31, 2017
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A
Dawson DeGroot S	Fort Myers, Florida	Fort Myers HS	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Jan 31, 2017
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A
Jamal Woods DE	Hueytown, Alabama	Hueytown HS	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	240 lb (110 kg)	Feb 1, 2017
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Bobby Roundtree DE	Largo, Florida	Largo HS	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	230 lb (100 kg)	Feb 1, 2017
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Isaiah Gay DE	Rocky Mount, North Carolina	Northern Nash HS	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Feb 10, 2017
	Star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Illinois Football Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved March 12, 2017. "2017 Illinois Football Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved March 12, 2017. "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 12, 2017. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved March 12, 2017. "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved March 12, 2017.

Schedule

Illinois announced its 2017 football schedule on July 11, 2013. The 2017 schedule consisted of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Fighting Illini hosted Big Ten foes Indiana, Nebraska, Northwestern, Rutgers, Wisconsin, and traveled to Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Purdue.

The Fighting Illini hosted two of the three non-conference opponents, Ball State from the Mid-American Conference and Western Kentucky (WKU) from Conference USA, and traveled to South Florida from the American Athletic Conference.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	11:00 a.m.	Ball State*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	W 24–21	42,505
September 9	7:00 p.m.	Western Kentucky*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	W 20–7	41,923
September 15	6:00 p.m.	at No. 22 South Florida*	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL	ESPN	L 23–47	35,404
September 29	7:00 p.m.	Nebraska	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	FS1	L 6–28	43,058
October 7	11:00 a.m.	at Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	BTN	L 16–45	69,894
October 14	11:00 a.m.	Rutgers	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	L 24–35	35,675
October 21	2:30 p.m.	at Minnesota	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis, MN	BTN	L 17–24	45,243
October 28	11:00 a.m.	No. 5 Wisconsin	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ESPN	L 10–24	42,101
November 4	11:00 a.m.	at Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (rivalry)	BTN	L 10–29	46,027
November 11	11:00 a.m.	Indiana	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	BTN	L 14–24	40,195
November 18	2:30 p.m.	at No. 8 Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (rivalry)	ABC	L 14–52	105,282
November 25	3:00 p.m.	No. 23 Northwestern	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	FS1	L 7–42	30,456
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game All times are in Central time

Schedule Source:

Game summaries

Ball State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	7	0	14	0	21
Fighting Illini	6	10	0	8	24

See also: 2017 Ball State Cardinals football team

WKU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hilltoppers	0	0	0	7	7
Fighting Illini	3	10	7	0	20

See also: 2017 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football team

At South Florida

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	2	7	0	14	23
No. 22 Bulls	9	14	14	10	47

See also: 2017 South Florida Bulls football team

Nebraska

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cornhuskers	7	14	0	7	28
Fighting Illini	0	3	3	0	6

See also: 2017 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

At Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	3	10	3	0	16
Hawkeyes	7	10	7	21	45

See also: 2017 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

Rutgers

	1	2	3	4	Total
Scarlet Knights	7	14	7	7	35
Fighting Illini	3	7	0	14	24

See also: 2017 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team

At Minnesota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	7	0	0	10	17
Golden Gophers	7	0	3	14	24

See also: 2017 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

Wisconsin

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Badgers	7	10	0	7	24
Fighting Illini	0	3	0	7	10

See also: 2017 Wisconsin Badgers football team

At Purdue

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	7	3	0	0	10
Boilermakers	7	6	3	13	29

See also: 2017 Purdue Boilermakers football team and Illinois–Purdue football rivalry

Indiana

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hoosiers	0	14	3	7	24
Fighting Illini	0	0	7	7	14

See also: 2017 Indiana Hoosiers football team

At Ohio State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	0	0	7	7	14
Buckeyes	28	10	7	7	52

See also: 2017 Ohio State Buckeyes football team and Illibuck Trophy

Northwestern

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	14	14	14	42
Fighting Illini	7	0	0	0	7

See also: 2017 Northwestern Wildcats football team and Illinois–Northwestern football rivalry

Roster

2017 Illinois Fighting Illini football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 2 Reggie Corbin  So QB 3 Jeff George, Jr.  So WR 4 Ricky Smalling Fr WR 5 Carmoni Green Fr QB 7 Chayce Crouch  Jr WR 8 Dominic Thieman So WR 9 Sam Mays Jr QB 10 Cam Thomas Fr WR 11 Malik Turner Sr QB 12 Charlie Reinkemeyer Fr TE 13 Caleb Reams  So QB 14 Cam Miller  Fr QB 15 Trenard Davis  So QB 16 Connor Kelly Fr WR 17 Kendall Smith Fr WR 18 Mike Dudek  Jr TE 19 Louis Dorsey Fr RB 21 Ra'Von Bonner Fr RB 22 Kendrick Foster  Sr RB 26 Mike Epstein Fr RB 27 Dre Brown  So RB 29 Christian Bobak  Fr RB 36 Austin Roberts  Jr TE 38 Brandon Roberts  Sr TE 39 Nathan Echard  Sr TE 45 Henry McGrew  Jr OL 52 Adam Solomon  So OL 53 Nick Allegretti  Jr OL 63 Alex Palczewski Fr OL 65 Doug Kramer  Fr OL 66 Jordan Fagan Sr OL 67 Christian DiLauro  Sr OL 68 Jake Stover Fr OL 71 Zeke Martin  So OL 72 Gabe Megginson  So OL 73 Jake Cerny  Fr OL 75 Kurt Gavin  Fr OL 76 Larry Boyd Fr OL 79 Vederian Lowe Fr TE 81 Griffin Palmer  Fr WR 82 William DuPont Fr TE 83 Bobby Walker  So WR 84 James Bartholomew Fr TE 85 Andrew Trainer  So RB 88 Brandon Jones  Fr TE 89 Alex Pihlstrom Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 1 Jaylen Dunlap  Sr LB 2 Julian Jones Jr LB 3 Del'Shawn Phillips Jr DB 4 Bennett Williams Fr DL 5 James Crawford  Sr DB 6 Tony Adams Fr DB 7 Stanley Green So LB 9 Dele Harding So LB 10 James Knight Fr DB 12 Chris James  Jr DB 20 Harvey Clayton, Jr.  Fr DB 21 Patrick Nelson  So DB 23 Frank Sumpter  So DB 24 Dawson DeGroot Fr DB 25 Nate Hobbs Fr DB 26 Evan Jones  Fr DB 27 Ahmari Hayes  Sr DB 28 Nolan Bernat So DB 30 Julian Hylton  Jr DB 31 Cameron Watkins  So LB 32 Justice Williams  So LB 33 Tré Watson  Jr LB 34 Christion Abercrombie  Fr LB 35 Jake Hansen So DB 37 Zach Holman  Jr LB 41 Jimmy Marchese  So DB 42 Michael Marchese Fr LB 44 Drew Murtaugh  Fr DL 47 Sean Adesanya  Jr DL 48 Kevin Hinders Fr LB 52 Ayo Shogbonyo  Fr LB 54 Marc Mondesir Fr DL 55 Jamal Milan  So DL 90 Lere Oladipo Fr DL 91 Jamal Woods Fr DL 92 Isaiah Gay Fr DL 94 Tito Odenigbo  Jr DL 95 Kenyon Jackson So DL 96 Tymir Oliver So DL 97 Bobby Roundtree Fr DL 98 Deon Pate Fr DL 99 Owen Carney Jr. Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 14 Blake Hayes Fr K 17 James McCourt  Fr P 37 Bryce Baringer Fr P 40 Ryan Tucker  Jr K 43 Chase McLaughlin  Jr LS 56 Ethan Tabel  Fr LS 58 Sean Mills So	Head coach Lovie Smith Coordinators/assistant coaches Garrick McGee – Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Hardy Nickerson – Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers Mike Phair – Run Game Coordinator / Defensive Line Bob Ligashesky – Special Teams Coordinator / Tight Ends Donnie Abraham – Safeties Luke Butkus – Offensive Line Andrew Hayes-Stoker – Wide Receivers Thad Ward – Running Backs Paul Williams – Cornerbacks Joe Fotu - Graduate Assistant - Defense Brett Nelson - Graduate Assistant - Offense Shane Toub - Graduate Assistant - Offense Robert Wright - Graduate Assistant - Defense Charles Drewek - Defensive Analyst Kingsley Osei-Asibey - Defensive Analyst Nathan Scheelhaase - Offensive Analyst Tim Knox - Director of Football Operations James Kirkland - Director of Player Personnel Tre' Stallings - Director of Football Player Development Patrick Embleton - Director of Football Student-Athlete Development Nathan McNeal - Director of High School Relations Travis Perry - Graphics/Social Media Joey Boese - Head Football Strength & Conditioning Coach Jeremy Busch - Head Football Athletic Trainer Trent Chestnut - Head Football Equipment Manager Alex Benizzi - Director of Football Video Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: October 13, 2016