Author: Michael Terril

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Michael is an avid fan of the Packers (Shareholder) and the ILLINI. Michael spends much of his free time reading anything that involves football. He has spent time as a youth and high school football coach. Coaching mainly defense. He is also known to be well-versed in college recruiting.

In a much anticipated Preseason Top 15 match-up. The Salukis can’t weather the storm of lightning-charged Cardinals. The #9 Southern Illinois (SIU) Salukis fall in disappointing fashion to the  #14 University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) Cardinals. Game Delayed Lightening in the area of San Antonio and Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium. A scheduled 6 pm start time was delayed until nearly 7:45 pm. Finally on the field Once the lightning cleared and fans were back in the stands. The Week One Game was ready for kick-off. The Salukis won the opening toss and deferred to the second half. This…

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Every year there are Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) programs that upset Football Bowl Subdivision(FBS) programs. The 2022 season looks to provide a few upsets as well. With Week Zero and College Football beginning last Saturday.  The College Football Season will officially begin with Week One this Thursday. There are ten FCS vs FBS match-ups slated for Thursday alone. Here I will preview  FCS Eastern Illinois University(EIU) as they will travel to FBS Northern Illinois University(NIU). EASTERN ILLINOIS PANTHERS – NORTHERN ILLINOIS HUSKIES Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) vs. Mid-American Conference (MAC) Eastern Illinois will open the season against an FBS opponent…

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The FCS is the least understood, yet most impressive college football level in Division I — and Gridiron Heroics is going to tell you all about it, 12 months a year, conference by conference, beginning with this week’s FCS football preview series for 2022. Today we publish the FCS’: Missouri Valley Football Conference for 2022 The college football programs are good, these programs produce NFL-level talent, they beat FBS teams every year (want evidence? stay tuned – we will publish this in the next week) and they still get overlooked. But Gridiron Heroics won’t be overlooking the FCS as everybody else…

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The FCS is the least understood, yet most impressive college football level in Division I — and Gridiron Heroics is going to tell you all about it, 12 months a year, conference by conference, beginning with this week’s FCS football preview series for 2022. Today we publish the FCS’ Ohio Valley Conference for 2022 The college football programs are good, these programs produce NFL-level talent, they beat FBS teams every year (want evidence? stay tuned – we will publish this in the next week) and they still get overlooked. But Gridiron Heroics won’t be overlooking the FCS as everybody else…

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The Fighting Illini have added another defensive back, in their 2023 recruiting cycle. With the DB being a position of need. Especially after the 2022 season ends. The Illini defensive staff is working hard to fortify the position group for the future. The Illini staff have flipped three-star defensive back Zachary Tobe from UNC. On Friday evening there were rumors surfacing that Tobe was on the verge of decommiting. On Saturday morning the rumors were confirmed. Making Tobe the 15th commit to the Illini in the 2023 recruiting cycle, making him the third highest-rated commit in the class. Tobe released…

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The Rutgers Scarlet Knights received their 16th verbal commitment of the 2023 recruiting cycle. On Friday the Scarlet Knights landed one of the top unsigned recruits in New Jersey. On Friday, three-star wide receiver Famah Toure announced that he has committed to Rutgers. Earlier in the week, Toure revealed that he would be shutting down his recruitment and making a decision. The Irvington High School product took to Twitter on Friday night to make it official. Leading factor in committing  Toure chose Rutgers over several Power Five programs, most notably the Fighting Illini. Toure went on an official visit to…

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Illinois – The recruiting woes continue into the 2023 cycle. The Illini have lost another Chicago area class of 2023 highly rated high school prospect. Friday afternoon four-star wide receiver Malik Elzy out of Chicago Simeon High School verbally committed to Luke Fickell and the Cincinnati Bearcats. Elzy was rated by 247 composite as the number one receiver in Illinois and 36 overall. While he will be a great addition to the Bearcats. He is a huge loss to Illinois as well. http://https://twitter.com/elzy_malik/status/1547992915909038084?s=20&t=TbdRYZy_qbrLnBnV2za4Pg MalikElzy chose the Bearcats over the Illini and other B1G members Michigan and Michigan St. Granted that the…

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Michigan confirmed the death of former coach Gary Moeller at the age of 81. While known for his years as head coach with the Wolverines from 1990 – 1994. Moeller was Bo Schembechler’s hand-picked successor, leading Michigan for 5 seasons. A two-time Big Ten coach of the year, Moeller won a conference championship in each of his first three years and had four bowl victories, including the 1993 Rose Bowl over Washington. He’s the only coach ever at Michigan to serve as both OC and DC for the program.  He was also the head coach of Illinois from 1977-1979. After leaving…

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In the second season under Defensive Coordinator Ryan Walters, the ILLINI defense needed to continue their defensive success. While the defense in 2021 did show vast improvement, several key contributors from last year’s success are gone in 2022. There are also several key defensive veterans also returning for 2022. Here are five returning defensive veterans that look to build off of last season’s improved defense. Junior ILB Tarique Barnes Tarique Barnes brings a strong veteran presence as inside linebacker. He appeared in 12 games with 10 starts in 2021. Tarique has a great football IQ, along with the…

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Bret Bielema hired UTSA Offensive Coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. to replace 2021 Offensive Coordinator Tony Peterson. Peterson was relieved of his duties after a lackluster offensive performance in 2021. Yes, injury was an issue but play calling also played a large part in Peterson’s dismissal from Illinois as well.  Bielema brought in a familiar face in Lunney who also served five years as the tight ends coach at Arkansas under Bielema from 2013-17 and has a proven record of leading an offense in the direction of improvement, by utilizing a balanced attack in both the passing and run game. This…

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