You Can Put it on the Board!; Hobbs Now on Illini TD Wall

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Every week of this season Nate Hobbs has had to endure a snide comment and some not so polite needling from his head coach.

Until Saturday, Hobbs name has been noticeably missing from the wall inside the Illinois defensive touchdown wall. The junior from Louisville, Ky., was desperate to create a highlight-reel play.

“It’s a board in our meeting room (and) it says exclusive on it and Coach Smith has been teasing me about it every single day,” Hobbs said. “Once I got the ball in my hands, I knew exactly what I had to do.”

On a hit caused by junior defensive end Isaiah Gay, Hobbs found the football fly straight into his arms with a clear path to the end zone. This was finally Hobbs’ moment to not only get his head coach’s playful ribbing to stop but also cement his version of the defensive touchdown Lovie Smith’s defense has been noted to provide.

“Nate Hobbs is an outstanding player but he hadn’t had any flash plays,” Illini fourth-year head coach Lovie Smith said. “Believe we’ve been on him every day. We have an exclusive touchdown club. Nate joined it today.”

Throughout this three-game winning streak, Illinois’ first in conference play since 2007, the Illini defense has relied on eight takeaways, three defensive touchdowns and a defensive resurgence to jumpstart this instant turnaround.

The Illini’s 15 fumble recoveries this season are the program’s most since they recovered 16 in 2010. Illinois, which saw its defense outscore Rutgers by itself 12-10, has a nation’s leading five defensive touchdowns this season. Smith’s defensive crew leads the nation in defensive touchdowns (5, tied), fumbles recovered (15), and takeaways with 22. Under Smith’s guidance and practice habits, Illinois has at least one forced fumble and one fumble recovery in every game this season.

“It starts in practice where we punch at the ball every single rep and on incomplete passes, we scoop up the ball and return it,” Hobbs said. “We know it’s an incomplete pass but it’s about creating productive habits.”

In a secondary that has been fortified by the veterans of Hobbs, Tony Adams, Sydney Brown and Sydney Green, Illinois (5-4, 3-3 in Big Ten) has found consistency and a competitive edge. Hobbs mentioned Saturday that he found himself in a bit of jealousy that his cornerback teammate found the end zone in West Lafayette slop at Purdue.

“It’s not jealousy exactly but it’s a competitive fire that you’re so happy for ‘TA’ getting that pick-six and he works so hard,” Hobbs said. “At the same time, you know I got find a way to get a score soon too.”

As Hobbs was striding to the end zone Saturday, in a 36-yard fumble recovery that began the snowball effect of turning a 10-10 score into a 38-10 blowout win over Rutgers, his teammates realized the wall would have a new name.

“Lovie went around the room Thursday and maybe even Friday too that we needed more guys on that wall,” Harding said. “I’m proud of Nate man because honestly, he’s been called out every week about not being on it. Every practice and whatnot, I see him look at the wall a lot and shake his head. Now he can shake his head up and down because he’s on the board.”

Harding, who scored his second defensive touchdown of the season on a 54-yard interception return for a score, said Saturday his first thought when Smith was hired in 2016 was Smith’s old Chicago Bears defenses that found defensive takeaways at the most appropriate time.

“My first thought, as a guy that came from the previous staff, was we just hired a coach with a defensive background whose scheme is linebacker dominate,” Harding said. “I was excited to part of something that those NFL defenses he ran was doing.”

With three games left on the 2019 schedule and the Illini sitting one win away from bowl eligibility for the first time since 2014, Harding said Saturday he hopes the defensive touchdown wall to gain further membership.

“It’s definitely not a private club at all,” Harding said. “Anybody is welcome. Trust me, we welcome new members.”