A Targeting Call From 298 Days Ago Will Keep Illini LB Milo Eifler Inactive For First Half at Wisconsin
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- After all the waiting for this 2020 season, It turns out Milo Eifler will have to sit and watch a little longer than everybody else.
The Illinois senior linebacker will be inactive for the first half of the season opener Friday night at No. 14 Wisconsin (7 p.m., BTN) due to a targeting penalty he earned 298 days prior in the 2019 Redbox Bowl.
Eifler, who had four tackles and a sack in the 35-20 loss to California on Dec. 30, was flagged for targeting following a shoulder hit to the head of Marcel Dancy near the Illini 22-yard-line. Eifler immediately voiced his displeasure with the call and pointed to his shoulder suggesting the Cal receiver changed what officials are calling his “strike zone” and Eifler used his shoulder to suggest he was flatfooted and not intentionally launching to make helmet-to-helmet contact. The play, which would have forced Cal to attempt a field goal while up 28-13 in the fourth quarter, was confirmed by the replay officials and Eifler, a Washington transfer who was playing in a postseason game against his hometown school where both of his parents are part of the Cal-Berkeley faculty, was forced to leave the field of play.
Illinois head coach Lovie Smith confirmed Monday that Eifler, who is expected to start every other game this season at outside linebacker, will be forced to be inactive for the first half against the Badgers. NCAA rules state a player that receives a targeting call in the second half of a game and receives subsequent ejection is also forced to miss the next first half whenever that occurs and this penalty can roll out to a season opener in the following season.
Eifler will be able to go through pre-game warmups and be on the sideline for the first half he’ll be forced to watch Friday night. The NCAA amended its targeting rule starting this season that if a player is ejected for the foul, he does not have to leave the playing field but can remain on his team’s sideline.
Eifler was one of the first Illinois football players to publicly voice his concerns about playing football during the coronavirus and voiced these concerns long before the Big Ten Conference shut down football, along with all fall 2020 sports and then brought back just football months later. Eifler is the adopted son of Rachel Morello-Frosch, who has a master’s and doctorate degree in public health and is a research professor at University of California-Berkeley in the school’s department of public health, and Cal-Berkeley professor David Eifler. However, Eifler ultimately decided to participate in this 2020 football season after the league announced testing and quarantine protocols for its nine-game in nine-week fall schedule.
Illinois linebacker Milo Eifler had 69 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, one pass breakup and one fumble recovery in 12 starts last season after transferring from Washington.
Sam Anderson/University of Illinois athletics department
"I’m pretty much on board with what the guidelines are," Eifler said. "I know we had a meeting with [Illinois football head athletic trainer] Jeremy [Busch] the first day back just re-going over things. But he’s done a great job keeping us all up to date of what the newest testing and how we’re going to travel and everything. So once that comes to play I feel like we’ll be prepared for anything that comes."
Smith said Eifler’s spot in the lineup may be filled by converted defensive back Delano Ware as the 220-pounder, who has nine career starts in his two-year Illini career, has switched from safety to linebacker.