VIDEO: Illini DB Tony Adams Discusses 2020 Season & Position Change
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Just over a month until Illinois opens the 2020 season at Wisconsin, senior defensive back Tony Adams addressed the media via a Zoom video conference call.
The Belleville native, who had 10 starts last season at cornerback and nickel of Lovie Smith’s defensive scheme, confirmed Tuesday his position change back to safety to local and statewide media.
“I think the biggest thing for me is I got to get some (run) fits down,” Adams said. “I need the pads to come on. I need to thump a little bit. Looking forward to that.”
During the 2018 season, when Adams was a sophomore, the 6-foot and 205-pound defensive back got played in eight games with seven total starts split between safety (five starts) and cornerback (two starts). Therefore, Adams is initially confident that another positional flip-flop in the Illini Tampa-2 defensive scheme won’t be a massive switch.
“I’ve done it before so it’s all good being back there (at safety) being kind of like a general,” Adams said. “It’s allowing me to express my voice a little bit more.”
Last season Adams had 39 tackles, three tackles for loss and arguably two of the most remembered interceptions of the 2019 season. He was the first Illini player with interceptions in back-to-back Big Ten Conference games since Vontae Davis and Kevin Mitchell both did it against Penn State and Wisconsin in 2007. Adams had a 13-yard interception return for a touchdown at Purdue that was a week after a fourth-quarter interception vs. then-No. 6 Wisconsin that led to Illini’s game-winning field goal in one of the biggest upsets in league history.
“At cornerback, you’re on an island but you know what you’re going to get but at safety you got to everything in front of you and you got to make people (line up) right so I think that is the biggest thing for me,” Adams said.
Illinois Fighting Illini defensive back Tony Adams (6) tackles Nebraska Cornhuskers wide receiver JD Spielman (10) during the first half of a 2019 game at Memorial Stadium.
Patrick Gorski/USA TODAY Sports
Despite losing Sydney Green to graduation and never getting Louisville transfer TreSean Smith enrolled, the Illini coaching staff are hopeful Adams will be part of some depth at safety that includes Athlon Sports preseason All-Big Ten second team selection Sydney Brown and Miami (Fla.) transfer Derrick Smith, who was a former three-star prospect out of high school making the transition from linebacker.