VIDEO: Illinois Head Coach Lovie Smith - Training Camp Day 2
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois head coach Lovie Smith spoke to local and statewide media following a morning practice on Sept. 29.
The Illini fifth-year head coach more than hinted who his starting defensive tackles will be when Illinois opens the 2020 season on the weekend at Oct. 23-24 at No. 19 Wisconsin.
Smith spoke about the previous practice sessions during the month of September since the Big Ten returned to a fall football season for the 2020 season.
"I think most coaches would say that they would like more time to teach and to be able to teach where you’re not rushed," Smith said Monday. "It seems like every year I’ve been in coaching and you go into the first game, there’s never enough time. It seems like we’ve had a lot of time. We’ve had so many walk-throughs."
The Fighting Illini head coach enters his fifth season with what he called Monday "the most talented team we've had" during his tenure in Champaign.
Smith, who is 15-34 in four years at Illinois, is coming off a 2019 season where he led Illinois to the Redbox Bowl, the program’s first bowl in five years. The 2019 season included wins at Purdue, Michigan State and upset home win against then-No. 6 Wisconsin where the Illini entered the day as a 30-point underdog before James McCourt's 39-yard field goal as time expired sent fans rushing to the Memorial Stadium field in one of the greatest Homecoming scenes in school history.
Smith is the 25th head football coach at Illinois, and the second to move directly from an NFL head coach position (John Mackovic went from the Kansas City Chiefs in 1986 and was hired by Illinois in 1988). With Smith’s appointment to lead the Illini football team, he became the Illini’s first African-American head football coach.