Can’t Wait For Saturday
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Greetings from “Can’t Await Saturday,” your morning morsel of college football, courtesy of long time Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 citizen and Heisman state rep Bob Asmussen. He’ll give you his views every day on the game he likes.
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Illinois football is finding another reason it is good to be thought about a Top 25 program: A continuous wave of attention from nationwide media.ESPN.com has committed
months of protection to breaking down the groups in its preseason Top 25, including the list of leading players and unrecognized heroes for each school.In the latest installation, ESPN.com picks the X aspect for each group. It can be a player or position group. Whoever can make or break the season for the chosen team.Illinois is at No. 11 in the website’s power rankings. ESPN.com chose outdoors linebacker Jabe Jacas as the X aspect.”Jacas may not be a nationwide name just yet, however he has the skill
set to propel Illinois and compete for the sport’s biggest defensive honors,”ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg composed Rittenberg pointed to Jacas ‘team-best 8 sacks and 13 tackles for loss. And the truth that he
handed down the NFL draft to return for one more season in C-U. He discussed that the defense struggled at times in 2024 versus excellent passing offenses.”But if Jacas can beat double-teams or free up others to push quarterbacks, Illinois shold have a possibility at its very first CFP
appearance.”Bob Asmussen is a college football reporter and columnist for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at 217-393-8248 or asmussen@news-gazette.com
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