Illinois will become the final Big Ten team to hit the spring practice field on Friday afternoon. And there will be as much interest in the Illini spring drills than there has been for a long time.
That's because new Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman made the bold decision to hire former NFL coach Lovie Smith on March 7, two days after firing Bill Cubit. That pushed the start of spring practice back a couple of weeks and condensed the time period for workouts. Smith had to assemble a staff and begin learning his players' names in a rush.