Illinois Football: Bielema Gives Mid-Week Injury Update Ahead of USC

Illinois Football head coach Bret Bielema provided some welcome clarity regarding the health of his roster during his mid-week media availability, in preparation for a massive Week 5 showdown with the 21st-ranked USC Trojans.

Lincoln Riley brings one of the nation’s most dynamic offenses to Champaign, led by Heisman hopeful Jayden Maiava, who will mightily challenge an Illinois secondary that was thin entering the week (down Xavier Scott) following their brutal 53-point bashing in Bloomington. On the other side of the ball, USC’s defense is the nation’s leader in sacks, and creates a whole other slew of threats on its own —so Barry Lunney Jr’s offense will need to be all hands on deck to avoid another sluggish outing.

The key for Illinois is to get as healthy and as close to full strength as possible. That said, Bielema seems upbeat about the availability of several key players heading into Saturday’s pivotal matchup.

“As far as health, I’m not going to get Individual,” said the Illini head coach, who typically gives a player-by-player breakdown. “But we had all of our guys out there practicing. It was great.”

Addressing the elephant in the room, Bielema added that he’s happy with the progression of his banged-up secondary and confident in the unit he’ll have against USC. “To get Miles Scott back is obviously a big one, because of the toss out. But to have him and Matt Bailey back out there is really, really good. Mac Resetich (back), we got Juice (Jaheim Clarke) out there.”

Luckily, the good news isn’t limited to the defense. According to Bielema, Illinois’ offense is also trending in the right direction. “Offensively, J-Bo (Justin Bowick) has been going all week. Aidan Laughery has been going, looks like he’s gonna go 100% Saturday,” Bielema said.

He closed, “So, I feel good about where those guys are at.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading Armchair Illini! The Armchair team is proud to partner with Hamilton Walker’s Seafood and Spirits. Reserve your table HERE. Enter our home game giveaways on our social media pages to win a $100 gift card.

We are also proud to partner with the Campus Ink Illini NIL Store! Use the code: ARMCHAIRILLINI for 15% off your purchase. Please subscribe to the Armchair Illini Podcast on YouTube here

Above all, for feedback, questions, concerns, or to apply for a writing position, please email our Publisher at alexkyi13@gmail.com. Additionally, please use our Seatgeek code for $20 off your purchase on Seatgeek.com: ARMCHAIRILLINOIS. It is because of your support that we have become one of the fastest-growing Illinois media outlets around.

Finally, subscribe to our newsletter here for more Illinois football news! Go Illini