Illinois Football Injury Report: Updates on Seth Coleman and More

Updated Health Status Per Head Coach Bret Bielema

Illinois football head coach Bret Bielema met with the media on Monday afternoon to reflect on the Illini’s exciting 38-31 victory over Rutgers in Piscataway, in addition to diving further into the current health status of the roster.

With a crucial matchup against the struggling Northwestern Wildcats at Wrigley Field on the horizon, Illinois is eyeing their second 8-win season of Coach Bielema’s tenure. A victory over the Illini’s rivals would certainly solidify a special season in Illinois Football history, as it would be only the 9th time in program history that the Illini have reached 9+ wins.

Under the circumstances of a natural site road game in chilly Chicago, the Fighting Illini must stay healthy in preparation. Coach Bielema addressed the team’s injury concerns, noting that most of the current injuries are minor, with several players expected to return by mid-week. However, without speculating too hard, Bret seemingly hinted that Illinois might be without a key defensive player moving forward.

Illinois Football IR Update Per Coach Bielema

“Zakhari Franklin was cleared for the game, unfortunately, got basically a soft tissue (injury). That happened during the course of the game, it wasn’t before. I do think he’ll (Franklin) be ready to go. I don’t know if we’ll have him for practice tomorrow, but he should be good to go Wednesday-Thursday.”

“Joe Barna, we didn’t take on the trip, he was actually close. We thought he would actually do better. Rehab, staying at home, and he actually is going to do some running this afternoon. Do expect him to be in practice tomorrow, in some capacity.”

“Kenenna Odeluga, we took on the trip last week. We thought we might get him to be there for the game, wasn’t quite there, didn’t want to push out luck on that one.”

Furthermore, Bielema states, “Same thing with Malik Elzy. Brought him along, thought he’d have a chance to possibly play, but wasn’t able to do it.

“Then, Fabrizio Pinton… Breezy has done a really good job in relief for us for a couple of different years. Gave him the starting opportunity last week, then unfortunately, we knew Rutgers liked to bring a lot of pressure, they leaked one through, didn’t get the punt, but did get his planted foot, as he rolled through. So, I don’t know where he’ll be at for this game, but I do think bowl game wise, he’ll be back for that. But, unfortunately don’t know if we’ll have him this week.”

Key Injury

“Seth Coleman, literally in conversations with the medical people about where he’s at, don’t know if he’s going to be realistic for Saturday. Obviously, because he is a senior, and because of where he is, don’t know where that’s going to play out for the rest of the time. Extremely excited in Seth, and what he did. I thought he’s done an unbelievable job leadership wise, obviously on the football field. Couldn’t be happier for him, and what he accomplished in this year, and we’ll see where that’s going to lay a little bit more this week.”

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