Illinois football news: Idaho OL Ayden Knapik signs with Illini

News: Despite the recent news that senior offensive tackle J.C. Davis will be making a return to Illinois Football in 2025, solidifying the retention of the Fighting Illini’s entire starting offensive line, Bret Bielema’s staff has decided to continue the quest to beef up depth within Bart Miller’s O-Line unit.

According to Illinois Football on X (@IlliniFootball), the Illini staff have added Idaho offensive line transfer Ayden Knapik to their arsenal for the upcoming 2025 season.

Ayden, a former walk-on, quickly worked his way into earning a scholarship from Idaho. The three-year starter will join the Fighting Illini for his final season of eligibility.

Strengthens the offensive line.

Welcome @aydenknapik!

🟠 https://t.co/BkqPwTjxoF pic.twitter.com/KpUDjGOG8n

— Illinois Football (@IlliniFootball) January 9, 2025

Thoughts

If Illinois Football is going to have continued success, coach Bart Miller must continue to strengthen the depth of his O-Line. The position in itself is brutally physical, and having 7-10 players that you can comfortably roll in as starters is key to success through a season.

The addition of Knapik at the tackle position, a 6’6, 300 pound 3-year veteran starter, is a high quality one. Following the losses of Kevin Wigenton, Zy Crisler and Hunter Whitenack (all 2-deep players) to the transfer portal, re-building depth, and adding players who can push or even replace current starters, is key to the progression of Millers offensive font moving forward.

Despite the return of current starting tackles Melvin Priestly and J.C. Davis, as well as the rest of the offensive line, it’s entirely possible that Knapik could cause a shuffle within the unit. However, if that’s not the case, there will always be plenty of rotational minutes to go around.

Sep 20, 2024.

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