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| Coach Mike Schultz will run the same offense as the Illini have used in recent years, but fans may see a few different tweaks under his leadership. |
Check out Offensive Coordinator Mike Schultz's responses from this afternoon's chat session.
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| Moderator: Hello, and welcome to the FightingIllini.com chat room. The line is forming for lunch here at Camp Rantoul, but Coach Schultz, as it turns out, won't be able to grab his lunch and sit down with us, for another hour. It seems he had a dental "emergency," which put him a little behind in his duties this morning. As soon as he's done with his scripts for this afternoon's practice, he'll be joining us. Thanks for hanging with us. Check back at around 1 p.m. CT. We have some great questions, so this chat promises to be very informative. |
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| Ryan (Decatur): I know you plan to try to make the transition from Mike Locksley to you running the offense pretty seamless, but what are the main changes you're going to bring to the offense this year in terms of playcalling and style that we may not have seen in the past 2-3 years? |
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Mike Schultz: I'm not sure what Mike's personality was, as an offensive coordinator. Any offensive coordinator will have certain things they're comfortable with in certain situations. It's kind of a tough question, because I'm not that familiar with Mike's style. |
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| Todd P. (Chicago, IL): What areas are you recruiting?
With the addition of you and Joe Gilbert, can we expect Illinois to start making a push for Texas recruits in the next few classes? |
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Mike Schultz: Without a doubt, our first priority will be in the state of Illinois. I recruit Central Illinois, but I also recruit Texas. Due to my ties there, I expect that we will really make some inroads there. |
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| Randy (Memphis, TN): How does this Illini team rank in terms of talent in comparison with other teams you have coached in your career? |
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Mike Schultz: Thanks for your question, Randy. I've been around a lot of talented teams, but in my opinion, potential and hard work gives you a chance for success, but we have to get it done on the field. |
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| Fred (Rantoul, IL): How do Illinois' facilities compare with TCU?
What do you think of the Camp Rantoul setup? Isn't Rantoul a beautiful and wonderous place? |
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Mike Schultz: If you're a coach that likes to eat, sleep and live football, 24 hours a day, it's perfect here in Rantoul. As far as facilities go, Illinois has some of the best anywhere. |
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| Bryc (Fayetteville, AR): Coach Schultz,
Welcome to The University of Illinois, and thanks for taking my question. Have you guys been working with Juice getting him through his reads and releasing the ball faster? He got stuck quite a few times last year and just held onto the ball...and sometimes got it stripped or sacked, or both. Good luck this year! |
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Mike Schultz: Thanks...it's great to be here. We constantly work with all of our quarterbacks on those areas that you mentioned. That kind of work goes on at all levels, from "little league" to the NFL. |
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| Matt Galena, Il: Do you see this offense orchestrating strong 8-10 play drives in order to score, or do you see Benn and Fayson making huge plays in order to keep drives alive? I would like to see both, but consistency seems to be most important. Good luck this season, looking forward to your offense! |
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Mike Schultz: I don't care whether we score in one or two plays, or in 8-10, or more. As long as we score frequently, and more than the other team does, I'm happy. |
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| Jamie Munson, Dexter MI: Hey Coach! I speak for all of Illini Nation when I say we are proud to have you here coaching at the U of I! Just wondering what the balance will be between running and passing this year on offense? |
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Mike Schultz: We're going to try to be as balanced as possible. We will try to make the defenses defend every possible option...we want to stretch the defenses vertically and horizontally, and that can be via either the run or the pass. |
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| Jim-Cedar Rapids, Ia.: Coach,
With this year's receivers, how important is it to establish the run first? |
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Mike Schultz: If you can establish the run, it will allow you to do certain things with your receivers, such as play-action passes, which will allow us to take advantage of their talents. |
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| Jared - Tuscola, Illinois: I am very interested in the development of Illinois' offensive line. Last season our pass protection was sub-par to average at best and Juice spent half his time throwing while running! How are we progessing in the development of that area and what individual lineman has the largest impact on the front since your arrival? Thank you Coach! |
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Mike Schultz: I have a tremendous amount of confidence in Joe Gilbert, our offensive line coach. He is a great technician, and that will benefit us down the road. They're definitely progressing under his leadership. Getting Eric Block back for his fifth year is a key, but we also have some other experienced guys. |
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| Hoener (Cincinnati, Ohio): it generally takes a few seasons for a new offensive coordinator to get his scheme indoctrinated into the team. what are you doing to make that process quicker? juice and this receiving crew are posed for a good season. |
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Mike Schultz: In this case, the scheme has stayed the same. Coach Zook brought me in with the understanding that I'd learn this offense. That way, all of the players didn't have have to learn something new. This offense is certainly familiar to me...we did a lot of the same things when I was at TCU. |
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| Richard (St. Louis, MO): Have you ever seen snow before? Get ready! |
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Mike Schultz: I've been told that the summers here aren't normally this cool...it was pretty hot down in Texas over the summers. Having played in the Mountain West Conference in the past, I've had plenty of opportunities to travel to snowy areas. |
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| Moderator: Thanks for all of your questions. We have some more chats coming up soon...soccer coach Janet Rayfield will take a quick break from training camp to join us Thursday at noon. |
| Moderator: Next week Olympian and men's gymnastics coach Justin Spring will join us on Tuesday, and senior TE Michael Hoomanawanui will be on hand Thursday, Aug. 20. |
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