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| Tavon Wilson will be counted on as a mainstay in the Illini defensive backfield this fall. |
Get the latest on the Fighting Illini defense as spring drills wind down with this weekend's spring instrasquad game. Defensive back Tavon Wilson will be in the chat room Wednesday, April 21, starting at Noon CT to answer fans' questions. Send in your questions today.
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| Moderator: Tavon is here and we're about to get started. Feel free to keep sending in questions during the chat. |
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| John (Champaign): What is Coach Koenning like? What is different this year vs. last year? |
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Tavon Wilson: Coach Vic is extremely energetic and exciting. He get everyone more into practice and makes sure we all come to work every day. He has high expectations for us and the defense and wants to make sure we meet those. |
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| Luke, Olney: Sup Tavon, Wanted to ask how it is havin Coach Vic workin specifically with the DB's? What is the biggest thing that you are working on to improve from last year? (As a team, and Individually) Also, who are you most looking forward to covering one on one this fall? |
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Tavon Wilson: Coach Vic works with the DBs every day. We're focusing a lot on fundamentals like our transitions from back-peddaling to running and things like that.
As far as my improvement, I'm working on being more consistent and being more of a vocal leader - holding everyone accountable for their mistakes. |
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| Vic, D.C.: Do you stay in touch with Vontae? Do you think you can follow in his footsteps and become a first round draft pick? |
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Tavon Wilson: I've known Vontae for a while being from DC. We stay in touch, he tells me that little things will make a big difference in your game. I def. look at him as someone I can pattern myself after. Of course I want to be a first round pick just like he was, but I still know I have some work to do to get there. |
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| Tim (Fisher): I think you and Hawthorne could be a deadly force at corner this year. What will it take for us to have really good pass coverage this year? |
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Tavon Wilson: Terry and I are both big fans of each other. We're always the first to congratulate the other on a good play. I'm looking forward to playing a long side him and hopefully being one of the best corner tandems in the country. |
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| Robin (Champaign): I read the story about you losing your parents earlier this spring. How often does your grandmother get out to see you? |
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Tavon Wilson: My grandma and I talk a lot. Everytime I get a chance to go home and see her I do that. She's coming here this weekend for the spring game so I'm looking forward to that. She's been such a big influence in my life and has been a huge part of my success. |
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| Charlie: does facing Ford and Leshoure everyday help or hurt the D? Who runs the hardest? |
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Tavon Wilson: Playing against those guys is kind of a luxury. There aren't too many back who run like those two or even Troy, Justin and Bud. Facing those different types of backs in practice definitely helps prepare us for other teams because of the different styles each of them has. |
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| Todd (Bloomington): How fun has it been to get after the quarterback these last couple of Saturdays? |
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Tavon Wilson: When the QBs can be hit it helps us a lot because we know the Dline can force some bad throws. It def. feels more like a gave when they have the red shirts off. |
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| Terry (champaign): What do you think of Coach Koenning's motto on on-field celebrations? |
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Tavon Wilson: Coach Vic would rather us not celebrate because its not the NFL. We're all business and we need to get the defense were we want it to be. Celebrating isn't a part of that. |
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| Benjamin (Rock Island): What has been the biggest change in the defense at your position? Our corners seemed to play off the LOS a lot last year, will that be different? |
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Tavon Wilson: It depend on the different types of situations we're in and the opponent. We have def. made a lot of changes this year so I'm sure we'll have a different look at times, but sometimes we'll do some things similar to the past. |
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| Duane (Belleville, IL): Hey Tavon! Does it help to practice against a mobile quarterback like Nathan Scheelhaase? Espcially with a lot of teams moving to the spread offense. Good luck next season! Go Illini! |
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Tavon Wilson: It helps a lot to face a mobile guy like Nate in practice. You know you have to account for him at all times because he can easily pull the ball down and run. We face a lot of different spread teams with mobile QBs during the season so practicing against someone like that def. helps. We did it last year too with Nate and Juice both here. |
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| Rylee (Davenport IA): Tavon, what do you feel is the biggest addition that is being made to the defense for this upcoming season? GO ILLINI!! |
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Tavon Wilson: I think the biggest change will be that we're are going to fly to the ball. We're going to be more aggressive and I think that will lead to forcing more turnovers. |
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| Terry, Peoria: You have a unique view of each of the quarterbacks in the secondary. What are the differences between Scheelhasse, Whitmer and Charest that you can see? |
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Tavon Wilson: Nate is obviously the most mobile of group. He brings a different gear to the game that you have to be aware of when he's in. Jake is more of a pure passer. When he's in he's more likely to sit in the pocker and throw. Chandler is kind of a mixture of both. He can sneak out on a run sometimes and he's hard to see behind the line but he's a pretty accurate passes as well. I think we can win with all three and since they're all different in style it helps us prepare for every team in the league and what we could face. |
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| Chris (Pontiac): Are all the starters set in the secondary? How are the safeties looking? |
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Tavon Wilson: The starters aren't really set this early. You have to come out ready to play every day because we have a lot of talent. No one can get complacent.
As for the secondary, I think we have a lot of talent and have a chance to be very good. All of the safeties bring different things to the table and are looking good right now. There will definitely be some good competition in camp. |
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Tavon Wilson: Thanks for all the questions! I've got to get going to meetings. Hope to see you all at the Spring Game this Saturday! |
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| Moderator: Thanks for all the questions. Check all of this year's Lunchtime Chats here: http://www.fightingillini.com/library/lunchtimechats.html |
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