Scout Freshman All-America Team | ESPN Freshman All-America Team | 247Sports Freshman All-America Team

» The #Illini are Bowl Bound: Bowl Central | Get Tickets | Donate Tickets

Illinois wide receiver Mike Dudek was named a first-team Freshman All-American by Scout.com and was a true-freshman All-American according to ESPN.com and 247sports.com. Dudek also was named to ESPN.com's Big Ten All-Freshman team, a group that included both true-freshmen and redshirt-freshmen.

The Naperville, Illinois, native broke school freshman records with 69 catches for 965 yards in his inaugural campaign, and stands tied with College Football Hall of Famer David Williams for the UI freshman receiving touchdowns record with six. Dudek also earned All-Big Ten second team honors by league media and honorable mention All-Big Ten laurels by conference coaches on Dec. 1.

Dudek was the Big Ten's top receiver during conference play, posting 50 catches for 716 yards (89.5 yards per game) and three TDs in eight league games. He also leads all FBS freshmen in receiving yards per game on the season (80.4 ypg) heading into the Illini's matchup with Louisiana Tech in the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl on Dec. 26.

DiLauro Honored by ESPN.com | ESPN Freshman All-Big Ten
Redshirt-freshman offensive lineman Christian DiLauro joined Dudek on ESPN.com's Big Ten All-Freshman team after starting the last six games of the regular season and helping the Fighting Illini reach a bowl game for the first time since 2011. DiLauro has played 86 percent of the offensive snaps in those six games as Illinois' run game was much improved over the last half of the season.

Bellamy Tabbed as B1G's Top Receivers Coach | BTN Top Assistants
Illini assistant coach Mike Bellamy was named the Big Ten's top wide receivers coach by BTN.com's Tom Dienhart on Monday. Bellamy guided Mike Dudek to Freshman All-America honors and molded an unheralded and largely unknown group of pass-catchers into the third-ranked passing offense in the conference.