SEPT. 1 GAME PROMOTIONS
• Family 4-Pack Tickets – Four tickets for $49 total | Get Tickets
• Tailgating at Grange Grove – 8-11 am (Interactive games, food trucks and live music)
• Illini Walk – 8:30 am through Grange Grove
• Dana Howard HOF Recognition – Illini great Dana Howard is headed to the College Football Hall of Fame
OPENING KICK
• Here We Go: Year three of the Lovie Smith era begins Saturday as the Fighting Illini open their 129th year of football when Kent State comes to Memorial Stadium for an 11 a.m. kick on Big Ten Network.
• We've Met Before: Saturday will be the second meeting on the gridiron between the Fighting Illini and Kent State. The first meeting was a 52-3 Illini victory at Memorial Stadium to open the 2015 season.
• Bush Named Starter: Lovie Smith officially announced on Monday that graduate transfer AJ Bush Jr. will be the Fighting Illini's game one starter. Bush is a 6-4, 225-pound left-hander from Alpharetta, Georgia, and Norcross High School. He began his college career in 2014 at Nebraska before transferring to Iowa Western in 2016 and Virginia Tech last season.
• NFL Experience: Lovie Smith's Illini staff has 60 seasons of combined NFL head and assistant coach experience, the most in college football for the third consecutive year, easily outpacing second-place LSU's total of 48.
• Home Sweet Home: Illinois has 20 consecutive home-opening wins, the fourth-longest active streak in the nation behind only Florida (28), Oklahoma State (22) and Wisconsin (22). Illinois is 90-33-5 all-time in home-openers.
• Starting Off Right: The Illini have an all-time record of 81-42-5 in season-openers and are 58-27-4 when opening the season at home. The Illini have won their last 12 season-openers at Memorial Stadium dating back to 1997.
In fact, the Illini have won...
» 7 straight season-openers (last loss 2010 vs. Missouri in St. Louis)
» 12 straight season-openers at Memorial Stadium (last loss 1997 vs. Southern Miss.)
» 20 straight home-openers (last loss 1997 vs. Southern Mississippi)
• Boys of Summer: The Illini are 25-5 in Aug./Sept. home games dating back to the start of 2007.
• Youth Movement, Part Two: For the second straight year, Illinois will put one of the youngest teams in the nation on the field (roster breakdown as of Aug. 24, 2018).
» 2018 class breakdown: 8 seniors, 16 juniors, 39 sophomores, 39 freshmen (32 true-frosh, 7 RS frosh)
» The 8 seniors and 24 total upperclassmen are both the fewest in the nation
» With 78 underclassmen – 39 sophomores and 39 freshmen (32 true-frosh and 7 RS freshmen) – out of 102 players, the Illini roster has the highest percentage of underclassman in the nation – 76.5%
» 38 out of the 102 players on the roster are newcomers
» Only five players enter 2018 with more than 10 career starts, and only one has more than 15 – Nick Allegretti 24, Mike Dudek 15, Stanley Green 14, Jamal Milan 11
» Illinois' four fifth-year seniors – Nick Allegretti, Mike Dudek, Chase McLaughlan and Austin Roberts – is tied for the third fewest nationally behind only UConn (2) and Auburn (3). (All 5 years at one school)
» The 2017 Illini squad had just nine seniors, tied for the second-least in FBS.
» Illinois played (22) and started (16) more true freshmen than any team in the country in 2017
» 2018 Illini youth by the numbers:
Percent of Underclassmen
76.5% Illinois (78/102)
75.2% Appalachian State (88/117)
72.1% Cincinnati (80/111)
Fewest Upperclassmen
24 Illinois
29 Appalachian State
30 UCLA
Fewest Seniors
8 Illinois
9 Ball State, SMU
10 WKU, Arizona
THE ILLINOIS-KENT STATE SERIES
• Saturday's game will be the second meeting between Illinois and Kent State.
• Illinois beat Kent State 52-3 in the programs' first ever meeting Sept. 5, 2015. The game was originally scheduled for Friday, Sept. 4, but it was postponed to Saturday after a lightning delay.
• Illinois scored 45 points on its first 42 plays, opening a 28-0 lead after the first quarter and a 38-0 lead at halftime in the 2015 meeting.
• QB Wes Lunt was 11-of-19 passing for 162 yards and four touchdowns in the 2015 meeting.
• Nick Allegretti, Sam Mays, Jamal Milan and Austin Roberts are the only current Illini to have played against Kent State in 2015.
SAINT NICK
Junior OL Nick Allegretti is primed for another big season on and off the field.
» Named to AFCA Good Works Team preseason watch list for the second straight year, one of the most prestigious off-the-field honors in college football, honoring a student-athlete's dedication to volunteerism, community involvement and enriching the lives of others.
» Is the team's Uplifting Athletes chapter president and Lift for Life organizer, helping to raise over $88,000 for rare disease research and awareness over the last two years. Also is very active in the Tom Jones Challenger Baseball League.
» Has made 24 consecutive starts, the longest streak on the team.
» Played 760 of 762 offensive snaps in 2017 (99.7%), most on the team, and led the team with 782 snaps in 2016.
» A 2017 team captain, Allegretti was an honorable mention All-Big Ten pick on the offensive line.
DUDEK, WHERE'S MY CAR?
Current fifth-year senior and former freshman All-American WR Mike Dudek is healthy and ready for a big 2018 after playing only seven games over the last three seasons.
» After producing the most prolific season for a freshman receiver in school history in 2014, Dudek suffered season-ending knee injuries during spring ball in both 2015 and 2016.
» Returned to action Sept. 2, 2017, 981 days since his last play on Dec. 26, 2014, at the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
» Missed the last four games and five of the last six games of 2017 with two separate injuries.
» Ranked third on the team in catches (24) and fourth in receiving yards (262) in 2017 despite missing five full games and halves of two other games. Dudek also averaged a team-high 10.8 yards per punt return.
» Caught a 16-yard touchdown on the Illini's second drive of the season-opening win over Ball State, his first catch over two years. He had 102 all-purpose yards in the victory.
» Has at least two catches in all 20 career games he has played, tied for the fifth-longest active streak in FBS at the end of 2017.
» During his freshman season in 2014, Dudek hauled in 76 receptions for 1,038 yards to shatter Arrelious Benn's previous freshman marks of 54 catches and 676 yards in 2007.
» Dudek was a 2014 first-team Freshman All-American by ESPN.com, Scout and 247sports after leading FBS freshmen in receiving yards (79.8 ypg). He led the B1G in receptions (50) and receiving yards (716) during conference games and ranked fifth in FBS with 354 fourth-quarter receiving yards and tied for third nationally with 10 plays of 15+ yards in the fourth quarter.
» Dudek became the eighth player in school history to record a 1,000 yard season as a receiver, ranking seventh on the UI single season list with 1,038 yards.
ILLINI STORYLINES
• Future Coaches: Illini RB Reggie Corbin got a taste of coaching this past summer. Corbin, along with Illini teammates Justice Williams and Del'Shawn Phillips, led the Seahawks to an undefeated 5-0 record in the inaugural season of the Tuscola Flag Football League. The trio connected with nine-year old Illini superfan Colton Rahn, who has cerebral palsey, this past winter when a group of football student-athletes drove to Tuscola to cheer on Colton's basketball team.
• First-time Footballer: Sophomore punter Blake Hayes, a native of Melbourne, Australia, had never played in or attended a college football game until making his Illini debut against Ball State on Sept. 2. Hayes played Australian rules football before training at ProKick Australia for two years in hopes of getting a college scholarship in the United States. It paid off, as the Aussie earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors as a true-freshman, averaging 42.0 yards per punt.
• Facebook Find: Facebook was a key part in the recruitment of sophomore safety Bennett Williams, at least according to Illini defensive coordinator Hardy Nickerson. Nickerson was a teammate of Bennett's father, Garey Williams, at Cal and the two are connected on Facebook. Nickerson says he would see highlights of Bennett on Garey's Facebook page and became more impressed as he got older, eventually leading to his recruitment to Illinois. Williams earned true-freshman All-America honors after making 64 tackles and leading the team with three interceptions in 2017.
PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF
RB Dre Brown and WR Mike Dudek both returned to action in 2017 after missing at least two-straight seasons due to injury. They both head into 2018 healthy and ready for big things.
» Dre Brown » One of the top signees in the 2015 recruiting class, Brown was poised for playing turn as a true freshmen before going down with an ACL injury prior to the season. In all he missed nearly two-and-a-half seasons after enduring 2 torn ACLs, 2 sprained MCLs, a stress fracture and 4 knee surgeries before making his Illini debut Oct. 7, 2017, at Iowa as part of the kick return unit. He got his first offensive snaps and carries Oct. 14 at Rutgers. He had a breakout game at Ohio State, rushing for a career-high 76 yards on 15 carries (5.1 ypc) and finished the season with 138 yards on 31 carries (4.5 ypc).
» Mike Dudek » After producing the most prolific season for a freshman receiver in school history in 2014, Dudek suffered season-ending knee injuries during spring ball in both 2015 and 2016, missing both seasons. He returned to action in the 2017 season-opener against Ball State, 981 days since his last game action. Midway through the 2017 season Dudek was leading the team in catches and receiving yards, but he missed five of the last six games due to injuries.
FOOTBALL PERFORMANCE CENTER COMING IN 2019
Dramatic upgrades are coming soon to the Fighting Illini football facilities. Plans currently under construction call for a brand-new 107,000 square foot, $79.2 million Illinois Football Performance Center next to the Irwin Indoor Practice Facility, and adjacent to Memorial Stadium. Construction broke ground in December 2017, with the project scheduled for completion prior to the start of the 2019 season. More information on the project can be found at http://illinoisrenaissance.com.
» Complete Illinois-Kent State Game Notes (PDF)
» Complete Illinois Player Bios
