Even with all of the snow, Peter Cvijanovic has been avoiding the buses on campus. He doesn’t want to get lost.

The Illinois offensive lineman is new to campus and new to college. He is one of 18 signees to Illinois’ class of 2014 and one of six January enrollees. For him, these first few weeks have been the same as they have for everyone: cold.

If there’s one person it doesn’t surprise that he has not made a freshman mistake yet, it is his brother, rising senior offensive lineman Simon Cvijanovic.

“He’s on top of his stuff,” Simon said.

Simon picks Peter up for early morning workouts in the car their parents gave them, and Peter is often waiting or even calling to make sure his brother is up.

“I’m like, ‘I’m awake, stop calling me,’” Simon jokes.

The brothers hail from Ohio, and Peter joins the Illini after a season at East Coast Prep in Massachusetts. While one might think Simon influenced his younger brother to come to Illinois, the truth is the Illinois coaches took more convincing than Peter.

Simon said he kept telling his coaches to look at Peter as a football player, not as his brother. Eventually, they came around, and now, the brothers are united at Illinois, even if it is just for one year.

“I’ve been telling people, the bond I have, the guys in the locker room, is something I’ll have the rest of my life,” Simon said. “Now I’ll have that with my brother on top of him being my brother.”

And similarly, Peter doesn’t feel like his brother was overly influential in his decision to play for Tim Beckman and the Illini. 

“If he didn’t go here, I would probably still go here,” Peter said.

Simon remembers what it was like to be a freshman. He doesn’t have any experience being diabetic, however, like his brother. But he’s not letting that affect his brother’s college experience.

He promised his little brother that since he shouldn’t be drinking alcohol like a large portion of the college population, he — Simon — wouldn’t, either.

“I told him, ‘I’m going to be with you and show what it’s like to be in college and not have to party all the time to have fun,’” Simon said. “He’s underage anyway, but you shouldn’t be (drinking) as a football player anyway.”

Simon says the biggest adjustment for his brother will be the speed of the college game. But enrolling in January will help a lot. It gave Simon extra time to learn the playbook and not be flustered about being in a new state on top of football season.

When Simon first came to Illinois, he didn’t know anyone. And while he may not know the bus system yet, Peter knows at least one familiar face on campus.  

Sean can be reached at [email protected] and @sean_hammond.