The end of a season — and the beginning of a new one — is always bittersweet. This is the time when familiar faces leave and new faces emerge. It’s always tough to have key seniors leave and makes it that much more important for someone to step up and fill the gap. 

For Illinois football, our defense lost some key players who were big playmakers and leaders for us on the field. Houston Bates made a huge impact for us at the LEO position, but this year he won’t be with us. His playmaking was second nature, and he was always a guy you could count on. 

In his absence, DeJazz Woods and Dawuane Smoot have stepped up and are looking to continue to make the LEO position one of the most explosive on our defense. Bates set a good tone for these two guys, who both have the athleticism and playmaking ability to continue the trend Houston set. 

I’ve had the opportunity to play behind one of the best linebackers Illinois has seen in a few years; Jonathan “JB” Brown has been the face of our defense. As linebackers, we have learned a lot about the game of football from watching him, and we know that now is our time to continue the tradition.

It’s always weird not seeing the guys that you have been playing with for the past two or three years out there with you, but we always keep in touch. A lot of the guys such as Miles Osei, Ryan Lankford, Evan Wilson, Spencer Harris and Steve Hull will be on the sideline in practice, coaching some of the younger guys at their former positions. Whether they’re eligible doesn’t matter. We are still family, and family takes care of one another.

So far we’ve had five practices, and they are getting more heated as we swiftly approach the spring game. For the defense, a good practice is when we get three or more turnovers and have no loafs. A loaf is when someone isn’t hustling to do their job. For the team as a whole, an overall good practice consists of competing as hard as you can while making each other better in the process. 

While it’s ideal to always have a great practice, there are days where it seems like nothing can go right. Those are the days where we do the opposite of what we want to do, and you can see the steam coming out of coaches’ ears. Luckily for us, we haven’t had any of that this spring thus far, and I don’t think anyone plans on it . 

This week, my main focus has been to try to make as many positive plays as possible and take as much coaching as I can. As a team, we are nowhere near where we want to be, but we are a lot closer than we were at the end of last season. 

Follow us on our journey to the top, and you won’t be disappointed. 

Ralph is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RalphCooper42.