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Illinois HC Bret Bielema talks recruiting, staff changes and spring football
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A new era of Illinois football is about to begin. With winter workouts arriving and spring football rapidly approaching, the Bret Bielema era will soon be underway in Champaign.
Bielema’s to-do list has been lengthy since arriving in Champaign, juggling the responsibilities of meeting with the team, assembling a staff, recruiting and working on a plan for spring football. It’s part of the territory for a head coach, especially one in the B1G.
On Wednesday, one week before National Signing Day, Bielema met with the media to talk about several topics before moving forward with the program. He discussed the staff hires he made, the recruiting landscape and briefly about the plans for spring.
Here’s what the new Illinois head coach had to say:
Catching up with #illini coach Bret Bielema
Had first full staff meeting on Sunday afternoon. "It's been awesome." Putting finishing touches on support staff.
"Couldn't be more excited about this group of guys." pic.twitter.com/epghO5BYs6
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 27, 2021
#illini Bret Bielema: Players went through a physical assessment with medical team and strength coach Tank Wright. Started winter workouts on Monday, do four days a week. Off on the weekend.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 27, 2021
#illini Bret Bielema: I only offered the defensive coordinator job to one guy and that guy was Ryan Walters.
— Joey Wagner (@mrwagner25) January 27, 2021
#illini Bret Bielema: Next six weeks will be about building a playbook around our athletes.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 27, 2021
#illini Bret Bielema on staff: Joke that George McDonald "left me at the altar" at Arkansas but he "quickly got over it."
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 27, 2021
#illini Bret Bielema: Ryan Walters and Tony Petersen will focus more on X's and O's while McDonald and Kane will focus on building roster through recruiting on their sides of the ball.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 27, 2021
#illini Bret Bielema: "I know I got a lot of good recruiters because they got a lot of wives that are out of their league."
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 27, 2021
#illini Bret Bielema: Like to promote coaches from within once he gets going, but hired outside coordinators this time to do something unique in the league.
"Build it the Illini way. …I want to build off our strengths here and work together as a staff."
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 27, 2021
#illini Bret Bielema didn't know Cory Patterson before but was blown away in his interviews.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 27, 2021
#illini Bret Bielema: Divided state into 10 areas and each assistant coach will recruit that area in state.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 27, 2021
#illini Bret Bielema: We're getting tight on scholarships. I'm trying to get the best players so we can have the best team we can have this year.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 27, 2021
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB