Illinois Fighting Illini redshirt junior left guard/center Kendrick Green has elected to forgo a chance to play for new head coach Bret Bielema and enter the 2021 National Football League Draft, sharing the news on his Twitter account on Tuesday morning.

A 247Sports Composite three-star recruit out of Peoria (Illinois) High School in the 2017 class, Green redshirted his first year on-campus and has started all 33 of the Fighting Illini’s games over the last three seasons, 29 at left guard and four at center.

Earning All-Big Ten honorable mention as a redshirt sophomore, he collected second-team All-American honors from the USA TODAY in 2020, as well as being a consensus All-Conference selection.

Parting ways with fifth-year head coach Lovie Smith prior to the season finale against the Penn State Nittany Lions in State College, Illinois finished their campaign at 2-6, with both victories coming on the road over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Nebraska Cornhuskers on November 14 and 21, respectively.