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That time Nick Offerman, AKA Ron Swanson, pondered walking on at Illinois
Published:
Before he became Ron Swanson, Duke Silver or any of his other well-known characters, Nick Offerman was just a kid with B1G dreams.
After emerging as a high school football star in Minooka, Ill., Offerman briefly had some aspirations to walk on as a defensive back at Illinois. Offerman decided to attend an Illinois practice one day.
He got quite the awakening:
In Offerman’s defense, he watched the 1989 Illinois team that went 10-2, won the Citrus Bowl and finished ranked 10th nationally. Illinois hasn’t finished that well since Offerman’s freshman year in Champaign.
Perhaps if that team wasn’t so loaded, Offerman would’ve gotten a shot and the world would’ve never come to know him as an actor.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.