Plenty of new faces will be part of the Illinois State offense this spring.

But to starting quarterback Bryce Jefferson – who started three playoff games as a redshirt freshman in 2019 – none of the talent around him Saturday in the team’s season-opening home game against South Dakota (noon, ESPN+ and NBC Sports Chicago) is unfamiliar.

“They know the playbook and they know what needs to be done,” he said of the receiving corps, which includes projected starters Austin Nagel, Taylor Grimes and Kacper Rutkiewicz. “The offense is going to get a little more upbeat and fast paced, probably more pass than run. But at Illinois State, running is our calling card. That’s what we do.”

That run game has lost 93% of its yards from last season with All-American James Robinson moving on to the NFL and his backup, Jeff Proctor, entering the transfer portal earlier this year.

Redshirt freshman Pha’leak Brown is listed as the starting running back, and he will be backed up by fellow redshirt freshman Nigel White. The duo has combined for 10 career carries.

“We have some young running backs who are really talented and very quick,” said Jefferson, who is the top returning rusher at 124 yards. “We have some backs who can get outside and make people miss.”

The run game will certainly benefit from a veteran offensive line that boasts 68 career starts, including 35 by senior left tackle and preseason All-Missouri Valley Football Conference selection Drew Himmelman.

Jefferson also noted the team’s speed at wide receiver and athleticism at tight end, where junior Tanner Taula (seven receptions last season) is the starter and fellow junior Mitchell Lewis will be the top reserve.

“You’re going to see some guys having fun,” Jefferson said of the Redbirds, who are ranked No. 7 this week in the STATS Perform FCS poll.

New-look secondary

The Illinois State defensive backfield will have three new faces – senior cornerback Jarrell Jackson, sophomore free safety Clayton Isbell and sophomore strong safety Iverson Brown – starting their first career games against South Dakota.

The lone starter returning is junior cornerback Charles Woods, who has compiled 18 career starts.

The newcomers aren’t new to being on the field, however, as Brown (18 career games), Jackson (16) and Isbell (15) all have been regular contributors.

Defensive transition

Along with the new faces on offense, the Redbirds lost their top six tacklers on defense from the 2019 season.

Middle linebacker Kenton Wilhoit and weakside linebacker Shannon Reid, a transfer from Tennessee, will be starting their first games in a Redbird uniform.

Also gone are the three top sackers from 2019, when Illinois State piled up an FCS-best 52 sacks as a team.

The defensive line brings back the most experience, with junior defensive end Jason Lewan (26 career starts) and junior nose tackle John Ridgeway (24) returning to the starting lineup.

Spack chases history

In his 12^th season as head coach at Illinois State, Brock Spack is only three victories away from becoming the school’s all-time wins leader.

Spack’s teams have produced an 84-50 record (.627) during his tenure. The current record holder for wins is Edwin Struck, who coached the Redbirds for 20 seasons beginning in 1945 and put together an 86-78-14 mark.

Spack is the only coach in ISU history with a winning percentage of better than 60% who has coached more than one season.

About South Dakota

The Coyotes (5-7 last season) list three potential starters at quarterback in senior Tyler Tsagalis, junior Jakob Parks or freshman Carson Camp. Tsagalis was the backup the past two seasons, while Camp is returning home for the game. He is a graduate of Normal Community West High School a few miles from ISU’s campus.

Senior running back Kai Henry needs 81 yards to reach 2,000 for his career. Senior Brady Schutt was the nation’s fourth-ranked punter last season with an average of 45.1 yards. In the last five seasons, the Coyotes have five wins against Top 10 teams.

Where you can watch

The game will kick off at noon and be broadcast on ESPN+ online.

Dorian Missick currently stars on SEASON 2 of ABC’s hit crime drama/thriller FOR LIFE, which aired its season 2 finale on February 24th. Created by Hank Steinberg and produced by 50 Cent, the timely drama is based on the true story of Isaac Wright Jr., who was imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit. While incarcerated, he became a licensed attorney and helped to overturn the wrongful convictions of twenty of his fellow inmates, before finally proving his own innocence.

Missick first gained recognition when he starred in the critically acclaimed TNT series “SouthLAnd” opposite Emmy winner Regina King. Missick then stayed in the John Wells family and had a heavily recurring role in the TNT series “Animal Kingdom.” Other recent roles include a series regular on CBS All Access’s Tell Me A Story, Marvel’s Luke Cage, the lead opposite Brandy in BET’s comedy series “Zoe Ever After,” NBC’s drama “The Cape,” JJ Abrams’ “Six Degrees” for ABC.

Missick’s recent film work includes BRIAN BANKS with Greg Kinnear and Aldis Hodge, the SXSW independent JINN, Sony’s ANNIE, Screen Gem’s DELIVER US FROM EVIL, and BIG WORLDS (Slamdance 2014) which was distributed by Ava Duvernay’s ARRAY films, in which he played the title character.

We chatted with Missick before season 2’s finale to talk about his character and development on the show.

As always, I have a backlog of beers I want to write about tin this space. I’ve especially wanted to shout out to local brewers that I haven’t had much change to highlight before.

Like Lo Rez Brewing. They’re located in a repurposed industrial site in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, 2101 S. Carpenter St. The principals, Dave Dahl and Kevin Lilly, were programmers in the tech sector. Like almost everyone in this field, they got hooked on homebrewing, and went through extensive training, getting certified by the Siebel Institute. Kevin made beer at Metropolitan Brewing and 5 Rabbit, while Dave traveled through Belgium and also put in hours at Metropolitan. They opened their own brewery in 2016. Yes, the taproom is open, and they have home delivery options.

Their beers have a small distribution footprint so far, but I did have their Local Logic Pilsener a few years back at the Red Arrow Taproom in Elmhurst. And now I’ve found some of their cans at Whole Foods in Darien.

For this article, I picked up Voxel, described as an “American Saison.” That’s normally a Belgian style, made with some wheat in the malt billed, and fermented warm, imparting some spiciness, for farmhouse consumption. The “American” part apparently is based on dry-hopping with Mosaic.

Now, it’s not mentioned on the can, but Saisons are usually packaged unfiltered. Meaning there’s still some fermentation that can go on. Meaning you might open your beer to a bit of a gusher. At least this time, I prepared by opening the can over the sink, and let the glass settle before taking the photo above. But there is a big pear nose when I first poured the foamy beer into a tulip glass. It takes while to settle, but the fluffy big head is still there, under a slightly hazy yellow beer body. Dry hopping plays up a fruity aspect that goes with the coriander notes of this style. The finish is dry, but overall it has more maltiness than bitterness.

It’s nicely filling, and the alcohol does not affect you much while drinking (Stats: 6.2% abv, 35 IBU). You can’t go wrong pairing this with “farmhouse” food: roasted meats and/or veggies, and creamy, soft cheeses. I quite enjoyed it, though, all by its lonesome.

Disclosure: I purchased this beer for the purpose of reviewing it.

Watch Part 2 of Berkowitz’s interview with GOP GOV candidate Darren Bailey, airing

In Chicago: This morning on Cable Ch. 21, 10:14 am and tmw morning, Cable Ch. 19, 9:44 am

In Aurora at 6pm on Cable Ch. 10, aka ACTV-10: tonight and Monday night

In Highland Park, 8:30 pm, Cable Ch. 19: this coming Monday and Wednesday nights

Part 2 of the Bailey interview by Public Affairs show host Jeff Berkowitz can also be watched 24/7 by clicking here

The show deals with the assorted and asserted, by Bailey, miscues of Gov. Pritzker ‘s unnecessary shutdown of much of IL’s economy and K-12 public schools for most of the last year.

Senator Bailey (R-Louisville, 55th Dist) also argues Gov. Pritzker’s priorities in his vaccine roll-out have been badly misplaced and motivated by politics and/or ignorance, and neither by good public health public policy nor a fair reading of the data and relevant science.

Further, GOP Gov candidate Bailey accuses Pritzker’s administration and his Illinois State Board of Education (“ISBE”)  of generating abusive and socially destructive “Cultural Education standards.”  Senator Bailey, who farms with the help of fourteen other families, 12,000 acres downstate, also is critical of Governor Pritzker for supporting legislation that has resulted in virtually unlimited availability of procedures to abort healthy embryos and the unborn.

Part 2 of the Bailey interview by Public Affairs show host Jeff Berkowitz can also be watched 24/7 by clicking here

Part 1 of the Bailey interview by Public Affairs show host Jeff Berkowitz can also be watched 24/7 by clicking here. The show deals with cutting property taxes, government pension benefits, state spending and much more.

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You can  watch the two-part interviews with two of the other GOV candidates  by clicking the following links with the two GOP GOV primary candidates likely to join Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) and Sen. Bailey (R-Louisville) in the March, 2022 race: ditchdigger CEO Gary Rabine, part 1 & part 2 & legal plummer Richard Porter, part 1 and part 2

You can learn more about Sen. Bailey, whose downstate IL Sen. District is a 3 ½ hour drive southeast of Chicago, by using or connecting with the below social media handles:

Website: BaileyForIllinois.com

Facebook: BaileyforIllinois

Instagram: Baileyforil55

Twitter: @DarrenBaileyIL      

Western Illinois last played a football game Nov. 23, 2019. Saturday’s 30-24 loss to Missouri State resembled much of the time in between.

As with life in the pandemic world, WIU experienced its share of highs and lows in the defeat that opened this spring’s eight-game Missouri Valley Football Conference schedule.

“It’s been a long, long road and a long journey for these guys,” WIU head coach Jared Elliott said in the postgame press conference. “Obviously I was wanting a different result for these kids because they deserve it. I’m extremely proud how hard our guys played. That wasn’t the issue today. Our issue today was like any first game, especially a first game when you haven’t played in so long. We’ve got to eliminate self-inflicted wounds.”

While Western’s record stands at 0-1, Missouri State won for the first time under new head coach Bobby Petrino after losing all three games the Bears played in the fall.

Three things we learned:

1. Penalties and turnovers continue to decide games

Two of the key statistical categories loomed large.

Western Illinois and Missouri State combined for 17 penalties for 138 yards and seven turnovers.

“Extremely frustrating,” Elliott said. “I know we had two touchdowns called back (on penalties) and the one, if not the third, was on the one- or two-yard line. Very frustrating.”

Yet, the Leathernecks still had a chance to pull off a comeback. On the final drive, WIU drove to the Missouri State 41-yard line. However, starting quarterback and team captain Connor Sampson left the field with an injury.

Backup Henry Ogala stepped in and threw a 40-yard completion to Dennis Houston only to have it negated by a holding penalty called on Michael Ross.

“Way too many penalties,” Elliott said.

On the next snap, Missouri State stripped the ball from Ogala and recovered to effectively end the game.

“We turned the ball over at some very costly moments,” Elliott said.

2. Big plays produce big results

The game featured big plays on both sides.

After falling into a 14-0 deficit, WIU rallied to tie the game. Linebacker Greg Benton Jr. scooped up a fumble and raced 75 yards for a second quarter Leatherneck score.

Greg Benton Jr.

“I could go on about Greg for days, but that man is all heart,” teammate Herschel Blankenship said.

Schaumburg native and transfer Mason Laramie nailed a 45-yard field to give Western a 17-14 halftime lead.

After receiver Tony Tate scored on a two-yard run with 7:56 remaining in the game, WIU held a 24-20 lead.

Things looked even better for Western when Missouri State misplayed the ensuing kickoff return and then suffered a snap infraction. The Bears faced a first-and-14 inside their own five-yard line. WIU followed by stopping quarterback Jaden Johnson cold on a read option.

Yet, momentum and field position changed as Johnson found Damoriea Vick for a 67-yard reception into Western territory. Moments later, 6-foot-7 Issac Smith snatched a pass between two WIU defenders and then raced into the end zone with the game-deciding touchdown. The Bears later added a field goal.

3.  Field position matters

Western spent most of the third quarter mired deep in its own territory. In fact, Adam Fellner punted from his own end zone on three consecutive possessions.

That situation was set up after WIU was called for “an invalid fair catch signal” following a Missouri State field goal, according to Elliott.

Missouri State held WIU in check and forced the Fellner punts.

“The third quarter was tough,” Elliott said. “We put our defense in some really bad spots, and they played their tails off. We had at least three possessions, if not four, backed up inside the 10 and couldn’t get a first down. We weren’t able to do that and really lost almost a quarter there.”

News and notes:  WIU’s final drive wasn’t helped by the fact the Leathernecks had only one timeout. Western burned two timeouts — one of special teams and one on defense — in the third quarter . . . Before departing with his injury, Sampson was 34-for-46 for 281 yards. He passed for one touchdown but also threw two interceptions . . . Houston had nine catches for 71 yards and a TD . . . Tate, a DeKalb native, had 161 total yards (69 receiving, 89 returning, 3 rushing) . . . Blankenship led Western with 10 tackles, eight solo.

What’s next?

Western travels to nationally ranked South Dakota State March 6.

Western Illinois football is ready to put past disappointments behind as the Leathernecks kick off their spring season Saturday at Hanson Field.

WIU seeks to shake off not only the postponement of last weekend’s game at South Dakota but also the frustrations of a 1-11 record in 2019 followed by no fall season because of the global pandemic.

“In 2019 we were battling injuries, and because of that a lot of younger guys had to step up and fill those roles. When you have a situation like that, there can definitely be some challenges along the way,” sophomore running back DeShon Gavin told Prairie State Pigskin recently.

Yet, Gavin and his teammates feel optimistic heading into Saturday’s opener against Missouri State in a scheduled eight-game Missouri Valley Football Conference-only slate.

DeShon Gavin

“We’re looking a lot more explosive out there,” said Gavin, the former Providence Catholic standout.

Head coach Jared Elliott and his staff brought in a dozen transfers to revamp the roster.

“Almost everybody that we brought in has been standing out,” running back and return specialist Justin Hall said. “Having more weapons is always better.

“We have a good understanding of the plays and the concepts. We’ve got things off the field in a good spot. I feel like those things make the offense move smoothly.”

New names to know

Running back Morian Walker and receivers D’Angelo Biggs and Dallas Daniels are among the new faces and uniform numbers WIU fans will notice having immediate impacts on the field.

“He’s been an explosive piece and a veteran too,” Gavin said of the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Walker, who spent time at both Nevada and Utah State prior to coming to WIU.

“I don’t want to compare Biggs to any teammates because he brings in a whole new kind of explosive, but he’s one of our slot receivers that you definitely want to keep your eyes out for,” Gavin said. “(Daniels) is going to be a tremendous receiver here. I’m excited to see him on game day because he’s been tearing it up here at practice.”

Head coach Jared Elliott addressed the high number of new players on the roster during his weekly radio show.

“I love the group of guys that we’ve added,” Elliott said. “There are a lot of new faces of this football team. Great energy and excitement.”

Scouting Missouri State

The preseason poll placed WIU and Missouri State in the lower portion of the Missouri Valley standings. And like WIU, the Bears had their scheduled game called off a week ago.

Missouri State was 1-10 overall in 2019 and has replaced Dave Steckel as head coach with Bobby Petrino.

Redshirt freshman Jaden Johnson has been named the starting quarterback after transferring from FBS Southern Mississippi. On defense, the Bears added senior cornerback Jeremy Webb, a transfer from Virginia Tech.

WIU must defend 6-foot-3 Damoriea Vick and 6-5 Lorenzo Thomas as receivers. 

News & Notes

WIU opens up MVFC play versus Missouri State in back-to-back seasons; the 2019 opener required three overtimes before the Bears pulled out a 37-31 win . . . the Leathernecks have won three of the last four matchups against Missouri State . . . Quarterback Connor Sampson, linebacker Eryk Preston and receiver Tony Tate are the WIU captains this season . . .  punter Adam Fellner was named an MVFC preseason honorable mention. The Ozark, Mo., native finished the 2019 season 18th in the FCS and third in the Valley, averaging 42.5 yards per punt. He booted a punt a career-long 64 yards in the Leathernecks’ season-finale at Northern Iowa, and on 194 career punts – 31 traveled over 50 yards, 46 were downed inside the 20-yard line, and 46 were called fair catches. 

Where you can watch

The game will air on ESPN+/3 online with a noon kickoff from Hanson Field in Macomb. The WIU radio call is available on MIXLR.

In Carbondale, Sundays are workdays for the Southern Illinois football team.

The work that the Salukis put in six days ago, according to head coach Nick Hill, paid massive dividends in the team’s Missouri Valley Football Conference home opener Saturday – a 38-14 demolition of defending national champion and No. 1 North Dakota State that halted the FCS powerhouse’s 39-game winning streak.

Just as stunning was the fact that SIU (2-1) pulled off the win a week after stumbling to a 44-21 loss at North Dakota, which Hill termed a major disappointment.

“It was a long trip,” he said of the defeat in Grand Forks, N.D. “We got right back to work on Sunday. These guys really showed up with some resiliency. They were willing to watch and learn from their mistakes. That’s what I’m most proud of.”

SIU’s offense outgained the Bison, 443-268, and piled up 25 first downs compared to only 12 for NDSU.

Trailing 17-0 late in the first half, NDSU completed a 37-yard Hail Mary pass to end the half. SIU responded with 21 unanswered second-half points to take control of the game and hand NDSU its first loss since Nov. 4, 2017.

“We’re gonna enjoy this thing,” Hill said. “This game will be remembered for a long time as maybe the biggest win in that stadium.”

1. Rochester’s finest

High school teammates Avante Cox, a junior wide receiver, and Nic Baker, a sophomore quarterback, were spectacular for the Salukis. The Rochester (Ill.) High School products were part of a high-powered offense that included 17-for-23 passing and 254 yards for Baker in his first career start filling in for injured starter Kare’ Lyles.

Last week against North Dakota, Baker threw two interceptions in the defeat. Against NDSU, he did not turn the ball over. “For his first start ever, that’s a big win for him,” Hill said.

Cox caught seven passes for 138 yards and continued to wow his head coach. “He might be the best skill player in the country,” Hill said. “He plays extremely hard.”

2. Run game revs up

A week after rushing for only 90 yards against North Dakota, the Salukis pounded away at NDSU for 178 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

Sophomore Romier Elliott led all rushers with 89 yards and scored twice, while fellow sophomore Javon Williams Jr. added 40 yards and two scores.

3. Winning up front

Along with its offensive line leading the way on 48 run plays, the SIU defensive front allowed only 109 rushing yards. The NDSU total was aided by a late fourth-quarter run of 63 yards by Jalen Bussey.

“There’s not a lot of teams that control the line of scrimmage against North Dakota State,” Hill said. “If you can run the football, you can do a lot of things (on offense). Besides two plays, we dominated the football game.”

What’s up next?

SIU travels to Youngstown State for an 11 a.m. kickoff on Saturday, March 6. The game will be aired on either ESPN3 or ESPN+ online.