2015 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

2015 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Division	West Division
2015 record	5–7 (2–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Bill Cubit (Interim)
Offensive coordinator	Bill Cubit
Offensive scheme	Spread
Co-defensive coordinator	Tim Banks (4th season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Mike Phair (1st season)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 60,670)

The 2015 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by interim head coach Bill Cubit, and played their home games at Memorial Stadium. They were members of the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 5–7, 2–6 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for fifth place in the West Division.

On November 28, interim head coach Bill Cubit was signed to a two-year contract and named head coach.^[1] However, on March 5 Cubit was fired by new athletic director Josh Whitman.^[2]

Previous season

The 2014 Illinois Fighting Illini football team finished the regular season 6–6, with a highlight win against Northwestern which brought the team bowl eligible and was invited to play in the 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs of Conference USA. The Bulldogs defeated the Illini in Dallas, Texas 35–18 finishing their 2014 Season at 6–7.

Head coach

On August 28, 2015—one week before the start of the regular season—head coach Tim Beckman was fired after an internal investigation found that he had made efforts "to deter injury reporting and influence medical decisions that pressured players to avoid or postpone medical treatment and continue playing despite injuries." He was replaced by offensive coordinator Bill Cubit on an interim basis for the season.^[3]

A few hours before the final game of the season, Cubit had the "Interim" removed from his title and was named permanent head coach. It was an appointment that would last only one game, as Cubit was removed during the following off-season by new Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman, on the day Whitman officially assumed the role, in favor of former Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith.

Schedule

Illinois announced their 2015 football schedule on June 3, 2013. The 2015 schedule consist of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Fighting Illini will host Big Ten foes Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, and Wisconsin and will travel to Iowa, Minnesota, Penn State, and Purdue.^[4]

The Fighting Illini hosted three of their four non conference games against Kent State, Middle Tennessee and Western Illinois. Illinois traveled to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and faced the North Carolina of the Atlantic Coast Conference on September 19.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	2:00 PM	Kent State*	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL	BTN	W 52–3	36,693
September 12	11:00 AM	Western Illinois*	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL	BTN	W 44–0	37,733
September 19	11:00 AM	at North Carolina*	Kenan Memorial Stadium • Chapel Hill, NC	ESPN2	L 14–48	41,000
September 26	3:00 PM	Middle Tennessee*	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL	ESPNews	W 27–25	44,366
October 3	3:00 PM	Nebraska	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL	BTN	W 14–13	40,138
October 10	11:00 AM	at No. 22 Iowa	Kinnick Stadium • Iowa City, IA	ESPN2	L 20–29	66,693
October 24	2:30 PM	Wisconsin	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL	BTN	L 13–24	45,438
October 31	11:00 AM	at Penn State	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA	ESPN2	L 0–39	94,417
November 7	11:00 AM	at Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, IN (Battle for the Purdue Cannon)	BTN	W 48–14	40,197
November 14	11:00 AM	No. 3 Ohio State	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL (Battle for the Illibuck)	ABC	L 3–28	51,515
November 21	11:00 AM	at Minnesota	TCF Bank Stadium • Minneapolis, MN	ESPNews	L 23–32	47,976
November 28	2:30 PM	No. 17 Northwestern	Soldier Field • Chicago, IL (Battle for the Land of Lincoln Trophy)	ESPNU	L 14–24	33,514
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. #Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Central Time Zone.

Schedule Source:^[5]

Roster

2015 Illinois Fighting Illini football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 2 Reggie Corbin Fr QB 3 Jeff George, Jr. Fr WR 4 Dionte Taylor Jr RB 5 Ke'Shawn Vaughn Fr RB 6 Josh Ferguson  Sr QB 7 Chayce Crouch  Fr WR 8 Geronimo Allison Sr WR 9 Sam Mays Fr QB 10 Jimmy Fitzgerald Fr WR 11 Malik Turner So QB 12 Wes Lunt  Jr TE 13 Caleb Reams Fr QB 14 Alex Mussat Fr WR 15 Tyrin Stone-Davis  Jr WR 16 Marchie Murdock  So WR 18 Mike Dudek So WR 19 Justin Hardee Sr WR 21 Man Berg  So RB 23 Henry Enyenihi  Sr RB 25 Kendrick Foster  So RB 26 Cameron Tucker  Sr RB 27 Dre Brown Fr TE 30 Jim Nudera  Sr WR 31 Leslie Poole  Sr TE 39 Nathan Echard  So TE 42 Chris Royer Fr TE 47 Tim Clary  Sr OL 52 Adam Solomon Fr OL 53 Nick Allegretti  Fr OL 55 Chris Boles  Sr OL 57 Austin Schmidt Jr OL 63 Mike Parisi Fr OL 64 Jack Broeker Fr OL 66 Jordan Fagan So OL 67 Christian DiLauro  So OL 68 Matt Long Fr OL 69 Ted Karras  Sr OL 70 Max Marietti Fr OL 71 Joe Spencer  Jr OL 72 Gabe Megginson Fr OL 73 Chris O'Connor  Sr OL 74 Connor Brennan Jr OL 75 Pat Flavin  Sr OL 76 Zeke Martin Fr OL 78 Harry Black Jr OL 79 Zach Heath Jr TE 80 Ainslie Johnson Jr WR 81 Raphael Barr  So WR 82 Kameron Fry  Jr TE 83 Bobby Walker Fr WR 84 Jordan Hahn  So WR 86 Desmond Cain Fr TE 87 Tyler White Jr WR 88 Zach Grant  Jr TE 89 Andrew Davis Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 2 V'Angelo Bentley Sr DB 3 Taylor Barton Fr STAR 5 James Crawford  So LEO 6 Carroll Phillips  Jr DB 7 Caleb Day Jr DB 8 Dillan Cazley Jr DL 9 Kenny Nelson  Sr LB 10 B. J. Bello  Jr DL 11 Chunky Clements Jr DB 12 Chris James  Fr STAR 14 Eric Finney  Sr DB 15 Jevaris Little  Jr DL 16 Rob Bain  Jr DL 17 Jihad Ward Sr DB 19 Frank Sumpter Fr DB 20 Clayton Feiedelem  Sr DB 21 Darwyn Kelly  So DB 21 Patrick Nelson Fr LB 22 LaKeith Walls  Jr DB 23 Davontay Kwaaning  Sr DB 24 Darius Mosely Jr STAR 26 Cedric Doxy  Jr DB 27 Eaton Spencer  Sr DB 28 Jaylen Dunlap  So STAR 29 Nelson Lugo  Jr DB 29 T. J. Moss  Fr DB 30 Julian Hylton  Fr DB 31 Cameron Watkins Fr STAR 32 Justice Williams Fr LB 33 Tre Watson  Fr LB 34 Mike Svetina  Jr LB 35 Sean White  Jr LB 36 Austin Roberts  Fr DB 37 Dennis Thurow  So DB 38 Samuel Harlib  So LB 40 Jason Goldsmith  Fr LB 41 Jimmy Marchese Fr DL 42 Joe Fotu Sr LB 43 Mason Monheim Sr LB 44 Julian Jones Fr LEO 45 Henry McGrew  Fr DE 46 Ikjot Wahi Fr LEO 47 Sean Adesanya So LB 48 Jack Clark Fr STAR 49 Conner Schmidt  So LB 52 T. J. Neal  Jr DL 55 Jamal Milan Fr DL 65 Ryan Walton  So DL 85 Brandon Roberts  So DL 90 Altan Aldemir Fr LEO 91 Dawuane Smoot Jr DL 93 Teko Powell  Jr DL 94 Tito Odenigbo  Fr DL 95 Max Loeb  So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K/P 13 Ryan Frain Jr K 17 Taylor Zalewski Sr K 35 Jonathan Milazzo Fr K/P 38 David Reisner  Jr P 40 Ryan Tucker  Fr P 46 Luke Nelson Jr K 48 Chase McLaughlin  Fr LS 54 Zach Hirth  Jr LS 56 Michael Martin  Jr	Head coach Bill Cubit - Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator Coordinators/assistant coaches Tim Banks – Co-Defensive Coordinator and Secondary Mike Phair – Co-Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Line Mike Bellamy – Wide Receivers Tom Brattan – Offensive Line Ryan Cubit – Quarterback and Recruiting Coordinator Alex Golesh – Tight Ends and Special Teams Coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase – Running Backs Al Seamonson – Outside Linebackers Mike Ward – Inside Linebackers Tyler Johns - Graduate Assistant Reilly O'Toole - Graduate Assistant Kaeman Mitchell - Graduate Assistant LeDominique Williams - Graduate Assistant Scott Yelding - Director of Player Personnel Tim Knox - Director of Football Operations Patrick Embleton - Director of Football Student-Athlete Development Aaron Hillmann - Head Football Strength & Conditioning Coach Trent Chestnut - Head Football Equipment Manager Alex Benizzi - Director of Football Video Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: December 1, 2015

References