2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Division	West Division
Record	4–8 (2–7 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lovie Smith (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Rod Smith (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Hardy Nickerson (3rd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ←  2017 2019  →

2018 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
No. 3 Ohio State xy$		8	–	1					13	–	1
No. 14 Michigan x		8	–	1					10	–	3
No. 17 Penn State		6	–	3					9	–	4
Michigan State		5	–	4					7	–	6
Maryland		3	–	6					5	–	7
Indiana		2	–	7					5	–	7
Rutgers		0	–	9					1	–	11
West Division
No. 21 Northwestern xy		8	–	1					9	–	5
Wisconsin		5	–	4					8	–	5
No. 25 Iowa		5	–	4					9	–	4
Purdue		5	–	4					6	–	7
Minnesota		3	–	6					7	–	6
Nebraska		3	–	6					4	–	8
Illinois		2	–	7					4	–	8
Championship: Ohio State 45, Northwestern 24
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The 2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. In their third season under head coach Lovie Smith, the Fighting Illini compiled a 4–8 record (2–7 in conference games), finished in last place out of seven teams in the Big Ten's West Division, and were outscored by a total of 473 to 312. ^[1]

The team's statistical leaders included quarterback AJ Bush (1,413 passing yards), running back Reggie Corbin (1,085 rushing yards, 8.5 yards per attempt), wide receiver Ricky Smalling (33 receptions for 406 yards), and kicker Chase McLaughlin (96 points scored, 36 of 36 extra points, 20 of 25 field goals). ^[2] McLaughlin was the only Illinois player to receive first-team honors on the 2018 All-Big Ten Conference football team. ^[3]

The team played its home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.

Offseason

Recruiting

Position key

Back	B		Center	C		Cornerback	CB		Defensive back	DB
Defensive end	DE		Defensive lineman	DL		Defensive tackle	DT		End	E
Fullback	FB		Guard	G		Halfback	HB		Kicker	K
Kickoff returner	KR		Offensive tackle	OT		Offensive lineman	OL		Linebacker	LB
Long snapper	LS		Punter	P		Punt returner	PR		Quarterback	QB
Running back	RB		Safety	S		Tight end	TE		Wide receiver	WR

Recruits

The Fighting Illini signed a total of 17 recruits on Early National Signing Day on December 20, 2017.

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award	Player	Position	Year
John Mackey Award [4]	Louis Dorsey	TE	SO
Wuerffel Trophy [5]	Nick Allegretti	OL	SR

Schedule

The 2018 schedule consisted of seven home and five away games in the regular season. The Fighting Illini hosted Big Ten foes Penn State, Purdue, Minnesota, Iowa, and traveled to Rutgers, Wisconsin, Maryland, Nebraska and Northwestern. ^[6]

The Fighting Illini hosted all three non-conference opponents, Kent State from the Mid-American Conference, Western Illinois from Missouri Valley Football Conference, and South Florida from the American Athletic Conference. The South Florida game was played at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	11:00 a.m.	Kent State *	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	W 31–24	31,898
September 8	6:30 p.m.	Western Illinois *	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	W 34–14	39,252
September 15	2:30 p.m.	vs. South Florida *	Soldier Field Chicago, IL	BTN	L 19–25	21,725
September 21	8:00 p.m.	No. 10 Penn State	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	FS1	L 24–63	34,704
October 6	11:00 a.m.	at Rutgers	HighPoint.com Stadium Piscataway, NJ	BTN	W 38–17	36,702
October 13	2:30 p.m.	Purdue	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	FS1	L 7–46	41,966
October 20	11:00 a.m.	at No. 23 Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	FS1	L 20–49	79,736
October 27	2:30 p.m.	at Maryland	Maryland Stadium College Park, MD	BTN	L 33–63	30,387
November 3	2:30 p.m.	Minnesota	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	W 55–31	35,774
November 10	11:00 a.m.	at Nebraska	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	BTN	L 35–54	88,316
November 17	2:30 p.m.	Iowa	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	L 0–63	33,313
November 24	2:30 p.m.	at No. 20 Northwestern	Ryan Field Evanston, IL (rivalry)	BTN	L 16–24	37,124
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[6]

Game summaries

Kent State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	7	10	7	0	24
Fighting Illini	3	0	21	7	31

See also: 2018 Kent State Golden Flashes football team

Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Leathernecks	7	0	7	0	14
Fighting Illini	0	14	10	10	34

See also: 2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

South Florida

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulls	7	0	0	18	25
Fighting Illini	10	6	3	0	19

See also: 2018 South Florida Bulls football team

Penn State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Nittany Lions	7	14	7	35	63
Fighting Illini	7	10	7	0	24

See also: 2018 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

At Rutgers

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	10	14	0	14	38
Scarlet Knights	7	7	0	3	17

See also: 2018 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team

Purdue

	1	2	3	4	Total
Boilermakers	14	15	7	10	46
Fighting Illini	7	0	0	0	7

See also: 2018 Purdue Boilermakers football team and Illinois–Purdue football rivalry

At Wisconsin

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	0	10	7	3	20
No. 23 Badgers	14	14	14	7	49

See also: 2018 Wisconsin Badgers football team

At Maryland

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	3	6	10	14	33
Terrapins	14	14	21	14	63

See also: 2018 Maryland Terrapins football team

Minnesota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Gophers	7	10	0	14	31
Fighting Illini	14	10	21	10	55

See also: 2018 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

At Nebraska

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	14	7	0	14	35
Cornhuskers	21	17	7	9	54

See also: 2018 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hawkeyes	7	28	14	14	63
Fighting Illini	0	0	0	0	0

See also: 2018 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

At Northwestern

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	3	3	0	10	16
No. 20 Wildcats	7	14	3	0	24

See also: 2018 Northwestern Wildcats football team and Illinois–Northwestern football rivalry

Roster

2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 1 A. J. Bush  Sr RB 2 Reggie Corbin  Jr RB 3 Jakari Norwood Fr WR 4 Ricky Smalling So WR 5 Carmoni Green So WR 6 Dominic Stampley  So QB 7 Coran Taylor Fr QB 8 M. J. Rivers II Fr WR 9 Sam Mays Sr QB 10 Cam Thomas So WR 11 Carlos Sandy Fr QB 12 Matt Robinson Fr TE 13 Caleb Reams  Jr QB 14 Drake Davis Fr QB 15 Trenard Davis  Jr QB 16 Cam Miller  So WR 18 Mike Dudek  Sr TE 19 Louis Dorsey So RB 21 Ra'Von Bonner So RB 22 Kenyon Sims Fr RB 25 Dre Brown  Jr RB 26 Mike Epstein So LB 32 Justice Williams  Jr TE 36 Austin Roberts  Sr WR 37 Zach Holman  Sr OL 52 Adam Solomon  Jr OL 53 Nick Allegretti  Sr OL 55 Kendrick Green  Fr OL 58 Preston Engel Fr OL 63 Alex Palczewski  Fr OL 65 Doug Kramer  So OL 66 Jordyn Slaughter Fr OL 68 Jake Stover  Fr OL 70 Reuben Unije Fr OL 71 Zeke Martin  Jr OL 72 Kievan Myers Fr OL 73 Jake Cerny  So OL 74 Andrew Trainer  Jr OL 75 Kurt Gavin  So OL 76 Larry Boyd So OL 79 Vederian Lowe So WR 80 Edwin Carter Fr TE 81 Griffin Palmer  So WR 82 Dylan Thomas Fr TE 83 Bobby Walker  Jr WR 84 Jordan Holmes Fr WR 85 Cam Stacy Fr WR 86 Donny Navarro (I) So TE 87 Daniel Barker Fr TE 88 Brandon Jones  So TE 89 Alex Pihlstrom  Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 3 Del'Shawn Phillips Sr DB 4 Bennett Williams So LB 5 Milo Eifler  (I)  So DB 6 Tony Adams So DB 7 Stanley Green Jr DB 8 Nate Hobbs So LB 9 Dele Harding Jr LB 10 James Knight So DB 15 Delano Ware Fr DB 17 Kendall Smith So DB 20 Nick Walker So DB 21 Quan Martin Fr DB 22 Dylan Wyatt Fr DB 23 Ron Hardge III Fr DB 24 Dawson DeGroot So DB 25 Kerby Joseph Fr DB 27 Alec Andrea Fr DB 28 Nolan Bernat Jr DB 29 Christian Bobak  So DB 30 Sydney Brown Fr DB 31 Cameron Watkins  Jr DL 33 Ezekiel Holmes Fr DB 34 P. C. Daniel II Fr LB 35 Jake Hansen  So LB 41 Jimmy Marchese  Jr DB 42 Michael Marchese So LB 44 Drew Murtaugh  So LB 45 Khalan Tolson Fr LB 46 Alex McEachern  Fr LB 47 Jacob Hollins Fr DL 48 Julian Pearl Fr LB 51 Sean Coghlan  Fr LB 52 Ayo Shogbonyo  So LB 54 Marc Mondesir So DL 55 Jamal Milan  Jr DL 90 Lere Oladipo  Fr DL 91 Jamal Woods So DL 92 Isaiah Gay So DL 93 Calvin Avery Fr DL 94 Verdis Brown Fr DL 95 Kenyon Jackson Jr DL 96 Tymir Oliver Jr DL 97 Bobby Roundtree So DL 98 Deon Pate  Fr DL 99 Owen Carney Jr. So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 14 Blake Hayes So K 17 James McCourt  So K 38 Caleb Griffin Fr K 43 Chase McLaughlin  Sr LS 56 Ethan Tabel  So LS 62 Ron Gaines III Fr	Head coach Lovie Smith Coordinators/assistant coaches Hardy Nickerson – Defensive coordinator / linebackers Rod Smith – Offensive coordinator / quarterbacks Gill Byrd – Passing Game Coordinator / Safeties Bob Ligashesky – Special teams coordinator Luke Butkus – Offensive line Austin Clark – Defensive line Andrew Hayes-Stoker – Wide receivers Cory Patterson – Tight ends Thad Ward – Running backs Rob Delaney – Graduate assistant – offense Joe Fotu – Graduate assistant – defense Zach Grant – Graduate assistant – offense Miles Smith – Graduate assistant – defense Peter Collins – Defensive analyst Cody Gibson – Offensive analyst Bob McClaine – Offensive analyst Kingsley Osei-Asibey – Defensive analyst Robert Wright – Defensive analyst Jake Zweig – Special team analyst Jake Ellsworth – Defensive analyst Joey Boese – Head football strength and conditioning coach Tim Knox – Director of football operations Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: August 22, 2018

Awards and honors

Individual Awards

Player	Award	Ref.
Chase McLaughlin	Bakken–Andersen Kicker of the Year	[7]

All-Big Ten

Player	Position	Coaches	Media
Chase McLaughlin	K	1	2
Nick Allegretti	OG	HM	2
Reggie Corbin	RB	3	3
Blake Hayes	P	HM	3
Alex Palczewski	OT	–	HM
Del'Shawn Phillips	LB	–	HM
Bobby Roundtree	DL	–	HM
HM = Honorable mention. Reference: [7]

Players drafted into the NFL

See also: 2019 NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
7	216	Nick Allegretti	C	Kansas City Chiefs

References

1. "2018 Illinois Fighting Illini Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
2. "2018 Illinois Fighting Illini Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
3. "Big Ten Announces Football All-Conference Teams for Defense and Special Teams and Select Individual Honors". Big Ten Conference. November 27, 2018. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
4. "2018 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List Released" (PDF). July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
5. "Wuerffel Trophy Unveils 2018 Watch List". July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
6. "Illinois Athletics – Football Future Schedules". University of Illinois Department of Athletics. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
7. "2018 All-Big Ten Football Teams and Individual Award Recipients" (PDF). BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. November 28, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.