Unfortunately, he won't be with us this fall. He was a guy on that bubble travel roster, and it's just been awesome to see his growth. He's done a really good job of getting himself ready last spring, all winter, all summer, and he had a really good preparation to get to where we are. He was a guy that was really on the bubble of whether he was going to be with us. Malachi Hood, unfortunately, just kind of a routine play, noncontact, was decelerating and he suffered a popped Achilles tendon. We've known about it for a while, but there's two guys from the same high school. During fall camp, it happened actually a couple of weeks ago. "The only other thing is there's a couple others, unfortunately. He's been practicing with us for the last two or three weeks, just had a conversation with him last night to take a pause, see where we're at after a couple of weeks, and see where we go. He's continued to get back and put himself in a position, but we're kind of pushing the pause button for him, just letting that get back underneath him. From a medical standpoint, obviously, I said Matt Bailey, and then the only other guy is Zeke Holmes probably will not be with us on Saturday night. Very difficult task in front of us, one that I think our guys are excited to play. Coach (Jason) Candle has done a tremendous job ever since he took over and has won more games than anybody else. "They're a very good football team, obviously picked to win the MAC again. A lot of that goes into their preparation and how they do things, but now to get it all coordinated and play in a way that you need to play to beat a team like Toledo. We probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-25 guys who will take their first snaps as Illinois football players on Saturday night. New additions, we had 40 guys going into fall camp who had never been with us for a fall camp. I know as a head coach going into my 15th year, every season is just a little bit different, but these guys have really been a joy to work with. To go through the spring, to go through the summer, to go through fall camp, I couldn't be more excited. There's been a lot of build-up and a lot of things from last spring. 28, 2023, in advance to the Illini's Week 1 game vs. Illinois head coach Bret Bielema spoke with the media on Monday, Aug.
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