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Asmussen | Johnny on the spot ... as AP preseason All-American

bob asmussen, the news-gazette, champaign-urbana, ill.
·4 min read

Aug. 22—CHAMPAIGN — Illinois defensive tackle Johnny Newton won't brag about his own play. It doesn't seem to be in his nature.

But his head coach will sing his praises. With a reminder that Newton still has to perform well.

"Johnny has the intelligence and the athleticism that lets him go to a different level," third-year Illinois coach Bret Bielema said during his press conference at Memorial Stadium on Monday.

Before Bielema stepped to the podium, Newton had earned first-team honors on The Associated Press preseason All-American team. He is the first Illini to make the cut on a squad that was started only recently.

Newton is one of 10 Big Ten players on the first team, joining Michigan running back Blake Corum and offensive lineman Zak Zinter, Penn State offensive lineman Olu Fashanu and cornerback Kalen King, Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean and punter Tory Taylor and Ohio State receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka and linebacker Tommy Eichenberg.

I had a vote and included Newton.

Saw it comingWhen Bielema first took over the Illinois program before the 2021 season, he got a quick handle on his returning players. Newton among them.

Bielema's earlier experience as an assistant coach in the NFL with the Patriots and Giants helped with the evaluation.

"One of the things the NFL drives you to do is you have what's called 'one-liners,'" Bielema said. "You would give a brief description to try to give as much information in as short amount of time as possible. You give a lot of comparisons."

He had one for Newton.

"During that winter, I'd see him move. I saw the explosion," Bielema said. "But when I saw him in practice that spring, I was talking to an NFL D-line coach who I had worked with with the Patriots. We had a guy named Malcolm Brown who was the 32nd pick out of the University of Texas. He was very explosive, very powerful, wasn't overly long, but had really god explosiveness and extremely intelligent, good athlete. That's Johnny in a nutshell."

Newton might like the comparison, especially when considering Brown won two Super Bowls with New England.

The NFL types will be happy what they see in the 6-foot-2, 295-pound Newton, Bielema said. And he will cause concerns for college opponents.

"His early down rush value is something if you were scouting us, you'd be like 'OK, this guy is disruptive on early downs in many different ways,'" Bielema said.

There is more on the positive side of the ledger.

"He really can run and cover a lot of grass for a big guy," Bielema said.

Expanded list

In Bielema's first season, Illinois was coming off a rocky stretch that saw a decade of losing. Not a lot of awards candidates to tout.

After the breakthrough 2022 season, the program is gaining positive notice.

Eight current Illini are up for 15 national awards. So far.

Last year, Chase Brown contended for the Doak Walker Award, which goes to the nation's top running back.

This year, both Illini running backs who are exepcted to contribute, Reggie Love III and Josh McCray, are on the Walker watch list after combining for 372 yards in 2022. To be fair, McCray missed most of the year with an injury and Love backed up Brown, who set the school record for carries in a season.

"The respect of what we do has brought attention to our room," Bielema said. "It's kind of a neat place in our program to have 15 guys up for national awards, but there is no preseason watch list that guarantees you any victories."

Coaches have to walk a fine line when it comes to award chatter. The players have to ignore the noise.

"They're out in the community now, they're in classrooms. they're taught by teachers, they're in the community with fans and if they hear they are going to be good, they begin to think they're going to be good," Bielema said. "Sometimes that can be a detriment as well."