Illinois Year in Review | All-interview team

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Some athletes have the personality that loves being behind the microphone and in front of the cameras. Others grow into it during their careers as they fill positions of importance on their teams. Staff writer Scott Richey spotlights 10 Illinois athletes on the N-G’s unofficial all-interview team from the 2023-24 school year:

1. Isaiah Williams | football

There’s a reason Williams was the inaugural winner of the Loren Tate Award, which will be handed out on an annual basis to the Illinois football player that is not only most cooperative with local media but also conducts himself with professional integrity in all interactions. Williams checked those boxes and then some in his five years in Champaign. The Illini wide receiver provided insightful answers to any and all questions, didn’t shy away from tough moments and knew when to keep things light.

2. Coleman Hawkins | men’s basketball

Our loss in Champaign as a media contingent is everyone that covers Kansas State’s gain. Hawkins didn’t hesitate to say what was on his mind during his Illinois career. It was refreshing given how often canned answers have become the norm. One day at a time. Control what you can control. You get the drift. Hawkins was OK speaking his mind, including this past season when he addressed the outside perception of his character and how he felt it had gotten twisted from his true nature. The media folks in Manhattan, Kan., are lucky.

3. Kendall Bostic | women’s basketball

Bostic has always been forthright and honest when discussing how she played and how her team fared on the basketball court. That was true when the Kokomo, Ind., native transferred in from Michigan State for the end of the Nancy Fahey era and remained true as she’s become a centerpiece of Illinois’ rebuild under Shauna Green. It’s just more fun discussing significantly more wins and much bigger crowds than the alternative that defined her first season with the Illini in the 2021-22 season.

4. Jessica McDowell | women’s track and field

McDowell had plenty of reason to be excited during her late February appearance on “Monday Night SportsTalk” at the Esquire in downtown Champaign. Illinois had just won the Big Ten indoor team championship — a first for the program since 2013. McDowell herself won the 200-meter dash conference title. Plenty to celebrate and discuss. But McDowell also provided some key insight into how far the Illini women’s track team had come. She was there when Illinois finished 11th, 10th and 10th the past three seasons, respectively.

5. Tarique Barnes | football

Barnes didn’t have all that many media responsibilities early in his Illinois career despite playing in all 13 games as a true freshman in 2019 given he mostly filled a role on special teams. Then he started making plays at linebacker, working his way not only to a starter for the Illini defense but also a team captain in his final two seasons. That’s where he settled in as a communicator. Barnes was quick to hype up his team and his younger teammates to the media, but he was also fair in how he evaluated his own play.

6. Caroline Barnes | volleyball

Liberos are, usually by default, strong communicators. Simply because they have to be to be effective in their role quarterbacking a team’s defense. Barnes certainly qualifies in that regard. That type of communication carried over off the court, too, with the veteran defensive specialist expressing careful, considerate thoughts and opinions about her role and the Illini defense in general. Barnes also kept up a positive presence even as Illinois struggled last fall, finishing just two games above .500 and missing the NCAA tournament again.

7. Genesis Bryant | women’s basketball

Bryant had to carry a bigger load early in the 2023-24 season when Makira Cook was sidelined with a concussion. That meant more responsibility on the court given the need to replace Cook’s production and more off it, too, as a veteran leader and voice of the team. Good thing Bryant was capable of filling both roles. The former took more time to realize, as she went from buried on the North Carolina State bench to starting for Illinois the past two seasons. The latter is a byproduct of her engaging personality.

8. Johnny Newton | football

Newton kept busy from a media standpoint during what turned into his final season at Illinois. Responsibilities that stretched from Big Ten media days last July to the NFL draft this past April. All eyes were on the All-American defensive tackle, and he delivered — both during the game with his standout play and after as he discussed what went right and wrong for the Illini in 2023. Newton started off as fairly soft spoken when he first arrived in Champaign and while he was never bombastic off the field, he grew comfortable in the spotlight.

9. Luke Goode| men’s basketball

All those radio commercials you heard Goode in during the past two seasons? The now-former Illinois guard was a pro — one take and in the can — as he took advantage of honest to goodness name, image and likeness opportunities. Goode had that level of confidence in his basketball-related media obligations, too, as a clear, effective communicator. It’s a level of comfortability the Fort Wayne, Ind., grew into during his three years in Champaign, and the reporters in Bloomington, Ind., will now get to reap the benefits with Goode playing at Indiana.

10. Jacob Schroeder | baseball

Catchers are kind of like liberos. The most effective ones know how to communicate. Schroeder split his time behind the plate and at designated hitter this spring with Camden Janik mostly because Illinois coach Dan Hartleb couldn’t keep either out of his lineup. Schroeder’s ability to manage the Illini pitching staff got rave reviews from both the pitchers and Hartleb. The fifth-year veteran out of Chicago was just as comfortable in interview settings — a result of his age and experience at multiple levels.