Depth on display in blowout win

CHAMPAIGN — Isaiah Williams watched Illinois’ season opener from the sideline Thursday night at Memorial Stadium.

The former Illini, fresh off making the Detroit Lions’ 53-man roster, made the trip back to Champaign to see his old teammates play before his own season opener Sept. 8 against the Los Angeles Rams.

Williams in street clothes, rocking his customary St. Louis Cardinals hat, was a reminder of what Illinois had to replace this season with the 5-foot-10, 186-pound wide receiver now in the NFL. Namely his Big Ten-leading 82 catches last season. A career best 1,055 receiving yards. Five touchdowns.

Not to mention all of Casey Washington’s production a year ago — 49 catches, 670 yards and four touchdowns — that the Atlanta Falcons hope translates to the next level.

That created a singular question for the Illinois offense heading into the 2024 season with Luke Altmyer returning at quarterback. Who was going to catch the ball? Other than Pat Bryant, of course.

The answer Thursday night in Illinois’ 45-0 blowout win against Eastern Illinois in front of an announced crowd of 43,849 at Memorial Stadium was apparently everyone.

Bryant led the Illini with five catches for 63 yards and two touchdowns. Then, 10 other players caught at least one pass.

That included plenty of targets to Zakhari Franklin. Highlight-worthy plays from Malik Elzy (a 34-yard touchdown grab) and Ashton Hollins. And first catches as Illini by redshirt freshman wide receiver Collin Dixon and Saint Anselm transfer tight end Carson Goda.

Altmyer got to 213 passing yards and four touchdowns — at a 79 percent completion rate by hitting on 19 of his 24 attempts — by spreading the ball around.

“I’m not surprised by that at all,” Altmyer said. “I’ve talked about so many different receivers that are going to make their mark. Each one of them, I have so much confidence in with what they’ve shown throughout the winter, spring, summer, fall. When they get the ball in their hand, they each can do something different so well.”

How many pass catchers Altmyer could lean on was a major topic of conversation in the offseason. How new wide receivers coach Justin Stepp handled his group in spring ball and through training camp bolstered that group in coach Bret Bielema’s program.

“Coach Stepp does a good job with the rotation so everybody kind of gets a feel for the game before we get to the game,” Bryant said. “We do a lot of things pregame that we didn’t do last year because Coach B. always says, ‘To get to places you’ve never been, you’ve got to do things you’ve never done before.’ We go out there pregame and get a feel for every receivers’ routes.”

A point of emphasis for Illinois’ wide receivers heading into the season was playing at full speed as much as possible. The typical all gas, no brakes approach.

“Coach Stepp always says just go out there and play fast,” Bryant said. “Don’t put no BS on tape. We’ve got enough depth and enough great wide receivers where if you need a break, you can call yourself out and then you have somebody come in and do the job just as well as you did.”

That’s a bit of a departure from last season. Williams, Washington and Bryant combined to haul in 174 passes in 2023. That was two-thirds of Illinois’ total receptions. Having more options — knowing they’ll be fresh — has been a boost to Altmyer’s already growing confidence.

“We’re not going to tax a guy throughout a drive because we can just bring somebody else in who does something so well, something so different, to attack a defense,” Altmyer said. “It gives me confidence knowing that those guys are going to be fresh and know their details and be right mentally to be able to execute.”

What Illinois was able to accomplish in the passing game in Thursday night’s opener helped ease some of Bielema’s anxiousness about that position group. A reasonable state of mind heading into the first game of the season given how much the Illini lost from that group a year ago.

The early return, though, was positive before No. 22 Kansas visits on Sept. 7. That Altmyer both recognized the amount of talent around him and was able to get those guys the ball.

“Volume reflects confidence,” Bielema said. “You can just hear Luke a lot more than you’ve ever heard him. When you have a quarterback that’s throwing with confidence, playing with confidence and people around him have confidence, that’s something really good.

“This is game one. I’m not ready to announce him a frontrunner for the Heisman, but I really liked what I saw.”