Illinois tight end Louis Dorsey makes a one-catch against Ball State in the Illini's matchup against the Cardinals on September 2. The Illini won 24-21. Dorsey is one of Illinois' true freshmen who made the cut for BTN's All-Freshman team.
Five Illini true freshmen were named to Big Ten Network’s All-Freshman football team, the most of any team in the conference.
Joining first-year standouts from around the conference were tight end Louis Dorsey, defensive end Bobby Roundtree, cornerback Nate Hobbs, safety Bennett Williams and punter Blake Hayes.
While the Big Ten selected both true freshmen and redshirt freshmen for the team, the true freshmen from Illinois got the nod.
Louis Dorsey was the lone offensive player to make the team, and to do so the 6-foot-6-inch tight end had to rack up 395 receiving yards, the eighth most ever by an Illinois tight end. Dorsey also led the team with three touchdown receptions.
On defense, four Illini were named to the team. Roundtree earned his starting spot on the defensive line early, and with three sacks in his first two games, he never looked back. He played in all 12 games and finished the season with team highs of four sacks and 28 total tackles.
Hobbs, along with fellow freshman corner Tony Adams, played an unexpectedly large role for the Illini in the first few games of the season with senior Jaylen Dunlap stuck on the sidelines with injury. Hobbs played well enough to maintain his playing time even after Dunlap returned. He finished the season with 48 total tackles, one sack, one forced fumble and one defensive extra point on a blocked kick he returned against South Florida.
Joining Hobbs in the secondary of the All-Freshman team is standout safety Bennett Williams. Williams was named at the strong safety position, but he started the season as Illinois’ starting free safety. Williams later made the switch to strong safety and excelled for the Illini, grabbing a team-high three interceptions and forcing a fumble.
The final Illini to make the cut was punter Blake Hayes. Hayes was Illinois’ starter from opening day, and he was called on 77 times over the course of the 12-game season. His 3,231 punting yards put the former Australian Rules Footballer in fourth place in Illinois history for total punting yards in a season. ten of Hayes’ punts traveled at least 50 yards, and 31.4 percent of his punts — 22 in total — pinned his opponents inside their own 20-yard line.
Six other Illini freshmen were listed as honorable mentions.