PFF: Top Illinois performers and what we learned vs. Western Illinois

Orange and Blue News breaks down the Illinois PFF grades vs. Western Illinois and what we learned about the Illini.

Pro Football Focus (PFF) is a football analytics company that evaluates every college game through detailed film review, grading players on each play based on how well they executed their assignment rather than just the result of the play.

Analysts use a scale from -2.0 to +2.0 in half-point increments—where 0 is an expected play, positives reflect above-average execution, and negatives reflect mistakes—and then normalize those results into a 0–100 overall grade. In this system, grades above 90 indicate elite performance, 70–84 is considered good, 60–69 average, and below 50 poor.

Top performers offense

90.4. Hank Beatty, wide receiver. Beatty had a career day receiving with 108 yards on just 5 receptions. He was even more dynamic in the return game, setting a school record with133 punt return yards, bringing back a 69-yard return for a touchdown. 

86.5. Justin Bowick, wide receiver. Bowick flashed what kind of weapon he can be in the redzone. He had just 3 receptions, but two of them went for TD’s. His right route running was impressive on the first TD, then he used his length at 6-foot-5 to haul in the second TD in the back of the end zone. None of the DB’s that checked Bowick had a PFF grade higher than 54.2.

78.3. Kaden Feagin, running back. Feagin chewed up tough yards off tackle, rushing for 74 yards and a TD on 13 carries. He was consistent, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. His longest run came when he bounced a zone play around the left end for 17 yards.

74.9. Aidan Laughery, running back. Laughery broke away on a 57-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that was reminiscent of the explosive plays he made in the regular season finale against Northwestern last season. He finished 101 yards rushing on just 9 attempts, including two TD’s.

74.8. J.C. Davis, left tackle. Davis played a team high 57 snaps. He had a 100 percent pass blocking efficiency, yielding zero sacks, hurries, or hits on the quarterback. His run blocking was in the average range at 68.4.

Top performers defense

93.2. Gabe Jacas, outside linebacker. Jacas was dominant and disruptive even when he wasn’t recording stats. His grade will likely place him among the nation’s best at his position for week 1. The Illini dominated on the edge. WIU offensive tackles Jeremiah Blanks-Wall (52.5) and Dorian Aguelles (44.7) both had subpar PFF Grades.

85.9. Dylan Rosiek, middle linebacker. Rosiek finished with just 2 tackles including a tackle for loss, but he was a main cog plugging up the middle of the Illini defense. The Leathernecks averaged less than 2 yards per rushing attempt inside the tackles.

81.5. Tomiway Durojaiye, defensive tackle. Durojaiye was particularly disruptive against the run (81.1 PFF), spending a lot of time in the offensive backfield. Once he gets his hips through, he is very quick pursuing the ball from the backside. He had a team high 4 defensive stops – tackles that constitute a “failure” for the offense.

74.9 James Thompson Jr., defensive tackle. Thompson had 2 tackles, a tackle for loss. He was disruptive collapsing the pocket with 3 quarterback hurries.

73. 4. Malachi Hood, WILL linebacker. Hood only played 20 snaps, but he made an impact with 5 tackles and 3 “stops”. He didn’t give up anything in the passing game. In coverage, his man was targeted 3 times and 2 catches but for -1 yard total.

What we learned

QB Luke Altmyer needs to be better when under pressure. It was the first game of the season, so there are bound to be some hiccups going live at game speed. Still, Altmyer’s PFF grade dropped from 81.3 when he had a clean pocket to 47.1 when under pressure, a dramatic difference. Altmyer acknowledged in the post game that there were some first game jitters and his decision making needs to be better.

He was only pressured 7 times on 26 drop backs, so it’s not a huge sample size. Still, he took a couple of sacks instead of getting rid of the football. He completed 2-of-4 passes when under pressure for just 25 yards. When he had a clean pocket he completed 83 percent of his passes and tossed three touchdowns.

Dominate pass protection. The Illini offensive line walled up. A first glance at the stats shows three sacks for Western Illinois, but that is deceiving. None of the Illini offensive linemen were charged with giving up a sack according to PFF and only allowed 2 quarterback hurries.

Davis was the highest graded of the group in pass protection, but give players who recorded at least 28 snaps had a grade of 75.3 or better. Only center Josh Kreutz received a below average grade (51.3). The only WIU pass rusher with a PFF grade higher than 62.8 was linebacker Kevin Washington Jr. (84.3), who was credited with a sack and a quarterback hurry.

A form tackling clinic. One of the things coach Bret Bielema is going to like the best when he was watching the film was the sure tackling. According to PFF, Illinois had zero missed tackles. Take that stat for what it’s worth – it may or may not be 100 percent accurate. But it certainly represents a great effort, especially in the first game of the season. It’s tough to replicate live tackling in practice.

18 Illinois defenders had a tackling PFF grade of 70.8 or higher. Free safety Miles Scott (82.4) and Hood (80.1) both had grades over 80. The WIU running backs averaged just 3.0 yards after initial contact (compared to 4.59 for the Illinois backs). The Leathernecks managed just 2.3 sack-adjusted yards per rushing attempt.

Leathernecks load up in the box. The Western Michigan game plan on defense was clear from the outset; sell out to stop the run. The Leathernecks often put 8 or 9 defenders in the box and their safeties creeped up to the line of scrimmage. Early on, the Illini gap running players hit a brick wall. OC Barry Lunney Jr. was forced to put the ball in the air more often than expected in the first half.

The Illini countered the WIU defense with 12-man (and sometimes 13-man) formations with multiple tight ends in the game. They also went away from the gap plays and starting hitting the outside zone scheme hard. That’s when things got rolling they broke off some chunk plays in the ground game including the 57-yard explosion from Laughery.