Illini's Mercilus to enter NFL draft

Posted January 02, 2012 11:00 pm

By Daily Herald News Services

Defensive end Whitney Mercilus will forgo his senior season at Illinois to enter the 2012 NFL draft, school officials announced Tuesday.

Mercilus tied Simeon Rice's single-season record and led the nation with 16 sacks. He also forced nine fumbles on the season, breaking Illinois and Big Ten records and ranking as the second-most in NCAA history.

His 22.5 tackles for loss in 2011 also led the Big Ten and rank second in the nation and third in the Illinois record book.

Mercilus earned consensus first-team All-America honors, the first Illini to do so since linebacker J Leman in 2007. He also won the Hendricks Award as the nation's top defensive end and was named the College Football Performance Awards National Defensive Player of the Year.

“I want to thank Coach (Ron) Zook, Coach (Vic) Koenning, Coach (Keith) Gilmore and the entire Illini staff for helping me get to this point,” Mercilus said in a statement. “I will never forget all that this university means to me. Finally, thank you to my teammates — without you guys, I would not be in the position to make this decision.”

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