Illini coach Smith willing to settle for video workouts
Lovie Smith only has to check social media to monitor his players' workout habits while they're waiting out the coronavirus break.
Offensive lineman Alex Palczewski, a Prospect High School grad, posted a video of him wearing a harness and pulling what appeared to a Land Rover mini SUV along a suburban street.
On Thursday, center Doug Kramer produced video evidence of his workout - pushing a Dodge pickup truck across a parking lot. Kramer attended Hinsdale Central, but was in Champaign when he spoke to reporters on a conference call Monday.
There was one more from the Illini with receiver Josh Imatorbhebhe doing squats while holding a pair of full water cooler jugs.
"I thought that was pretty neat for Doug to come up with that," Smith said in a Friday teleconference. "You go through and you kind of challenge guys to come up with different ways to get a good workout in using different things."
Smith added his own twist, saying he sometimes challenges recruits to pushup contests via video.
"I know a lot of you are tired of hearing me talk about how many pushups I can do," Smith said to reporters on the call. "I think it's pretty neat right now going through recruiting asking guys on the other end, some of the young guys, how many pushups they can do.
"Of course I can beat most of them and maybe us sharing videos of how many we can do. You can come up with a lot of different ways to stay in shape by yourself."
Some college football teams started spring practices before classes were canceled due to the pandemic. The Illini had just completed an eight-week session of winter strength and conditioning, and were scheduled to begin spring practice on Monday. Needless to say, those have been wiped out.
Smith says he and his staff are still having the normal eight hours of contact with the players each week. Between team meetings, group meetings and position meetings, Smith says they spend two hours per day, four days a week staying in touch via Zoom.
"There was a day - me being an older person, of course - where our athletes went home for the summer and we had a strength and conditioning program that we had to follow," Smith said. "We had to show discipline to do it daily and find ways to get our weight workout in.
"If there's no weights, there's situps, pushups, pullups. You can always go out and run, (just) keep six feet away from anyone out on the street."
Smith figures the Illini are in the same boat as everyone else in the country. All they can do is make the best of the situation and remember there are people going through much tougher ordeals right now. Smith has a sister-in-law and daughter-in-law who work in the medical field.
"Nothing has changed," he said. "Before this virus started attacking our country, we were preparing to have the best football season we've had in a long time at the University of Illinois.
"Our new normal is we assume we're going to play football and when they tell us we can start practicing together, we're going to start practicing together and get as much done as we can before that first game. I'll let the experts tell us when that will be."
Illinois is coming off a 6-7 season, which included the team's first bowl trip in five years. Smith is especially optimistic because the team had 15 freshman starters three years ago and now most of those players are seniors.
"When you go away, you can come back a totally new you," Smith said. "That's how it used to be back in the day. There was a lot of excitement when that day came. That's how we're looking at it right now. I can't wait to see. I'm expecting all of my guys to make big gains. We're going to be anxious and ready to go when that day comes."