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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s happening around the area:
Terry Hawthorne sparked the Illini’s comeback win against UCLA in the 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Congrats to Hunter Madigan with the St. Thomas More boys’ tennis team and Jacey Hageman with the LeRoy softball team. The duo is our latest high school Athletes of the Week, powered by Copper Creek Contractors. Read more about the pair in Tuesday’s News-Gazette.
➜ 2. Former Illini standout Terry Hawthorne is back on Bret Bielema’s football staff. Illinois announced Thursday that Hawhtorne, who spent the past three seasons as the cornerbacks coach at Southern Illinois, will serve as the program’s director of defensive player personnel.
➜ 3. Be on the lookout in Saturday’s News-Gazette for our final All-Area high school sports package from the winter season: boys’ basketball.
Simeon Rice speaks during the Illinois athletics Hall of Fame Induction ceremony at State Farm Center on Friday, Sept. 20, 2019.
Numbers game: 122
sacks compiled in his 12-year NFL career by former Illini All-American Simeon Rice. Mostly with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The best pass rusher in Illinois and Big Ten history — his 44 1/2 sacks at Illinois from 1992-95 are still a Big Ten record — will announce second-day NFL draft picks by the Buccaneers at the NFL draft next Friday night in Green Bay, Wis.
Former Illini and Minnesota Timberwolves rookie Terrence Shannon Jr., left, puts up a shot as Lakers forward LeBron James contests the shot during a regular-season game in January 2025. Shannon and the Timberwolves play the Lakers in a first-round NBA playoff series that begins Saturday night.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Illinois at Purdue softball. If the Illini (18-20, 4-8 Big Ten) want to make the 12-team Big Ten tournament next month, winning this series that begins with a Friday afternoon doubleheader, is vital.
➜ 2. Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers. Playing time has been sporadic recently for former Illini Terrence Shannon Jr., but he and his Minnesota teammates open up their first-round NBA playoff series at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
➜ 3. Columbia Fireflies at Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. Mahomet-Seymour graduate Blake Wolters is set to start Saturday night for the Fireflies, the Class A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Wolters is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two starts this spring.
Max Fransen and his fiance, Kate Young.
Coach’s corner
Three questions with Watseka football coach Max Fransen:
➜ 1. My favorite sports teams are … the Chicago Bears, St. Louis Battlehawks and Illinois State Redbirds.
➜ 2. Three coaches I’d like to have dinner with are … Rex Ryan, Nick Saban and Tony Dungy.
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … lights left on in an empty room.
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