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Western Illinois Opens 2025 Season at Illinois

| By: WIU Athletic Communications
Who | Western Illinois (0-0, 0-0) at Illinois (0-0, 0-0)
When | Friday, August 29, 6:30 p.m.
Where | Memorial Stadium, Champaign, Illinois

Phill Steele Honors
Demari Davis, Christian Anaya, Christian Pierce, and Antonio Chadha were recognized on the 2025 Phil Steele Preseason All-OVC/Big South Teams. Davis and Anaya both earned third-team offensive honors, while senior linebacker Christian Pierce was named to the second team on the defensive side. Chadha moves up to the first team honors after his first season with the Leathernecks. Chadha was named to the third team in 2024.

Fred Mitchell Preseason Watch List
Senior kicker Antonio Chadha was named to the Fred Mitchell Award Preseason Watch List. The Fred Mitchell Award recognizes 35 placekickers for their excellence on the football field throughout the 2024 season and for their off-field contributions throughout the year. Chadha appeared in all 12 games, making 15 field goals with a long of 50 yards.

OVC Preseason Honors
The Ohio Valley Conference, in association with the Big South, announced its preseason offensive and defensive players to watch. The Leathernecks had seven players recognized on the offensive side of the ball, with six players on the defensive side of the ball. 

WIU was also selected fifth in the preseason polls. Tennessee Tech was predicted to finish in first, tallying 57 total points, including five first-place votes. UT Martin and SEMO both received two first-place votes as well. The OVC/Big South had a four-way tie for first place last season.

New QB1
Chris Irvin steps into his second season in a Leathernecks jersey in a different role than last year. After spending last season behind all-conference quarterback Nate Lamb, Irvin is poised to take the reins of Western Illinois' high-powered offense. Irvin is no stranger to the WIU offense, appearing in seven games last season, completing 17 of 29 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns.

Scouting Illinois
 Illinois has its highest preseason ranking since 1990, when the Illini started #11 in the Preseason AP Top 25. Illinois returns 16 season starters from last year's 10-win campaign.

Leatherneck-Illini Connections
Illinois leads the all-time series against Western Illinois, 3-0. WIU and Illinois last met in 2018, when Illinois earned a 34-14 victory. Illinois assistant head coach/running backs coach Thad Ward was the running backs coach at Western Illinois from 2005 to 2010. Illinois senior analyst Myers Hendrickson played college football at Western Illinois from 2008 to 2011 and was the head coach at Western Illinois from 2022 to 2023.

FOLLOW THE LEATHERNECKS
For all the latest information on Leatherneck Football, visit GoLeathernecks.com. For real-time updates, follow the Leathernecks on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.
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