TALKING ILLINI 12/15 HOUR 1

Herb Gould from the Chicago Sun-Times rates this seasons Big Ten teams, who should be hot and who will disappoint. He also talks about the difficulties facing the Illini football program in the off-season. And Mike Locksleys good friend Craig Jefferies, head coach at Washington DC.s Dunbar High School, will tell us how Locksleys leaving will affect recruiting and whether or not he is a serious candidate to join Ron Zooks staff.

TALKING ILLNI HOUR 2

Scout.com Jack Lymans gives his thoughts on the Illini basketball team & what he saw over the weekend at the Shootout. He also grades the incoming Illini talent, and takes a look of the future of both the football and basketball programs.

Herb Gould

Herb Gould has covered Illini athletics for the Chicago Sun-Times for more than 15 years. He also has written about the Blackhawks, Bears, Cubs, White Sox and Notre Dame extensively for the Sun-Times. A Chicago native, he holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin and Northwestern.

Craig Jefferies

Craig A. Jefferies is the high school coach of current Fighting Illini Vontae Davis,Arrelious Benn, Nate Bussey, Reggie Ellis,and Ugochukwu Uzodinma. He attended Cheyney State University and named as an All-Pennsylvania Conference Defensive Back and was inducted into the Cheyney University Hall of Fame in 1997 with a host of other honors. He graduated from Cheyney with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Special Education in May of 1980. Currently, Coach Jefferies is a faculty member at Dunbar SHS in Washington DC and has taught in the District of Columbia Public Schools System for 25 years. In 1982, Coach Jefferies coaching career began at Dunbar SHS as defensive coordinator. He was named head football coach at Dunbar in 1996 and has lead Dunbar to DCIAA playoffs ten of his twelve years as head coach. Coach Jefferies is an eight-time DCIAA West Coach of the Year, Washington Post All–Met Coach of the Year in 1999, Pigskin Club of Washington, DC Coach of the Year 2004, and Eastern Board of Officials Coach of the Year 1999 and 2001.

Jack Lyman

Jack Lyman worked as a football beat writer for Scout since spring of 2007. He\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s been a big Illinois fan ever since moving to central Illinois in 1954. Once his family moved to Urbana, he began following recruiting closely.
He holds three degrees from Illinois, was in the Marching Illini and served as a basketball manager for four years, earning a letter his senior year. He was a member of the UI Athletic Council both as a student representative and later as a faculty rep. He helped the Bob Blackman football staff recruit before alumni were banned from participating.

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