Wide receiver Eddie Kasper, who played sparingly early in his high school career, made his first collegiate start last weekend against Dayton. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
By Barry Bottino
Eddie Kasper was one of the new faces in the Illinois State starting lineup last week.
The redshirt freshman wide receiver is also relatively new to the game of football itself.
“I’m still not comfortable playing football,” said Kasper, a graduate of Wheaton Academy in the Chicago suburbs. “I’m so new to it. I came into college having 50 times in my life that I had the ball in my hands in a live situation.”
As a sophomore and junior in high school in Wisconsin, the 5-foot-10, 155-pound Kasper said he played sparingly. He blossomed as a senior in Illinois, catching 40 passes and 10 touchdowns.
When he arrived at Illinois State, he was listed at 145 pounds and took a redshirt season, playing in three games and catching one pass.
“I just sat back and listened to everything,” he said. “I told (the older guys) to yell at me if I was doing stuff wrong. I’m not a quiet person, and if you ask the kids that were here last year, I was pretty quiet in meetings.”
Kasper said he sat next to offensive coordinator Tony Petersen to take plenty of notes.
Against Dayton last week in the season opener, Kasper tied for the team lead with six catches and was second with 73 receiving yards as a slot receiver. He was also the team’s No. 1 punt returner.
“He’s got good instincts,” ISU head coach Brock Spack said. “He’s quicker than he is fast. He’s got good ball skills and really good body control. He’s matured. He’s gotten stronger and a little bigger.”
Spack will coach his final game against Western as a conference foe Saturday at 3 p.m. in Macomb. WIU is departing the Missouri Valley Football Conference for the Ohio Valley Conference in 2024.
During his tenure at ISU, Spack is 11-3 against the Leathernecks. Last November, Illinois State held off winless WIU, 20-13, in overtime in Normal.
His most memorable games in the series? “Any game we win is always a favorite,” he joked. “It’s always a tough, gritty game. Last year proved that out.”
Spack credited Kasper’s contributions in part to another sport.
“He was a competitive downhill skier,” Spack said. “He has courage. He’s not afraid. This doesn’t intimidate him.”
With Kasper added to the mix, it has kept fellow slot receiver and special teams regular Jalen Carr fresh.
“That takes a little stress off Jalen,” Spack said. “They complement each other really well.”
Kasper has found a comfort level in Illinois State’s new up-tempo offensive pace, which the Redbirds have been working on over the off-season and unveiled against Dayton, running 63 plays in 11 drives. Only one of those drives was longer than 3 minutes.
“It doesn’t feel fast anymore,” Kasper said. “It just feels like we’re playing football. The system’s running very well. It will get faster as the year goes on.”
This week’s opponent
Western Illinois is in the midst of a 14-game losing streak, which dates back to the 2021 season. The last game WIU won was a 38-31 decision in Macomb against Illinois State on Oct. 30, 2021. Western underwent a massive roster turnover last season and has plenty of new faces. Some of the most promising include quarterback Matt Morrissey (Northern Iowa transfer), running back Seth Glatz (starred at Morton High School near Peoria) and safety KaRon Coleman (Arkansas State transfer). The Leathernecks’ most veteran position is along the defensive front, while the linebacker room is the deepest.
(Kickoff: 3 p.m.; TV: ESPN-Plus; Radio: WJBC.com)
Key matchup to watch
Illinois State D-line vs. Western Illinois O-line: There’s a whole lot of new in this matchup. Western is starting five new faces up front since last season’s finale in Normal. Left tackle Jeremiah Banks-Wall transferred to WIU from FBS Bowling Green, where he started 13 games. The Western quintet allowed four sacks last season against FBS New Mexico State. Western allowed 29 sacks last season, including six against ISU. Illinois State’s three-man defensive front has a combined 12 career starts, led by 10 from senior Josh Dinga.
What’s at stake?
With a win, Illinois State would start the season 2-0 for the first time since 2018 and draw closer in the all-time series with Western, which currently leads 52-50-3.
Quick hits
Stony Brook University transfer Larry Ross, who was projected as ISU’s starting center in fall camp, has left the program, an ISU athletics spokesperson said this week. Ross posted a lengthy letter addressed to the game of football on his Instagram page Sunday. “Sometimes life can take an unexpected turn on you. Injuries suck! I can hang up the cleats and walk away from this game knowing I gave everything I had,” the letter read in part. … Junior linebacker Amir Abdullah, a transfer from NCAA Division II Nebraska-Kearney, got his first start last weekend with the Redbirds. He collected a sack and eight tackles. “He has earned his way on the field,” Spack said. “He’s a good athlete and a pretty hard worker.” How did Abdullah end up at ISU? His former UNK teammate is Redbird safety Keondre Jackson. Abdullah told Prairie State Pigskin that he and Jackson remained in contact and Jackson helped get Abdullah’s film into the hands of ISU coaches. … Middle linebacker Tye Niekamp, a redshirt freshman and the son of ISU defensive coordinator Travis Niekamp, had a team-high nine tackles against Dayton in his first collegiate start. He also contributed two tackles for loss. “It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Spack said. “He plays hard. I give his dad a hard time about playing him more.” … Redshirt sophomore middle linebacker Conner Leyden will be available Saturday, Spack said, after missing last week’s game with an injury. He is listed as the team’s No. 2 MLB on this week’s depth chart. … Spack said he expects more this weekend from his defense, despite shutting out Dayton. “We looked like a young defense that hadn’t played a lot,” he said. “We need to try to tackle a little better. We got stuck on blocks early in the game. We gave them leaky yardage. It will be a long day (in Macomb) for us if we don’t tackle well.”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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