By Barry Bottino and Dan Verdun
Western Illinois quarterback Kennedy McGill’s impressive season has led to plenty of results.
The Leathernecks are tied for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference with two games remaining.
“It’s all very exciting,” McGill said after last week’s victory at Eastern Illinois. “To be playing meaningful games in November is such a blessing.”
On their current three-game winning streak, the Leathernecks (6-4 overall, 4-1 OVC) are averaging 47 points a game.
“It’s been going very well,” McGill said. “Hopefully, we can keep that rolling.”
On Saturday, all three phases of the game got involved, with points from the offense, a kickoff return touchdown, an interception return for a score, a field goal and McGill’s two rushing and one passing touchdowns.
McGill has positioned himself as the likely OVC Offensive Player of the Year. That honor would be the first of its kind for a Western player since quarterback Matt Barr won Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2010.
As for records, WIU’s history is being rewritten this season by its transfer quarterback from Central Washington.
McGill’s 17 rushing touchdowns by a QB in a season have demolished the previous record of eight by Nathan Lamb in 2024.
McGill’s 1,291 rushing yards has outdistanced Barr’s record of 449 from 2010. Barr also previously owned the career record for quarterback rushing TDs (14).
Among top rushing games by a quarterback, McGill has the top four in school history. His 295 rush yards against Charleston Southern is the best by any quarterback in FCS or FBS this season. He’s also the third-fastest player in WIU history to reach 1,000 rushing yards, which came in only 175 carries.
With 331.6 yards of total offense per game, McGill would far surpass former quarterback Sean McGuire’s career mark of 230.6. McGill needs 544 yards in the final two games to break Barr’s 2010 record for most yards of total offense in a season, which stands at 3,859.
Here are more notes and newsworthy items from Illinois FCS teams:
Eastern Illinois Panthers
Redshirt junior James Collins has blocked a point after touchdown two straight weeks. The defensive tackle’s block Saturday against rival Western Illinois resulted in the Panthers returning the recovery for two points.
Redshirt sophomore Jordyn Stewart recovered a fourth-quarter WIU fumble, extending EIU’s turnover gained streak to 13 games.
Redshirt sophomore receiver Jeremy Reeves has caught touchdown passes in consecutive games for the first time in his career.
Illinois State Redbirds
ISU (7-3 overall, 3-3 Missouri Valley Football Conference) travels to No. 3 Youngstown State (8-2, 6-1) Saturday for a pivotal league game with post-season implications. This marks the Redbirds’ first trip to the Ohio city since 2023. The last two meetings have taken place in Normal.
The Redbirds are bidding for a third straight FCS playoff appearance. ISU previously accomplished that feat one other time in program history (2014-16) under head coach Brock Spack.
Middle linebacker Tye Niekamp needs 23 tackles to move into fourth place on the ISU leaderboard for career stops. The senior needs eight tackles for loss to overtake John Kropke’s program-record 54 TFLs.
Southern Illinois
The Salukis, who are on a two-game winning streak, have 18 takeaways this season on defense. That’s one shy of last season’s total.
Defensive back Sebastian Vargas has a team-best four of the Salukis’ 13 interceptions. Seven different players have a pick for SIU this fall. Linebacker Ben Fiegel has two of the team’s five fumble recoveries.
SIU’s interception total ranks fourth nationally in FCS.
On offense, right tackle Coleon Smith and tight end Miles Marshall are the only players to start every game this season. Nine different defensive players have made every start — defensive linemen Ibrahim Sanogo, Amir Dwight, Lance Bassett and Jake Parrella, linebackers Fiegel and Andrew Behm, defensive backs Vinny Pierre Jr. and Cam Cason, along with punter Elijah Gorman.
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.
Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.
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