Welcome in to the online inquire podcast, Jeremy Warren, Jay Lehman, it's Monday. Jay

Layman Day.

Our All-American linebacker here, yes, we had an off week. We don't have a game to respond to. We've got plenty to talk about. We'll talk about the Big Ten race, probably for the four spots. So the top three looks pretty clear. Just halfway through the season. We'll talk about the coaching carousel. We've opened it up for a mailbag for Jay Layman to close this show. We'll talk a little Illinois at the halfway point

here at 5 and 2 back in the rankings, despite not playing a game last week, up to number 23 in the AP

top 25. Jay Lehman, good morning. How are you, man? Good morning, man. Hey, good to be back in the top

25, had some teams fall out, had some upsets, had some great games, learned a lot about other

conferences as well. So it's shaping up to be a great football season. Yeah, so let's talk about

this. Five and two at the break for Illinois, their first bi-week. They got another one here

in two weeks, gearing up for that Washington game, which is clearly a really, really important one

for both these teams. We'll dive into that, Jay, but I think it's a good time to kind of reassess, right? That's what the staff did this past weekend and kind of like what this team is, what we thought it was going to be. So I'll open up to you. Like, what are some surprises for you, maybe in the positive way about this team that

you've seen through seven games so far? That's a great question. Well, one, I think,

one of the biggest surprises I think for this football team has been the receiving core. We've seen,

the big question was, was, you know, Franklin and the loss of Pat Bryant

going to be a huge issue? And I think at times you can feel it, Pat Bryant was the guy

you'd go get a touchdown when you needed it. You think about how he won games in the Nebraska

game, in the Rutgers game. But Beatty's really filled that role. He's been unique in his ability to score in multiple ways and get open in multiple ways. You've seen Hudson Clement emerge, especially last game. You've also seen Colin Dixon really up his games. It felt like early maybe they weren't in sync him and Luke that first game or two. They were trying to give him the football, and then they've gotten him the football.

So that's been good to see. You've seen other guys flash as well. You've seen Ashton Hollins come in, make a couple catches. You then saw, gosh, who's the fourth guy we see in there a lot? Justin Bowick. I was going to say Justin Boeuk plays a little bit of that red zone role, right?

He's the touchdown guy, right?

Boick is the touchdown guy and he's not a lot. Justin Boick. I was going to say, Justin Boak plays a little bit that red zone role, right?

He's the touchdown guy, right? Boick is the touchdown guy. And he's not a receiver, though he kind of is, is the cool rusk. You know, we saw him make some play. So I think that has been a surprise. I think Khalil Valentine being what I feel like is probably the best running back on this team. Now, I think you can make the argument that

Caden Fagan maybe be the best, but he's very different. Or Aiden Loughrey, when he's healthy,

it was good to see him healthy last game. But I've been surprised by Caden, by the ability of

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