Gary, Johnny Newton.

Obviously, he's had an offseason this year as opposed to last year.

Where is he at with his progression and how closer do you think he is to, like, getting to, you know, level you guys are hoping him to be?

I thought Johnny had a good day today, man.

He had some really nice rushes, some one-on-one wins.

He's healthy.

His feet are good.

So, you know, we're expecting the guy that we drafted to really show, you know, this year.

He was behind the eight ball some because he was dealing with those injuries last year.

And so knock on wood that he could stay healthy and we can get the best version of him.

Johnny Newton's year two is a huge, huge year for him and this football team.

He was drafted early in the second round on night two, uh, 2024.

He was a projected first rounder.

The team felt like, you know, he was a first rounder that they stole.

Remember, they talked about just praying that he would fall to them.

They ended up taking him.

He was hampered by some of those injuries coming off that senior year, that final year at Illinois,

where he was, by the way, the Big Ten defensive player of the year,

this team was not good enough defensively last year, just was not good enough defensively.

And with the schedule, at least as it appears on paper right now, that they have in front of them,

it has to be improved. There's nothing about the last few

weeks that has changed, the number one mystery, the number one question heading into 2025.

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