WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Illinois defensive tackle Jamal Milan can’t wait to play in these types of games.
When the rain is pouring down, it’s cold, muddy and essentially impossible to move the ball through the air, Milan gets even more excited to put his pads on and step onto the field.
“I love these types of games,” Milan said. “You want to know that when in a game it starts raining and things like that, you know that the ground game is coming. For the interior and the defensive ends, we love those types of games. Me and ‘TY’ (Tymir Oliver) preach about those games and we just can’t wait to play those games.”
Milan certainly didn’t shy away from the murky weather at Ross-Ade Stadium, recording four tackles for loss and a sack in Illinois’ dominant, 24-6, road win against Purdue.
The Illini players aren’t quite yet aware of individual stat lines when they’re doing postgame interviews, so cornerback Tony Adams' face lit up when he heard about Milan’s dominant performance.
“I didn’t even know that! That boy a dog,” Adams said. “‘Big 'Mal’ a dog! Them boys up front are some dogs. When he’s making plays like that, it just makes it a whole lot easier. The quarterback got to get the ball out or it’s going to be a sack. Or, he’s just blowing up plays. The offense then just starts panicking, so it just makes our job a lot easier out there.”
Milan did much more than the stat sheet shows - which is saying something by itself - with his play. Nearly every snap, Milan bulldozed his way into the Boilermakers’ backfield, altering their rushing attack. Purdue rushed for only 135-yards against Illinois and averaged 3.1-yards per carry. Several of those yards came when the game was already out of reach.
Milan’s disruption was the primary reason why Purdue’s run game was bottled up. Each time Milan broke into the backfield, the play was instantly blown up. The running back’s hole suddenly disappeared, whether it was Milan himself, or linebacker Jake Hansen who had a free run toward the ball carrier thanks to Milan.
“Jamal does not get enough credit and I’ll say that to anyone,” Hansen said. “I think that guy’s an NFL 3-technique or 1-technique. He’s the real deal. He makes my job so much easier. When you have to double him then they can’t work up to me as easily, so having Jamal in front of me is very calming knowing he’s there. It’s awesome.”
Oliver added: “He’s changing the game a lot. TFL, TFL, TFL, that’s a negative play and now they have to pass and it’s raining. Can you really pass? So everything goes into play. A sack, a stop, everything; Jamal goes crazy or any defensive linemen goes crazy. We just love to see it.”
Throughout his entire Illinois career, Milan has fought through numerous injuries. In the very first game of his freshman season, he suffered a torn ACL that ended his year. He was granted a medical hardship waiver and in the following season, he appeared in 10 games, starting in five.
He put together another healthy season his sophomore year, appearing in 10 games once again while starting six, but Milan suffered another setback during fall training camp his junior year.
He tore his meniscus, causing him to miss the remainder of the training camp and the first four games of the season. He came back healthy, starting the remaining eight games, but was still bothered by the knee all season.
In his final season, however, Milan’s started all eight games so far and saved arguably his best performance of his career for one of the most important games during Illinois head coach Lovie Smith’s tenure, Saturday, against Purdue.
Smith said when Milan’s healthy, the entire Illinois defense revolves around his play.
“He’s a 3-technique in our defense. He’s the closest guy, almost the closest guy besides the nose (tackle), to the quarterback,” Smith said. “Everything revolves around him and we have a good player there. When he’s healthy, he’s a disruptive player like that. Not just on the run, but of course the pass too. It’s good for him to have a game like that.”
For Milan, he didn’t feel the pressure of Illinois’ season being decided in West Lafayette on Saturday. He was just having fun in the mud while dominating in the trenches all day long.
“It’s fun. I mean, you want to be able to get these chances and we have a defensive head coach,” Milan said. “He preaches that all the time to us and it’s just exciting to be able to really pull it through and do our best.”
