Illini DB Tony Adams Moving Back To Safety For 2020 Season

Illinois has moved senior defensive back Tony Adams once again from cornerback to safety to start this 2020 season.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Tony Adams is moving back to safety for this 2020 season.

The senior defensive back, who has constantly moved from cornerback to safety to nickel and back to cornerback in his Illini playing career, is back in the center of the Illinois defensive backfield. The Belleville native from St. Louis University H.S., who had 10 starts last season at cornerback and nickel of Lovie Smith’s defensive scheme, confirmed his position movement to local and statewide media in a Zoom video conference Tuesday.

“I think the biggest thing for me is I got to get some (run) fits down,” Adams said. “I need the pads to come on. I need to thump a little bit. Looking forward to that.”

During the 2018 season, when Adams was a sophomore, the 6-foot and 205-pound defensive back played in eight games with seven total starts split between safety (five starts) and cornerback (two starts). Therefore, Adams is initially confident that another positional flip-flop in the Illini Tampa-2 defensive scheme won’t be a massive switch.

“I’ve done it before so it’s all good being back there (at safety) being kind of like a general,” Adams said. “It’s allowing me to express my voice a little bit more.”

Last season Adams had 39 tackles, three tackles for loss and arguably two of the most remembered interceptions of the 2019 season. He was the first Illini player with interceptions in back-to-back Big Ten Conference games since Vontae Davis and Kevin Mitchell both did it against Penn State and Wisconsin in 2007. Adams had a 13-yard interception return for a touchdown at Purdue that was a week after a fourth-quarter interception vs. then-No. 6 Wisconsin that led to Illini’s game-winning field goal in one of the biggest upsets in league history.

“At cornerback, you’re on an island but you know what you’re going to get but at safety you got to everything in front of you and you got to make people (line up) right so I think that is the biggest thing for me,” Adams said.

Despite losing Sydney Green to graduation and never getting Louisville transfer TreSean Smith enrolled, the Illini coaching staff are hopeful Adams will be part of some depth at safety that includes Athlon preseason All-Big Ten second team selection Sydney Brown and Miami (Fla.) transfer Derrick Smith, who was a former three-star prospect out of high school making the transition from linebacker.

Illinois defensive back Tony Adams (6), shown here in a 2017 game against Western Kentucky, confirmed on Sept. 22 that he's moving back to safety for the 2020 season :: Mike Granse/USA TODAY Sports

With Adams sliding over to safety, the cornerback spot opposite of senior Nate Hobbs is an open competition between redshirt freshman Marquez Beason, sophomore Devon Witherspoon and junior Delano Ware. Beason, a former four-star prospect from Dallas, was looking to make an immediate impact last season but suffered a season-ending knee injury during training camp. Beason and redshirt freshman quarterback Isaiah Williams are Illinois’ two highest ranked recruits since Terry Hawthorne in 2009 and the highest combo since Arrelious Benn and Martez Wilson in 2007. Witherspoon started three games last season at nickel and was the only true freshman to start a game for Illinois in 2019.

“I’m not going to say too much about them boys (at cornerback) but y’all going to see, those boys are really good,” Adams said. “They’re really good.”