SPRING PRACTICE VIDEO: Illini DC Ryan Walters

Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters discussed several topics during his spring practice Zoom conference with national, statewide and local media.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois head coach Ryan Walters discussed several topics during his spring practice Zoom conference with national, statewide and local media.

Spring practices are scheduled to begin Tuesday, March 23.

Walters, 34, was retained as the defensive boss of the Missouri program after Eli Drinkwitz was hired to replace Barry Odom after the 2019 season. The native of Los Angeles, Calif., has been part of Mizzou's staff since 2015, was promoted to defensive coordinator at the end of the 2017 season. Walters agreed to a contract extension through the 2022 season that pays him an annual salary of $900,000 making him the highest paid assistant coach on Drinkwitz’s Missouri staff.

“It is a great pleasure to bring Ryan here to the University of Illinois Football Family,” Bielema said in a university statement. “Ryan has demonstrated great success in his coaching career as an assistant, as a coordinator and as a leader of young men. He’ll be a great addition to our staff to help us motivate, recruit and develop a roster full of champions. Ryan and his family will be a terrific fit in our program, at our university and in the Champaign-Urbana community.”

The 2019 Missouri defense in Odom’s final season as the Tigers head coach ranked among the nation’s best in total defense at 14th nationally in yards per game (312 ypg) and 17th in scoring (19.4 ppg). However, during this 2020 campaign, Missouri fell to 66th nationally in total defense (408 ypg) and 85th in scoring defense by allowing 32.3 points per game.

Walters played collegiately at Colorado, where he was a standout safety for the Buffaloes from 2004-08. He began his coaching career as a student assistant at Colorado working with the secondary in 2009, and then spent two years on staff at Arizona, where he was a graduate assistant in 2010, before being promoted to defensive backs coach for the 2011 season by then-Wildcats head coach Mike Stoops.

Walters then moved to Oklahoma as a graduate assistant cornerbacks coach in 2012, as the Sooners went 10-3 and played in the 2013 Cotton Bowl. He moved to North Texas for the 2013 season, where he coached cornerbacks and helped lead them to a 9-4 record in its first year in Conference USA and a win in the 2013 Heart of Dallas Bowl.