Countdown of the 50 most important Illini for the 2009 season.
Read more…At his weekly press conference today, Illinois coach Ron Zook announced that safety Brian Gamble and offensive lineman Mark Jackson aren't with the program because of school-related issues.
"Brian Gamble and Mark Jackson have had issues with the university," Zook said. "They had some things from last year that they had to get corrected that they didn't get done. Now, it's an institutional issue.They're not in the program right now.
"We had a pretty good idea that was going to happen. We moved on a long time ago."
Zook said freshman cornerback Patrick Nixon, considered one of the top players in the class, will likely return home to Florida and work on getting an acceptable test score.
"Hopefully, we can get him in here in January," Zook said.
Freshman linebacker Evan Frierson was back at practice Monday after missingtime while waiting on the NCAA Clearinghouse. Zook said he is hopeful that freshman receiver Jack Ramsey will soon be cleared.