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With A.J. Ricker having left Champaign for the Missouri Tigers, Tim Beckman had a vacancy at offensive line coach that he needed to close quickly. That gap is now closed. Joining the Illinois Fighting Illini coaching staff is Tom Brattan.
Brattan previously held the same job with the Maryland Terrapins from 2001 through 2013. Before that, he spent two years at Stanford ('99-'00) and seven years at Northwestern ('92-'98) also as the offensive line coach. Since 2001, he's produced seven All-ACC offensive lineman and had six former pupils in the NFL last season.
Something else that's pretty fun? According to his bio on Maryland's website, his primary recruiting area was ... Illinois. So we're getting an experienced offensive line coach (31 years at the college level) that can boast of cranking out NFL talent at a non-traditional football school AND has recruiting ties to Illinois and the DMV region? That sounds like a pretty decent fit to me.
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