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On Wednesday afternoon, Illinois football unveiled their 2016 Spring practice dates. The team will begin organized activities on April 1, and there will be a free, open practice for fans at Memorial Stadium on April 16 at 1:00pm CT; this will take the place of the annual 'Spring Game'.
#Illini Spring practices will begin April 1 " https://t.co/P27Z8KW5Ls
— Illini Football (@IlliniFootball) March 16, 2016
Open practice April 16. See you there! pic.twitter.com/BVrfRS8HDD
The Illini will be participating in a total of 15 workouts from April 1-26. The first two sessions will coincide with the end of the annual Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Clinic in Champaign.
Practice was originally scheduled to begin on March 11, but that date obviously had to be pushed back after the coaching change. The big takeaway from this announcement is that our first chance to see Lovie Smith's team in-person is only one month away.
Also, being irrationally excited about Spring practice is a strange feeling -- that just comes with being a football school, I suppose.