Peters will play football at Illinois | sport

Trey Peters will fulfill a football dream.

The Mahomet-Seymour senior wide receiver committed to the Illinois football team on Sunday afternoon.

“I am pleased to announce my commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at the University of Illinois,” Peters wrote on social media. “Many thanks to my family, coaches, friends and teammates who have supported me along this journey. I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

More about Peters’ story

MAHOMET – On Wednesday night, Trey Peters stood near the Mahomet-Seymour football practice field.

The 6-foot-1, 220-pound senior wide receiver wasn’t on track with his teammates at the start of practice. But he helped out, catching passes and then returning them as the Bulldogs worked to catch high punts from a JUGS machine.

The Benson Boone single “Beautiful Things” played over the speakers during the Bulldogs’ practice before Friday night’s Apollo Conference game in Mt. Zion.

The opening text probably sums up the last three weeks for Peters.

“It was hard for a while,” Boone begins the song in his gravelly voice, “but lately I’ve been feeling better.”

On Thursday afternoon, Peters and his parents sat in Bret Bielema’s office in the Smith Center on the University of Illinois campus. By the time they left, Peters had realized a lifelong dream: getting a scholarship offer from a Big Ten program and the nearby Illini, who he was excited about as a kid.

“It was a great experience sitting down and meeting coach Bielema,” Peters told The News-Gazette Thursday afternoon. “I have been a lifelong Illini fan and it is exciting to have the opportunity to be a part of the football program.”

Peters won’t get a chance to get dressed again before choosing his college home. In addition to the Illini offer, he received offers from Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois this summer.

Because his senior season with the Bulldogs, which began breathtakingly with the number of receptions, yards and touchdowns he racked up in the first three games, was cut short on the night of September 13th.

After making a catch from MS senior quarterback Luke Dyer on a third-and-long play in the second quarter of the Bulldogs’ home game against Sycamore at Frank Dutton Field, Peters cut upfield in search of more yards.

Then his life changed.

“I saw one of my receivers make a block, so I tried to hit a really fast, stiff arm,” Peters said Wednesday night. “My knee just gave out.”

He didn’t play the rest of the game, and the next day an MRI early Saturday morning revealed the dire prognosis for his right knee: ACL tear, along with a strained MCL and LCL.

“Honestly, I didn’t think it was anything bad when it happened,” MS coach Jon Adkins said. “I thought he would be fine. Maybe twisted an ankle or something. When I went out and talked to him and he said it was his knee, I was a little worried.”

Concern grew even more later in the first half when Peters began getting up from the bench where he was sitting on the MS sideline at halftime and making his way to the Bulldogs’ locker room.

“He couldn’t put any weight on it,” Adkins said. “I was pretty sure at the time it wouldn’t be good news.”

The operation is now scheduled for October 24th. Peters will also miss the upcoming boys basketball season because of MS, but soccer is his passion. With 22 catches for 573 yards and seven touchdowns, it’s easy to see why he played essentially 10 quarters of football this season.

That includes an MS single-game record 344 yards and five touchdowns on 11 catches in the Bulldogs’ 69-37 home win over Morton on August 30.

“I almost needed a bag of popcorn and a seat just to watch,” MS senior wide receiver Mason Orton joked. “It was really impressive and really fun to watch.”

What impressed Adkins even more is the way Peters handled the fallout from his season-ending injury. Better than the sixth-year Bulldogs coach admits he has managed over the last three weeks.

“He was still a great leader for our team,” Adkins said. “You would never know that he wouldn’t be able to execute everything he continues to do for our program. He speaks in meetings and helps with wide receiver drills. He is a motivator on the sidelines at games. Seriously, he handles it a lot better than I do.”

He even learned to drive a car with his left foot.

“It was a learning curve,” Peters said with a laugh. “After a while I felt fine.”

Dyer can vouch for that.

“We make a couple trips a week to Chipotle,” Dyer said. “I trust him. He did completely well.”

The statement can summarize how Peters is now heading toward his downfall. Not in a way he wanted or expected. But one he gets used to every day.

“You work all four years just waiting to play your senior year, and then it’s definitely tough to be injured and be out,” Peters said. “I have a lot of good people supporting me and I have a good plan for my recovery. That helps a lot.”

This includes the fact that the Bulldogs (3-2, 2-0 Apollo) have won their last two games since their 21-13 loss to Sycamore. A fourth straight Apollo title is a clear possibility for MS, which relies more on junior running back Cade Ashby and senior defensive lineman Brock VanDeVeer in the running game. Orton, himself a DI recruit who has committed to play baseball at Northern Illinois, senior Gavin Hammerschmidt and junior Owen Seymour are among other options Dyer is now targeting more frequently in the passing game.

“The biggest change is the fact that Trey played two positions for us, wide receiver and tight end,” Dyer said. “We added staff groups, took staff groups out and mixed people up. What’s changed for me is just making sure that all of our new people who are in new positions know where they are because we essentially lost two positions on offense. As far as the game plan goes, obviously that changed without him being out there, but that happens week to week. We had two games where we ran the ball more often due to the lighter box and weather conditions. If that’s the case, we’re happy to move forward.”

From his new vantage point on the sideline, Peters is watching it all unfold.

“Probably the worst part about it is that we don’t go out on Friday night,” he said. “But I’m just there and supporting my boys as best I can.”

With an offer from Illinois next to his name. All the doubt and uncertainty about whether college coaches still want him to play football that was on Peters’ mind in the hours after he learned he would miss the rest of his senior season is now pushed aside.

“With his ambitions to play at the DI level, he will achieve them,” Orton said, “and I think it’s great that the college coaches are still supporting him.”

Adkins, who met with Bielema Thursday afternoon before the Illini coach met with Peters, shares that sentiment.

“When you put 18 years of hard work and effort into this project, it’s a dream come true and a feeling of relief,” Adkins said. “He suffered a serious injury and there were so many unknowns. Like, ‘Will any team still want me?’ He’s overjoyed that he’s getting an offer from a place that’s special to him.”