Following a freshman season when he emerged as a legitimate deep threat and a dangerous kick returner, Brandon Lloyd was gearing up for the beginning of camp and the start of his sophomore season. Then disaster struck.
While crossing a street on the way to teammate Rocky Harvey’s apartment in Champaign, Lloyd stepped off a curb and felt his leg lock. Although he initially feared a sprained knee, the doctor’s diagnosis was even worse — Lloyd had broken his femur.
“The doctors leave and a few minutes later, one of them comes back in,” Lloyd explained. “He says, ‘What really happened? You didn’t get hit by a car? You didn’t fall off a balcony?'”
As doctors questioned whether Lloyd — a track star in both high school and college — would ever play football at full speed again, the Blue Springs, Mo., native set out to prove them wrong. Nearly a year and a half later, he has done it, catching 124 passes for more than 2,000 yards in the two seasons since the injury.
Even as the Illini have struggled through a disappointing 2002 season, Lloyd has remained a consistent game-breaking threat.
Following Illinois’ Big Ten championship in 2001, expectations were high despite the losses of Harvey, a running back, and All-Big Ten quarterback Kurt Kittner. But Illinois stumbled out of the gate, losing five of its first six games while playing inconsistently on both sides of the ball.
The Illini rebounded by winning three of four to get back in contention for a bowl game, but last week’s 23-16 overtime loss to No. 2 Ohio State ended any chances of reaching the postseason.
Through the team’s struggles, Lloyd has put together a strong season, catching 59 passes for 943 yards.
“The last thing I’d ever do is quit,” said Lloyd, who is a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award. “I want to make sure the young guys can see that.”
Lloyd, who drew the ire of officials with several “excessive celebration” penalties in 2001, has stepped into a leadership role for the young Illinois squad.
“I like to be one of those kinds of leaders that leads by example,” Lloyd said. “Well, some of my examples, not necessarily some of my antics out there. But I feel like I’m one of those people that the guys look at to get energy from and I’ll do anything for the team.”
Doing everything he can is nothing new for Lloyd, who came to Champaign from Blue Springs High School, where he was a three-sport athlete. On the football team, he played wide receiver, cornerback, and returned punts and kicks.
Lloyd started seven games at flanker his freshman year and became the Illini’s primary kick returner after five games. By season’s end, he had caught 30 passes — eight for more than 30 yards — and even threw a touchdown pass to Kittner in the MicronPC.com Bowl.
The coming-out party Lloyd planned for his sophomore season had to be delayed a year after the freak leg injury, but it was clear in spring practice that he was going to be a large part of Illinois’ offensive attack. In his first scrimmage in the spring of 2001, Lloyd caught a 75-yard touchdown. Then, on the first play of the spring game, Kittner found him for a 49-yard score.
The success continued in the regular season, as Lloyd was named second-team All-Big Ten after becoming the first Illini receiver since 1985 to have four 100-yard games in a season.
Lloyd’s interest in sports goes beyond the playing field. A speech communications major, he hopes to become a sports broadcaster after his playing career. Last summer, Lloyd interned at Fox Sports Midwest in St. Louis — he even contributed to a feature on Illinois’ defense.
Although it seems to be a foregone conclusion that Lloyd will play in the NFL some day, no one knows how soon that will be. Lloyd plans to decide after the year whether to enter the draft or return to Illinois for his senior season.
Naturally, Illini coach Ron Turner would welcome back his star receiver for another year.
“When you have a player like Brandon on the outside, it changes the way the other teams can play defense,” Turner said. “He’s a big-play guy and he’s the kind of player you rely on in clutch situations.”
