The Illinois men’s basketball player:
‘I’m just recharging and growing as a human being’
Giorgi Bezhanishvili has stayed by himself in his Champaign apartment for almost the last three months.
Which means the Illinois men’s basketball forward with a gregarious personality has had some down time.
Plenty of down time.
But the 6-foot-9, 235-pound fan favorite is mostly keeping positive despite all the uncertainty because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 21-year-old from Rustavi, Georgia is keeping busy with his classwork.
“I’m taking an online dance class right now,” said Bezhanishvili, who is known to bust a move or two at random times. “You have to record some dances and post them. There’s a lot of discussions, too.”
He’s keeping his body in shape, too.
“When it’s really nice outside, I’ll go outside and run, either on campus or off campus,” Bezhanishvili said. “I’ll work out outside. I’ll do handstands in the grass, pushups, situps. All the regular stuff.”
He’s even indulged in binge-watching a few TV shows, although he admits he’s not much of a TV guy because he grew up without one.
“I don’t really like watching it, but since this has been going on, I’ve been watching a couple shows,” Bezhanishvili said. “One of my favorites is ‘Better Call Saul.’ I hope the next season comes out pretty soon. I’ve seen ‘The Sopranos’ before, but I’ve been rewatching it. I’ll watch ‘Breaking Bad’, which is pretty close to ‘Better Call Saul.’ That’s pretty much it.”
He’s taking care of any wildlife, too, that flies by and stops his apartment.
“I have a balcony, actually, and there were some birds coming by,” Bezhanishvili said. “My grandma, through FaceTime, taught me how to feed the birds that come to my balcony. I just take a bowl with some old bread and hand it out, so that’s been pretty funny.”
And he’s developing his culinary skills. Don’t expect him to star in a Food Network show anytime soon, though.
“I would never think a year or two years ago that I would start making salads or that avocado is something to eat,” Bezhanishvili said. “Now, I just slice it up and put it on some bread to make a sandwich. I’ve fried some chicken, but that didn’t turn out so great. First of all, I burnt it. Second of all, I couldn’t open the window or the balcony, so it was a horrible smell. I didn’t even try to eat it. I had to throw it all away.”
Bezhanishvili registers his familiar chuckle after this last statement. His easy-going vibe and ability to laugh at himself has endeared him to the public during his first two seasons at Illinois.
But despite his positive outlook on life, Bezhanishvili admits to some struggles during the past 11 weeks since the Illini’s season ended abruptly on March 12 and Bezhanishvili decided it would be best for him to stay in Champaign for the foreseeable future because of the pandemic.
“I’m a human being, and I’m not going to lie, I’ve cried sometimes because I’m away from my family for so long,” Bezhanishvili said. “It’s been really challenging. I really miss them and think about them so much.”
Bezhanishvili said his family overseas in both Austria and Georgia are doing well health-wise. That’s reassuring to hear for the Illini forward, especially since they’re separated by thousands of miles.
“I wish I was eating the same food they’re eating and drinking the same wine they’re drinking,” Bezhansivhili said. “I would love to enjoy that with them, but I can’t. What I can make the best out of the situation is I eat as healthy as I can, take care of my academics, stay in shape and try to be positive. A couple times it has really hit me that I’m by myself, but then I’ll look at the reality. I just have to go through this. It’s another challenge. I can use it in a lot of good ways preparing for whatever will be upon me, whether it’s athletically or academically. I’m just recharging and growing as a human being.”
Whenever Bezhanisvhili does reconnect in person with his mom, Lali, and his older brother, Davit, he knows he’ll cherish the experience. The two have come to the U.S. to watch Giorgi play a few times during his college career so far.
“I do not know when I’ll see my family next or when they’ll see me,” Giorgi said. “The fact that I know they are safe and healthy makes me really, really happy. Still, I’m by myself. It’s another part of life. I’m pretty sure we’ll see each other again and we’ll enjoy our time together.”
Bezhanishvili has had to venture out by himself to shop or go pick up essential items during the last two months. When he does, he is wearing a mask.
“As we all know, we have to protect ourselves, so I always have my mask on to protect myself and protect others,” he said. “A lot of people recognize me and some people want to take pictures. I don’t reject that if they really want to get close and take a picture, I’ll let them. I haven’t really been defensive of that.”
He said he picks up a basketball almost every day, even if it’s just to dribble, and he communicates on a daily basis with either coach Brad Underwood, one of Underwood’s assistant coaches or a teammate.
He’s eager to get back inside the Ubben Basketball Complex next month when voluntary workouts can resume for Illinois men’s basketball and football players.
But he said he’s not sure what those workouts will look like.
“My mindset is just to get better,” Bezhanishvili said. “Obviously we have this issue that it will be all different, but I’ll look at it as another part of life. We will probably get tested every other day or we have to wear a mask when we’re working out. I have no idea how it’ll be, but the people who are able to adjust to it will be successful. Our team and our coaching staff are smart enough to be able to adjust to anything. I think we all, as a team, will be able to adjust and still get better at our craft.”
Whenever the 2020-21 season does tip off and under what circumstances games will be played, Bezhanishvili said he’ll adjust.
Adapt.
It’s what he’s done his whole life.
Even if attendance is limited at home games next season for the Illini or fans can’t come in the venue to watch the games.
“I’ve gotten used to State Farm Center being filled with 15,000 people yelling and screaming and showing their love to us,” Bezhanishvili said. “At the same time, I’ve had the experience of playing in huge gyms with few people back in Europe. I kind of know the feeling. As athletes and players, I think we’ll be able to adjust because our focus will be on the floor, but it will be really tough because the fans are so great and they bring so much energy. If it’s not going to be there, we’ve still got to be able to play and produce.”
The high school football field: ‘It’s a big deal for Villa Grove’
Steve Vandeventer knows Russ Ghere Field almost better than anyone.
The 1999 Villa Grove High School graduate can look at the football field the Blue Devils call home and understand the work that goes into prepping it for Friday nights in the fall.
That’s because Vandeventer mows the grass field Villa Grove/Heritage plays football on, tends to any unruly weeds that may pop up and tries to keep its overall look pristine.
“It’s not my field,” said Vandeventer, Villa Grove’s director of transportation and grounds. “It’s the head coach’s field. I take care of it however they want.”
In the estimation of Heath Wilson, the Blue Devils’ third-year coach, the job Vandeventer does is noticed.
In a good way.
“It means everything to have a nice field on gameday,” Wilson said. “You want to make sure the kids are safe when they are playing. It’s more than just making sure it’s mowed. Stevie does a great job making sure there are no holes or damage areas on the playing field so players are safe. He makes sure our field is in the best shape possible.”
That consists of weekly mowings, even amid the coronavirus pandemic. Vandeventer started the process in early April this year, with VG/H fans longing for its use during the first two Friday nights of the upcoming football season and beyond. The Blue Devils are set to host Fisher at 7 p.m. on Aug. 28 in their season opener and then host Arcola the following Friday at 7 p.m. on Sept. 4, two of the four home games on VG/H’s schedule this upcoming season.
If the season starts on time, though, which is unknown right now because of the pandemic. But it hasn’t stopped Vandeventer from making sure that if the Blue Devils do kick off the season as scheduled in less than three months, no one can complain about the maintenance of the field.
“I’m preparing the field as if we’re going to start back to school with football, too,” he said. “I just try to do the best I can with what I have and with the time I have. Sometimes, though, I run out of hours.”
Vandeventer said it takes him roughly an hour to mow Russ Ghere Field while cutting the grass using John Deere 72-inch mower and another hour performing other duties, namely weed-eating.
During the season, the field is usually mowed on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then, Villa Grove residents and long-time supporters of the football program, Travis and Betsy Orwick, line the field later in the week, making sure it is in superb condition before kickoff.
Wilson has offered to help paint the lines, but joked “they don’t trust me to make a straight line.”
In all seriousness, Wilson appreciates the effort by both Vandeventer and the Orwicks in maintaining a superb looking Russ Ghere Field.
“Stevie and the Orwicks are great to have,” Wilson said. “I love their designs. They take a lot of pride in what they do.”
Vandeventer knows his work goes unnoticed when he’s out mowing the field. But he understands the significance of what he does away from the glare of the Friday night lights.
“It’s a big deal for Villa Grove,” Vandeventer said. “A lot of people that come to the games are from Villa Grove, even if they don’t have kids or grand-kids on the team. Football means a lot to the people in town.”
The baseball fundraiser:
‘We jumped in trying to help’
Nic DiFilippo never thought this spring would involve him selling baseball hats.
But the veteran Mahomet-Seymour High School baseball coach is doing just that. For a good cause, mind you, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
DiFilippo has helped organize a fundraiser where people can purchase a special, camouflaged edition of a Mahomet-Seymour baseball hat.
The hats are selling for $25 each, with proceeds going to help out people in the greater Mahomet community.
“The plan is to buy the gift cards from places in town and work with a couple different places to hand them out to families in need,” DiFilippo said, “along with surprising others if we see them doing something to help others.”
DiFilippo said he saw a sale that BSN Sports was doing, talked about the idea with M-S athletic director Matt Hensley and after Hensley was all for it, decided to move forward with the plan.
“I am a guy that wants to help when we can,” DiFilippo said. “I preach to the guys on the baseball team that we have an amazing community that supports all the sports and extra-curricular teams. This spring is obviously different, and I was not sure how we could help. But after Mr. Hensley said go for it, we jumped in trying to help.”
DiFilippo said he would have been happy if 50 hats were sold. So far, 150 hats have been ordered, with more expected.
“I never had a certain goal in mind,” DiFilippo said. “I had hoped that it would go well, but I was not sure people wanted to buy another hat, or if people had been negatively affected by COVID-19 and had lost their job.”
The feedback and response to this project has even surprised DiFilippo.
“People want to help and have not just bought hats,” he said. “Others have pledged to donate money above the cost of the hats, and we have sold hats to people in three different states from people who went to school here or heard about what we were doing and wanted to help out.”
For the 39-year-old husband to Kara and father of two teenage daughters, Brianna and Emiliana, this spring has also involved more time with his family than he’s used to.
“I decided to make the best of it,” he said. “I have never had a spring where I was home and had time to spend with my family. I have tried hard to spend time doing all the things they have wanted to do, so lots of volleyball with Brianna and fishing and turkey hunting with Emiliana, along with coffee and ice cream runs with the girls.”
Still, he misses baseball. Feels badly for his team, especially the seniors who missed out on their last chance to represent the Bulldogs one final time on the baseball field. This fundraiser, albeit in a small way, has helped, although nothing will mean more for DiFilippo once he’s able to be back in the dugout with his team next spring.
“This past week, I was on the field for the first time in a few weeks, and it hit me pretty hard because I had not been out there in a while,” DiFilippo said. “It was really hard for the boys to not have a season. For many, they had waited in the shadows for a couple of years to finally get their chance. All my seniors were ready to step into the limelight and prove it was their time to shine. I was looking forward to watching them because I have been with them from seventh grade on. When you coach them for six straight years, they become family. During the season, I see them more than I see my own family. From hallways at school to the field, it digs at your heart not being able to watch them compete one more time.”
The summer softball player:
‘I have gotten so close with all the girls and their families’
Jalyn Powell is itching to play softball again.
Just ask her dog, Remy.
“She actually loves to steal the softball off my tee when I’m trying to hit,” Powell said with a laugh.
The 17-year-old senior at Unity High School missed out on a spring softball season with the Rockets from March through May. The coronavirus pandemic halted any of those plans before Unity, which finished 27-6 last season and advanced to a Class 2A sectional championship game, could play a game. Powell was a key part of that team, playing third base and compiling a .476 average to go along with seven home runs and 38 RBI en route to collecting News-Gazette All-Area First team honors in 2019.
“I’m really bummed about missing my final year of playing for Unity,” Powell said. “The memories I have made with everyone in the past three years has come and gone so fast. Our team was really going to be one to watch this season and the three seniors were very excited to get things going. Unity softball was becoming something everyone wanted to watch at our school. We had gotten the name out that the softball team was winning and doing many great things.”
Powell will play softball again. She committed last June to Lewis University, a Division II program out of Romeoville. But before she suits up for the Flyers, she is hopeful she can play one final summer with her travel team, the Peoria Sluggers 18U Gold.
“We were supposed to have played an out-of-state tournament the weekend of June 13, but it actually got postponed Thursday, so we are looking to play in either Peoria that following weekend or St. Louis if Peoria is canceled,” Powell said. “The out-of-state tournaments have new restrictions, such as parents have to sit down the foul line or in the outfield and not in the bleachers. They are still trying to figure out things for in-state tournaments for the safety of others.”
Powell has played with the Peoria Sluggers the last three years after previously playing for Premier Fastpitch based out of Mattoon. The memories she’s made from playing in the summer, from the relationships formed with her teammates to traveling to various tournaments in the southern part of the United States and to California, are worth it.
“I have gotten so close with all the girls and their families,” Powell said. “If I can’t play ball this summer, I will be really disappointed. I would be more upset than missing out on high school softball because of the relationships I have. I love competing with these girls who have the same goal in mind as me. One of the main differences between the summer season and high school season is the level of competition. Most high school softball teams aren’t blessed with many girls who want to have fun playing and also want to compete at a high level. Thankfully, Unity has many girls who compete at a high level, which sets us apart from other high school teams in the area.”
When she’s not working on her softball skills at home, Powell has used the down time this spring to work on her cooking skills.
“I have been really into baking cookies and other desserts,” she said. “I have made a perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe.”
No matter what happens this summer in regards to Powell actually playing in competitive softball games, she is looking forward to starting her college career under coach Becky Pearl. Her roommate at Lewis, where she’ll major in criminal justice, is Kaelyn Leverson, a pitcher from Olympia and Peoria Gold teammate.
“I am over the moon to start playing at Lewis,” Powell said. “Since the moment I stepped on campus and met her for the first time, I have loved it. Every time I go back, I fall more in love with the school. I wish I could be wearing Unity across my chest for one last time, but I think Lewis across my chest will feel just as great. I can’t wait for my first collegiate at-bat, and I’m so excited to get to play with a great group of competitive and loving girls.”
The incoming college football player:
‘I am hoping and praying that everything will take place right on schedule’
Caleb Lahey was a constant on the area football scene the last four years.
The standout running back from Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin left as the Blue Devils’ all-time leading rusher after compiling 5,683 rushing yards from 2016 to 2019. His career total is 14th-best in state history.
So, needless to say, college football programs would take an interest in the 18-year-old Bismarck resident. And the 5-foot-11, 210-pound Lahey reciprocated, joining Purdue as a preferred walk-on this past February.
Almost a month before the coronavirus pandemic struck the United States and made the future uncertain. Still, Lahey is eager to get his college career underway with the Boilermakers.
“The past 2 1/2 months have been a little hectic although I’ve kept busy working out,” Lahey said. “I have been doing a lot of cross training, which has kept me motivated, but I’m just ready to get into the weight room at Purdue.”
When that will happen is unknown at the moment. Purdue has announced plans for students to return to campus in August, with traditional classroom instruction set to run from Aug. 24 to Nov. 24 before the rest of the semester is completed remotely after Thanksgiving.
The Boilermakers are set to kick off the 2020 football season on Sept. 5 at Nebraska.
“Purdue gave me the incoming freshman workout plan and even the offseason training plan, so I can log-in online and keep up with the workouts,” Lahey said. “I wasn’t completely sure when I was going to report to begin with, but I’ve talked with the running backs coach and he said once I start online classes I can report and practice with the team. I am hoping and praying that everything will take place right on schedule.”
When Lahey committed to Purdue this past winter, he probably envisioned the crowds he would see with the Boilermakers would pale in comparison to what he experienced during his career at BHRA. It’s unknown, though, at the moment what college football crowds will look like this fall if games do take place because of the pandemic.
“The energy that radiates from the crowd is unmatched, especially when big plays happen,” Lahey said. “You can feed off of the fans. A good crowd can be a benefit in a game.”
Lahey, who plans on majoring in exercise science at Purdue, has spent more time with his family in the past two months along with working at Full-Fill Industries in Henning, a cooking spray factory.
He understands not many small-school football players get the opportunity he’ll have at Purdue. But he wants to produce with the Boilermakers, much like he did with the Blue Devils during his four-year career that saw BHRA post a 33-11 record and four playoff victories in Class 2A.
“I take a lot of pride in being able to play Division I football,” Lahey said. “I hope I can represent the people around the area and prove that these type of things can still be done. I plan on making everyone proud and inspiring my supporters. Going from a small school to a conference like the Big Ten is very difficult, but I want to prove that nothing is impossible.”
The sports media personality: ‘I’ve really been grinding away at it every day’
Jeremy Werner last saw Champaign, in person, almost three months ago.
By the time he left State Farm Center on March 13, after Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman and Illinois men’s basketball coach Brad Underwood presided over a sobering press conference just hours after all winter and spring college sports were canceled across the country on March 12, he wasn’t sure when he would return.
Werner has continued to grind out his radio duties from 9-11 a.m. Monday through Friday for ‘The Jeremy Werner Show,’ on 93.5-FM and his constant writing duties as publisher of 247sports’ Illini Inquirer website, nearly 100 miles from Champaign.
“It feels like a lifetime ago,” Werner said. “I miss Champaign, and my wife misses when I’d sometimes bring home El Toro or Ko Fusion. We loved living in Champaign. We just love living by our families more.”
Instead, the 33-year-old has worked solely from his house in Peotone he shares with his wife, Tiffany, and the couple’s two small children, 3-year-old Torin and 1-year-old Lilly, during the coronavirus pandemic.
The former News-Gazette recruiting expert and Paxton Record sports editor is well-versed in Interstate 57, making the commute on a daily basis for almost four years when he would co-host the ‘Tay and J Show,’ with Lon Tay on 93.5.
“I would normally be in the car for about 2 1/2 hours a day, but I’m a podcast and music lover, so it never bothered me too much,” Werner said. “But after my son was born, I really struggled not seeing him most of the day and not getting home from the ‘Tay and J Show’ until just before bedtime. So even though I loved what Lon Tay and I had on that show, I had to make a personal change. Stevie Jay was gracious enough to find a way for me to do a morning show and do it remotely. I think it has worked well for everyone involved.”
A large part of Werner’s coverage at Illini Inquirer deals with recruiting. Like most every aspect of life during the pandemic, coaching staffs have had to adapt how they go about recruiting during these past three months. The Illinois football program has hauled in six commits so far for the Class of 2021, but that still has Lovie Smith’s program last in the Big Ten rankings, according to both 247sports and Rivals.
“After this past month, I think they have a solid foundation,” Werner said. “This Illinois staff always has been a little bit more deliberate about filling up its classes. But they are far ahead of where they were at the same point in the classes of 2018 and 2020, but they don’t have the star power they had in 2019 with Marquez Beason and Isaiah Williams nor the in-state success they had in 2017.”
Smith has recruited transfers heavily during his time at Illinois. This latest offseason is no different, with seven players who started their college careers elsewhere finding their way to the Illini.
“I do like how Illinois has found a way to upgrade its talent through the transfer portal,” Werner said. “They didn’t have as much success at it in this cycle as the past one, but they addressed some key needs and added improved talent again. They have made inroads in Georgia and Florida.”
Still, Illinois doesn’t have an in-state high school commit yet in the 2021 class and didn’t sign a single Illinois high school football player in its 2020 class.
“It’s hard not to be concerned about the lack of in-state success,” Werner said. “The state can be over-recruited, and there are challenges of recruiting your own state when your program has a recent history of struggles. That said, striking out in state for the last year and a half suggests a problematic disconnect between Illinois and the in-state prospects and coaches. I still think a program that previously has marketed itself as ‘Our State, Our Team,’ should land a few of the state’s top-15 prospects each year. That hasn’t been the case recently. It’ll be interesting if Lovie can win without them, and if he can, whether that will entice more in-state prospects.”
Werner and his radio show’s producer, Austin Burklund, obviously did not anticipate hosting a sports talk show for nearly three months without any live sporting events. Former Illini like Nathan Scheelhaase, Roger Powell Jr. and Chester Frazier, among others, have joined the show to provide insight.
“We’ve focused a lot on recruiting because that gives people hope for when sports do come back — and it’s something coaches are really focused on with no practices or camps to attend,” Werner said. “But we also have to acknowledge the present, and we haven’t been afraid to approach how the virus is impacting the sports world and getting guests on who can provide information on that, whether its UI officials or public health experts. Through all of this, I think it’s made me a better host, Austin a better producer and hopefully us a better show for the long-term.”
He’s just hoping the hiatus from sports doesn’t extend well into 2020 or even into 2021. Werner realized, though, when Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 on March 11 and the NBA suspended its season hours later, the sports world was going to come to a halt.
“To be honest, I was a bit floored,” Werner said. “But I then immediately went into work mode. ‘How do I create content? What are some interesting story angles? Who do I need to talk to? What do fans need to know?’ I’ve really been in that mode for the last 10 weeks, grinding away at it every day. It’s all I can control.”
The scholastic bowl stars:
‘We were hoping for big things’
Ethan Ashbrook didn’t grow up in Champaign or Urbana.
The 18-year-old Homer native, though, will always have a special place in his heart for what he and his classmates at Uni High in Urbana accomplished. Especially on the scholastic bowl scene.
“My notion of coming to Uni was that Uni was the nerd school and scholastic bowl is the nerdiest thing you could be doing,” Ashbrook said. “That idea has fallen out of favor with me over the years.”
Mainly because of all the success and fun Ashbrook had in keeping the Illineks among the top scholastic bowl teams in the state and the country. Uni High finished runner-up at a national quiz tournament in 2019 and had high hopes for an even bigger showing in 2020.
But the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to those plans.
The season came to an end in mid-March, just days after Uni High placed first on March 9 at the Masonic State Championship and after the Illineks won an IHSA regional for the sixth consecutive year on March 11. This was after Uni High won the NAQT state tournament on Feb. 29 at David Kinley Hall on the University of Illinois campus.
“We were hoping for big things,” Ashbrook said. “We did shockingly well for ourselves at the national tournament last year, and we were trying to take that and use it to our advantage this year.”
Along with Ashbrook, Sasha Rushing, Dylan Bowman, Jonathan Lau and Matthew Tang all represented the Illineks on the big stage.
A normal match pits two teams going against each other, with four players on each side answering a variety of questions across 20 rounds. Whoever wins the most rounds wins the match.
“Throughout the year, we hold practices two times a week,” Ashbrook said. “A lot of it comes down to self-studying. What we’ll end up doing is going home, studying, using a method like looking at flash cards, and retaining that knowledge.”
The formula worked well for Uni High. Until their season was wiped out because of circumstances beyond their control.
“Even when it was super unclear how long COVID-19 would be around and if there would be a national tournament, the prospects were pretty dull,” Ashbrook said. “We were guessing things wouldn’t take place anymore, and I lost all motivation to do any type of work towards scholastic bowl.”
That has returned in the subsequent weeks, with online practices taking place and different tournaments being held virtually.
Still, it doesn’t compare to the actual rush of winning events and faring well at national tournaments, which has taken the Uni High group to Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
Ashbrook will move on from his high school roots soon, preparing to start classes this fall at the University of Minnesota, where he’ll major in chemistry.
He’s not sure yet how he wants to use that subject for a future profession. He knows, though, the study habits and learning he accumulated during his time at Uni, particularly by competing with the scholastic bowl team, will come in handy.
“Sure, scholastic bowl is a nerd sport, but in the end, it’s just a bunch of people who like doing this game,” Ashbrook said. “I’m definitely not the smartest person at Uni, but it’s a game I like playing, and that’s what really brings us together.”
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