Miles Scott Leads Illinois Defense While Eyeing NFL Future
The Bret Bielema era of Illinois Fighting Illini football has seen a steady stream of players graduate to the National Football League. The Illini-to-the-NFL pipeline is strongest of all within the secondary. You have former Illinois defensive backs in starting and starring roles all over the league.
Devon Witherspoon of the Seattle Seahawks is one of the best cornerbacks in the league. Kerby Joseph of the Detroit Lions is one of the best overall safeties in the game. He joins Quan Martin of the Washington Commanders and Sydney Brown with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles as former Illini who currently start at the free safety position in the NFL.
The next two Illini DBs likely headed to the league are nickelback/corner Xavier Scott and free safety Miles Scott (they’re not related).
Learning From the Illini Brotherhood
Miles Scott discussed his relationship with the Illini DB alumni in the NFL.
“All the guys that are in the league, they always reach out to us and let us know, hey, keep it going,” Scott said in an exclusive with R.org.
“They let us know anything that we need to know, so it’s pretty good.”
We then asked him to elaborate a little:
“It would be specific questions I might ask them. I might show them a play and be like, hey, what should I do here? Stuff like that.”
Miles Scott is a captain for a team ranked in the top 10 nationally (they entered Saturday night’s loss at No. 19 Indiana ranked No. 9 in the AP poll, the program’s highest ranking in a quarter-century). He was a Burlsworth Trophy nominee (most outstanding player who began his career as a walk-on), All-Big Ten and academic All-Big Ten in 2024.
The Illini starting free safety has already earned his degree in kinesiology, graduating in May.
Quarterbacking the Defense
He discussed what he’s working on to try and level up his game. He came to the Illini football program as a walk-on, and here he is in his senior season, “quarterbacking the defense.”
He communicates the defense’s play calls on the field, and this leadership experience will only help boost his NFL Draft stock. As we’ve seen over the course of his career, Scott is on an elite-level learning curve.
He knows what he must do to reach his full potential.
“Definitely tackling,” he responded (ironic, considering he’s the team’s leading tackler this season). “I would say just having the right angles, always getting better at covering, wherever I’m covering, tight ends or receivers.
“If I’m in the deep post, just having great eyes — like these are the things I’m working on.”
He also discussed his NFL role models, past and present. As a child, Scott looked up to Baltimore Ravens legends Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, both of whom lead the conversations for greatest to ever play at their respective positions.
You don’t need to be a Ravens fan to regard Reed as perhaps the greatest safety of all time and Lewis as perhaps the best linebacker ever. The Ravens are an organization known to instill discipline and pride in the concept of playing defense.
“As a kid, I was watching Ray Lewis and Ed Reed a lot,” Scott said, before shifting gears to his current NFL role models.
“Now I watch Jesse Bates, Brian Branch, Kerby Joseph obviously — those are some of my favorite safeties that I like to look at; and Budda Baker, Derwin James. I always watch those guys.”
Scott then elaborated on why he looked up to Lewis so much.
“They just always talked about the game,” he added. “Ray Lewis intimidated his opponents, and that’s what I used to do as a kid. I used to get hyped as a kid.”
Film Room Leaders
Miles Scott is big on watching game tape and film study. He’s also helped inspire Xavier Scott to become more intense about film study.
“X is always running to the ball,” Miles Scott said of Xavier Scott.
“He’s always watching tape as well. I feel like he took film studies to another level this year, where he’s just always watching tape and trying to figure out what his opponent is doing, and what they’re not doing.”
It’s paying off in spades, as “X gonna take it from ya” Scott earned first-team All-Big Ten honors last season and was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award (nation’s best defensive back) after recording four interceptions (second in the Big Ten and 15th nationally), six pass breakups and a forced fumble.
He’s a legitimate NFL Draft Day 2 prospect.
Another Illini defender and film student of the game is Gabe Jacas. The edge rusher is a bona fide first-round prospect for next April’s draft, and he’s also somebody that Miles Scott enjoys watching film with.
“What he sees as a safety, different formations, can turn into different kinds of route concepts,” Jacas explained (after mentioning that Miles insists on controlling the remote for these film study sessions). “And that can just change the way of the game.
“So Miles and I watching film, I learn from him, he learns from me, and I’m grateful that we have that kind of relationship.”
Jacas also went on to explain what makes the Dolton, Illinois, native such a special player.
“He’s intelligent,” Jacas said. “He knows so much about the game. I feel like he’s ahead of everybody else because he studies the game, he knows the game, he’s just a ballplayer.”
Miles Scott has seen his football career on an upward trajectory for several reasons, with his work ethic right at the top of the list. He is definitely a “first in, last out of the facility” kind of player.
“He comes in early, watches film, takes care of his body,” Jacas continued. “Doing all the little things right, and I think that’s what makes him such an elite-level guy, because he’s always doing the little things.”
Next weekend is Homecoming for the Illini, and Illinois is one of several universities that claim to have first started this timeless tradition.
The Illini will welcome the USC Trojans for another huge game on Saturday. This game is so massive for College Football Playoff implications that FOX Sports’ national pregame show, Big Noon Kickoff, will be there.