CHAMPAIGN — Wednesday marked Illinois football’s first padded training camp practice. It also marked what will be the final Illini roster for the 2020 season with several moves made official.

That included the addition of former Fisher standout Jaden Jones-Watkins as a walk-on defensive back.

Jones-Watkins was a News-Gazette All-Area honorable mention pick at wide receiver as a junior at Fisher and earned an All-Area Second Team selection as a senior in 2017 at running back. A four-year starter in basketball for the Bunnies, Jones-Watkins didn’t play football until his junior year of high school.

Illinois announced several other roster moves Wednesday morning. That included news that Cal graduate transfer defensive tackle Chinedu Udeogu was no longer on the team. Udeogu is the second grad transfer, joining Louisville safety TreSean Smith, that committed to the Illini but ultimately wound up not on the roster.

Cornerback Nick Walker was also moved off the roster after he opted out of the 2020 season. The St. Louis native is Illinois’ third opt out, joining running back Ra’Von Bonner and linebacker/safety Dawson DeGroot.

“Well, 2020 is a different year,” Illinois coach Lovie Smith said. “We went into it with that in mind. We knew some players would choose to opt out, and that was the case. … The group we have now, they’re pretty locked in. A lot of guys were really working hard to have a right to play football, and now they’re getting their wish. 

“We won’t be adding anymore right now. It’s past the time. What most schools deal with a little bit is you continue to add people to your roster if they can get into school. Right now, everything is pretty closed down, so we won’t be adding anyone else.” 

A few other roster moves were also made official Wednesday, including the transfer of wide receiver Edwin Carter, grad transfer offensive lineman Blake Jeresaty missing the season because of shoulder surgery, waiver approvals for transfers Brian Hightower, Khmari Thompson and Brevyn Jones and a couple position switches. 

While Miami transfer Derrick Smith’s move from linebacker to safety had already been announced, Kerby Joseph was moved from safety to wide receiver and Delano Ware was moved from safety to linebacker. Joseph’s move was simply made official Wednesday after he had repped at wide receiver dating back to Illinois’ Redbox Bowl preparation.

Scott Richey is a reporter covering college basketball at The News-Gazette. His email is srichey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@srrichey).