A snap hasn't been taken and practice hasn't been held but recently hired Illinois football coach Bret Bielema is diving into the 'return to play' discussion in Illinois.

Bielema has been on the job barely a month but a tweet earlier this week from the Illini football coach is grabbing the attention of many and giving hope to many perhaps the hiring of Bielema will mean more than just wins on the football for the University of Illinois. 

Jon Kerr who runs his own sports website, The Kerr Report, says this week seems to be significant in people with a platform beginning to advocate for kids to be playing sports.

The move could have a two-fold purpose for Bielema. Bielema, who won three Big Ten championships in his time at Wisconsin and was Coach of the Year in 2006, has said he wants to keep the best and brightest high school football players in Illinois. Kerr says advocating for athletes to get back to playing football would allow him to see the players in Illinois and could help on the recruiting trail.

Kerr is optimistic about a meeting recently with the IHSA, IDPH, and the Governor's office. He hopes with mitigations expected to be lessened in the days ahead, plus cases dropping and the vaccine rollout there might be a possibility we end up playing sports very soon.