Rashard Mendenhall, now in camp with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, said he was close to “walking out” on football during his senior year at Illinois.

Rashard and his brother Walter played together for the fighting Illini last season. When Rashard left for the NFL, Walter transferred to Illinois State. And neither had anything nice to say about their former coach, Ron Zook.

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Tuffy passes along word from the CHICAGO TRIBUNE that former Illinois star Rashard Mendenhall was robbed at gunpoint early Monday morning.

The ex-Illini RB and Pittsburgh Steelers draft pick was back in the Windy City, when he and a friend were held up by two men around 2 a.m. near the corner of 39th Street and Lake Shore Drive. Read more…