Another ex-Illini speaks out against Tim Beckman

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Simon Cvijanovic was the first, but he's no longer the only former player to speak out against Illinois head football coach Tim Beckman, who the former offensive lineman accused of being an abusive bully.

A Tuesday report by the Daily Illini, the University of Illinois' student newspaper, quotes several former players who played for Beckman at both Illinois and Toledo, and they paint a similar picture of the coach as Cvijanovic has in recent days.

Cvijanovic has taken to Twitter and accused Beckman of forcing players to play hurt, threatening to take players' scholarships away and vilifying those players who suffer injuries.

The former players the Daily Illini's Peter Bailey-Wells spoke to said similar things.

One former Illini, Nick North, said Beckman also pressured him to get back on the field after tearing his PCL, and he said that Beckman threatened to take his scholarship away.

[MORE BIG TEN: In radio interview, ex-Illini Cvijanovic expands on Beckman's culture]

From the Daily Illini's report:

Nick said Beckman pushed him several times to sign what Nick called the “Terminator sheet,” which, if he signed it, would release his right to a scholarship. He added that Beckman called him into his office multiple times per week to talk to him about giving up his scholarship and transferring.

“He suspended me for a couple of days (in the fall of 2013),” Nick said. “He told me to come to his office every day and talk to him because I told him I wasn’t going to sign the paper.”

Bailey-Wells also talked to players who played for Beckman at Toledo, and one also talked about Beckman's threatening to take away scholarships.

Both Beckman and Illinois athletics director Mike Thomas have said that they are disheartened and disappointed by what is happening with Cvijanovic, though neither has addressed any of these specific accusations.

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