CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) – Monday night, Illini football hosted members of the Osaka University football team to watch practice and see the facilities.
Bret Bielema has been friends with Atsushi Saijo, the head coach of the Japanese squad, since he was a Graduate Assistant at the University of Iowa.
Saijo had come to a camp as a player coach.
The two spent hours talking football and now Saijo has visited Bielema on four different stops, first at Iowa, then Wisconsin, Arkansas, and now Illinois.
Bielema says because of the time difference, he gets emails from Saijo in the middle of the night after every game the Illini play.
Some of the Osaka players said they were shocked at how big and strong American football players are.
Coach Saijo hopes to return to Champaign again in the next few years.
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