URBANA — Illinois coach Lovie Smith said highly-touted freshman cornerback Marquez Beason left practice Tuesday with a 'concerning' right knee injury.

Beason suffered the injury during one-on-one drills against wide receivers. Beason was carted off the field and taken to the injury tent where he was further evaluated. He returned to the sideline with a knee brace and crutches.

"He didn't finish practice. He went down with a knee injury and didn't finish practice, so that's concerning," Lovie Smith said. "We'll kinda see how it goes.

"We play football. Injuries happen. You don't want them to happen, but they do. All of America, guys are getting hurt."

Beason is a top-100 prospect in the Class of 2019 who chose Illinois over offers from LSU, Texas A&M and Ohio State, among several other powerhouse programs. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound cornerback had lived up to the hype early in camp. He had several impressive interceptions, working mostly on the second string. But at a position with little depth behind starters Nate Hobbs and Quan Martin, Beason was expected to make a big impact, probably more than any other freshman to start the season.

If Beason misses significant time, Illinois will count on bigger contributions from junior Nick Walker and possibly walk-on Nolan Bernat. Illinois also added 2019 Florida prospect Devon Witherspoon to the official roster on Saturday. Illinois starting safety Tony Adams, a junior, also has experience at cornerback, including three career starts at the position.

Smith has been concerned about depth at cornerback before the injury and said after practice that the staff could look to find depth from the offensive side of the ball.

"We need depth. You've gotta know the numbers. We don't have a lot of depth. With Marquez not being able to finish practice, we'll keep searching. Our numbers are low there. Sometimes, you have to look at who plays corner, athletic guys on our football team. If you continue to need guys, you start looking elsewhere for guys also on our roster. We got a lot of those options.

"It kinda forces you as a coach to look at your other options and continue to bring the younger players around. That's what we're getting a chance to do."

Isaac Trotter contributed to this report.