Spring Game means little to fans, plenty for Illinois football

Spring+Game+means+little+to+fans%2C+plenty+for+Illinois+football

Shabazz Napier, a national champion, was defiant in victory as he stood with his team under the raining confetti after Monday’s title victory. He remembered being banned by the NCAA; he remembered being written off by everyone else.

As far away as Illinois football is from sniffing championships, it needs to make a few memories to carry with it into next season.

There’s actually a lot to look for in this week’s spring scrimmage, but it’s a hardly compelling proposition to sift through the wreckage left in the wake of 18 losses over two seasons to find the hopeful bits.

Illinois will have trouble truly winning Saturday in the way the program wants — in the eyes of the fans. If the scoring is plentiful, the takeaway will be concern over a defense that didn’t show improvement. If the defense is stingy, the story becomes the ineptitude at the quarterback position.

Illinois isn’t a rabid football school like one might find in SEC country (insert picture of Block I’s showing at 2013’s Senior Day here), and with faith in the coaching staff as low as ever, the changes that will be on display Saturday may not fit what Illini fans are pining for.

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A spring contest between Illinois squads will be like trying to generate a fire by rubbing your palms together — not enough heat and not enough spark to work by itself. What Illinois needs is another school it can overpower. Unfortunately, it’s spring ball, which means the only options are Orange or Blue.

Illinois fans, steeped in the mind set of “you come to me, significant rooting interest,” probably won’t care much about the spring scrimmage. And let’s hope the players take note — let’s hope it gets them up in the morning. Let’s hope this period of non-belief among the so-called “faithful” stirs in them something that hasn’t been present the last two seasons.

Maybe one day an Illinois player will chastise those that wrote off the team, but first that right must be earned. The Illini can’t earn it Saturday. But they can start making their case.

The quarterback competition

Illinois as a program has fully embraced its quarterback competition, which is the noble alternative to riding the wave of hopefulness brought in by the arrival of Wes Lunt. Some fans believe he can be an offensive savior, though they should know that’s not really how football works. Illinois could have blindly thrown support behind Lunt as “the guy,” as they did with Beckman’s bold New Era. But having apparently learned from this last folly, they elected the more pragmatic approach of letting Lunt earn the hype.

Competing with Lunt for the starting quarterback spot are returning players Reilly O’Toole and Aaron Bailey.

O’Toole is someone I’ve personally written off, and someone whom I think would be viewed as a disappointing winner of this QB competition. It would take a few wins for Illini Nation to buy in and believe he’s anything more than the guy who comes in and commits unfortunate turnovers. If he winds up with the spot, I will gladly be wrong. It just still feels like it’s not the right fit.

Bailey is a fascinating case. He feels like the youngest candidate for the position, and by age, he is. But his eligibility is the same as Lunt’s, and he can’t quite make all the throws Lunt can. He’s gone from the freshman whose future teems with excitement to the sophomore slipping through the proverbial cracks, and he hasn’t even finished his second semester of classes.

While watching O’Toole is old hat for Illini fans, seeing Lunt and Bailey cut it loose on Saturday will be refreshing.

The rest of the offense

While the quarterbacks and personnel changes will rule headlines, the quiet rock of the Illinois attack will gladly let his play speak for him. It will be the first peep Josh Ferguson has made in months. Ferguson was dazzling at times in the fall, effortlessly shaking defenders and high-stepping into sole possession of the starting running back spot. As a junior, he will return with heightened expectations and heightened confidence. Donovonn Young should resume his role of backup but with a newfound envy for the spotlight. Not all envy is bad. Running back is Illinois’ most boring position to talk about; it’s the same as last year, only slightly better. Expect the running game to loom large in the scrimmage. The receiving corps has to replace a lot of vacancies with a rag-tag senior class that wound up providing Illinois with an identity in tandem with Nathan Scheelhaase at quarterback. Mike Dudek and Geronimo Allison will be new names to watch. The tight ends and offensive line remain basically intact, minus graduation of Corey Lewis and Evan Wilson.

What to watch on defense

The defensive line was dealt a blow when Houston Bates decided to transfer. Bates was going to be something of a face for the entire defense, and now that duty will fall to linebacker Mason Monheim or a player to be named later.

An already weak unit lost Tim Kynard to graduation before Bates announced his departure. Now DeJazz Woods or Dawuane Smoot will have to fill the void at the LEO position, while junior college transfer Jihad Ward waits in the wings as someone who could potentially bolster the defensive front — but not until he’s on campus in the fall.

Jonathan Brown is gone, and making the switch to linebacker is Mike Svetina, who was impressively mediocre for someone playing a made-up position dubbed the “STAR.” Earnest Thomas III slides into that aforementioned linebacker-safety hybrid slot, hoping to provide a little more speed for Illinois defensively.

The main thing to look for will be the secondary. Did a green group learn from the season-long beatdown opposing offenses handed it? Hopefully. Just don’t make the quarterbacks look bad.

Eliot is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @EliotTweet.