Former Florida head coach Ron Zook was in Champaign interviewing to be the next Illinois football coach on Tuesday, according to ESPNews, but members of Zook’s coaching staff were unaware of Zook being on Illinois’ campus.

Florida offensive coordinator Larry Fedora and offensive line coach Joe Wickline both said they did not know that Zook was going to be interviewing with Illinois athletic director Ron Guenther, who did not return phone calls Tuesday.

“(Zook) has shared with me what is going on with him,” Wickline said. “Some people have been visiting with him about coaching opportunities.”

Wickline was also quick to point out that Zook had not talked to him about what specific schools were showing interest in him and also said he did not know of any schools that interviewed Zook for openings yet.

Zook was the head coach at Florida for the last two and a half years before being fired Oct. 25 and staying to coach the Gators’ final four games. Zook went 23-14 and led the Gators to consecutive Outback Bowl appearances in the last two years.

“He is a good commodity,” Fedora said. “Anybody with a job opening would want to look at him.”

The Peach Bowl is expected to invite Florida to its bowl game after the Gators went 8-4 this year. The Peach Bowl will announce its participants after the SEC Championship on Saturday.

Zook has not decided if he will coach the Gators in their bowl game, Wickline said.

Peach Bowl president Gary Stoken told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he expects Zook to make a decision about coaching Florida in a bowl game as soon as Wednesday.

Zook fits Guenther’s criterion of finding a top-notch recruiter to be Illinois’ next coach. Florida had the consensus number-two recruiting class last year.

Illinois All-Americans

Three Illinois freshmen were named to Rival.com’s Freshman All-American team. Offensive guard Martin O’Donnell was named to the first team. O’Donnell started the final 10 games after senior Bryan Koch suffered a season-ending knee injury against Florida A&M; on Sept. 4.

Safety Justin Harrison and defensive end Chris Norwell earned second-team accolades. Harrison had 79 tackles, second on the Illini. Norwell led all defensive linemen with 40 tackles.