For the past two weeks, the Illini football team has been up and practicing at 6 a.m. as the team completes the last rounds of pre-spring training.

Players were broken into eight teams for round robin and head-to-head competition in drills designed to test strength, cardio conditioning and agility. Each team was assigned like-color T-shirts and an assistant coach for a leader.

“We want to create the kind of competition where every time they come here they’re going to be competing against one of their teammates,” coach Ron Zook said. “It’s just like in a game, you’re not going to win every play every time, but you have to overcome the opponent.”

This was the first year the morning workouts featured a competitive element. Players were matched up based on positions and competed against each other and as a team.

At the end of seven days, the teams were ranked. Wednesday was the first day of a play-off style tournament with the ultimate goal of crowning one team champion.

“These 6 a.m.s seem a lot longer than last year,” junior linebacker Brit Miller said. “Every day we’re going out, it’s competition between friends and teammates. Every day you go at it hard because you don’t want to have to go back to the locker room and know you lost to some guy they’re going to be looking at.”

Morning workouts are the end of what Zook considers the second phase of the six-part football year. The third phase, spring workouts, begin after Spring Break.

“If you get a whole bunch of testosterone going and a whole bunch of men around each other, they’re going to give it up,” Miller said. “It doesn’t matter how much you win by, it just matters that you win.”

Illini host NFL Pro Timing Day

Six Illinois football players and a handful of athletes from Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois Universities worked out for NFL scouts at the Irwin Indoor Practice Facility on Wednesday.

2006 season seniors E.B. Halsey, Pierre Thomas, Matt Maddox, Sharriff Abdullah, Alan Ball and Tim Brasic, as well as former football player Melvin Bryant, performed for scouts in preparation for the 2007 NFL draft.

NFL recruiters timed the players in running and agility drills and recorded weight room stats for each athlete.

The 2007 NFL draft begins April 28.

Melendez named head of football operations

Adrian Melendez has been named to replace Lloyd Richards as Illinois’ head of football operations.

Melendez came to Illinois in 2005 as the head athletic trainer for the football program. Before that he spent 13 years as an athletic trainer at Florida, where Zook coached prior to coming to Illinois.

“That position is one that’s very important, because he wears all the hats,” Zook said. “He has to think like me, he has to think ahead like me, and since he’s been around me longer than anybody, that helps the organization run smoother.”

Ticket prices changed

Fans purchasing 2007 Illini football season tickets can purchase horseshoe seats at a drastically reduced price as part of a “construction pricing promotion.”

Seats in the horseshoe will sell for just $60 next season, as Memorial Stadium undergoes renovation.

Student tickets will also be available for $60 dollars each.

The Illini will play six home games in 2007.

Tickets are available at fightingillini.com, the Assembly Hall box office, or by calling 1-866-ILLINI-1.