If quarterback Juice Williams is looking for support, he need look no further than his head coach.

Ron Zook is standing by his sophomore starting quarterback despite a sluggish performance against Western Illinois last week.

“I’m not sure how much we struggled last week when you put up 400 yards,” Zook said. “That’s a lot of yards, and I know people will say ‘Well, (Western Illinois) is a I-AA team.’ But (Western Illinois) is a pretty good team.”

Williams threw for just 124 yards on 12-of-24 passing and threw one interception against the Leathernecks, but this Saturday he has a chance to improve when the Illini face a Syracuse defense that has given up an average of 38.5 points a game.

“When we’ve begun to feel like we have had some success, we haven’t handled it well, and that’s the next step we have to take care of,” Zook said. “Believe me, Syracuse will give us all we can handle, and that’s why I think it’s very, very important that we go there and prove to ourselves that this program is continuing to improve.”

Syracuse will enter Saturday looking for its first victory of the season. There was a shutout in Iowa City last week by the Hawkeyes and Syracuse gave up 290 passing yards.

Last season Juice threw for a career-high 227 yards in Syracuse’s 31-21 victory at Memorial Stadium. Williams completed a 76-yard pass to running back Rashard Mendenhall and a 69-yard ball to Kyle Hudson.

Benn may return kicks

Zook said he is considering using his five-star recruit as a returner on both punts and kicks but did not commit to using him this week.

“I think we can get him back there,” Zook said. “We all know he is a very talented young player. We have to remember he is a freshman and you don’t want to put too much on his plate.”

Hudson, last year’s leading receiver, has handled all punt returns this season and has averaged 11 yards per return, which includes a season-long one of 34 yards.

Last week Hudson let go of two balls Zook thought he should catch but did say the weather conditions may have affected his concentration.

“He’s got to catch those,” Zook said. “This being his first year, the more experience he gets, the more confidence he gets. He’ll get better and he’s going to catch those balls.”

Kickoff returns have hurt the Illini in both games this season. In week one against Missouri, Chris Duvalt fumbled the return, which set up a late first half Tiger field goal.

Last week a short kick was returned and subsequently fumbled by Walter Mendenhall, which provided the Leathernecks their lone serious scoring chance.

Santella watch

Last week Zook named redshirt transfer Anthony Santella his starting punter.

This week Zook is looking for more production.

“(Santella) just needs to go out there and relax,” Zook said.

In his second game as an Illini and his first after being named official starter, Santella booted nine punts for an average of 33.8 yards, which included two inside the 20-yard line and two touchbacks.

Zook said he thought one punt that landed inside the 20 last week should have been handled by Joe Morgan and has addressed the ‘flyers’ punt coverage in practice this week.

“I still think we’re much improved in our punting game from last year, but we’re still not where we have to be,” Zook said. “But we’re going to get there.”