Juice Williams threw for 210 yards and Brian Gamble racked up 71 receiving yards as the Illinois offense outscored its defense 38-31 in Saturday’s spring game at Memorial Stadium. A crowd of 12,531 attended the scrimmage on a cool, overcast afternoon.

In contrast to a lackluster performance in last week’s scrimmage in Lemont, Ill., the Illini passing game shined, as the quarterbacks combined for zero interceptions for the game. Williams completed 17 of 31 passes, while Eddie McGee went 8-for-14, including a 54-yard touchdown heave to a wide-open Brian Gamble.

Jarred Fayson, a transfer from Florida who will sit out this season, had the biggest highlight of the day. The junior wideout brought the crowd to its feet at the start of the second half, returning a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown.

However, the running attack struggled in the final scrimmage of the spring. With Rashard Mendenhall headed to the NFL draft, and lacking a fullback, Mikel LeShoure led all running backs with just 22 yards on eight carries.

The Illinois defense, which had won the previous two scrimmages on points, still looked impressive despite the “loss”. Lineman Jerry Brown’s five tackles were all for negative yardage, and included three sacks. Antonio James gave the defense an early lead after scooping up an Eddie McGee fumble and returning it 44 yards for a score.

The game signaled the end of four weeks of spring practice, as the Illini now enter summer workouts until preseason scrimmages begin in August at “Camp Rantoul”.

Check out Monday’s edition of The Daily Illini for the full story on the Illini football team.