In Saturday’s win over Iowa, Illini backup quarterback Eddie McGee made his debut at wide receiver. McGee finished with two receptions for 14 yards against the Hawkeyes. The Daily Illini sat down with McGee after Tuesday’s practice to discuss the position change and his thoughts on the upcoming game against Western Michigan.

Daily Illini: How is playing wide receiver different than the quarterback position?

Eddie McGee: It’s different physically because I have to go out there and actually run the routes, but mentally it’s pretty much the same because I have a pretty good grasp of the offense and what the receivers do, coverages to help Juice out to get open.

DI: Has it been different running the different routes instead of calling them?

EM: A couple of times I ran a route wrong; other than that, with my God-given ability, it hasn’t been much of a problem.

DI: Have you ever played wide receiver before?

EM: No, just playing around in the backyard and stuff but not in practice or a game.

DI: Do you enjoy being a wide receiver or do you want to go back to quarterback?

EM: I just want to help the team out. If that means I have to play receiver, then that’s what I’m going to do. It’s most definitely fun, exciting to play receiver, but if I got to go and play quarterback too, then that’s what I’m going to do.

DI: How did the idea of you playing receiver come up, exactly?

EM: I don’t know, I was joking around with coach saying, ‘I can do that, I can catch, blah, blah, blah’ and one day he said, ‘Let me see what you can do’ and he thought I had a legitimate chance of doing it, so I worked on it and he put me out there.

DI: You were in on that last series against Iowa, how was it a different type of pressure?

EM: It felt good, it felt real good to help the team out like that at the end, but we go at it at practice all the time, two-minute drills, so doing it in a game, it’s just focus on what we talk about in practice, so it’s just kind of like second-nature.

DI: How do you feel about playing at an NFL stadium this weekend?

EM: It’s going to be different, it’s going to be very exciting to play in an NFL dome, but we played in an NFL dome before. It’s just going to be different, different stadium, but I played in an NFL dome before.

DI: Are you looking at this game as a break from the Big Ten season?

EM: Nah, we don’t look at it as a break. Everybody we play is a big game; every game we play is a big game. Whether it’s MAC, SEC, Big Ten, it don’t matter, whoever we play is a big game.