Illinois football head coach Tim Beckman wanted to take advantage of his first Quad Day at Illinois. He, alongside new men’s basketball head coach John Groce, took to a table to autograph posters for students before inviting them to Memorial Stadium to watch the Illini practice Sunday night.

Beckman even planned on having the fans storm the field and take a photo to try and set a world record, but that was derailed by a thunderstorm.

As the players moved their practice from Memorial Stadium to the Illini’s indoor facility and Beckman ran through the rain to avoid getting soaked, he was waving fans to come join and watch the rest of the practice inside Irwin Indoor Facility. The idea comes from his days at Toledo, where Beckman would schedule an open practice and give fans a chance to interact with the team around the beginning of the fall semester.

Freshmen players on Friday put on skits for the entire team and had their chance at imitating coaches, including Beckman, another tradition he started at Toledo.

“It’s fun, a lot of fun,” Beckman said. “Sometimes the kids, I think, get scared of imitating me as opposed to imitating the position coaches and coordinators.”

The skit he was most looking forward to was of offensive line coach Luke Butkus.

Ever since Beckman took the Illinois job, he has talked of a new era and the different way the Illini will go about their business this season. Every coach brings new things to a team, but Beckman has created excitement around the program, which is coming off consecutive bowl victories. He really wants students involved and tries to make practices fun for the team by adding more competition.

Every chance he gets, he makes the players compete, starting with the spring game, when the winning team got to eat steak while the losers were left with “beans and weenies.” Also, first-year players have to earn a stripe off their helmet to keep them competing.

Some changes are small and may not be as evident, such as reminding the team every day about the goal to win the Big Ten Championship.

“A successful season is winning a Big Ten championship,” linebacker Jonathan Brown said. “That’s what we’ve been working on ever since Coach Beckman got here. We talk about it every day, and we just want to go out there, and we want to do it every day in practice and every game.”

Now when the players walk around in the football facilities, they don’t wear shoes because Beckman wants them to treat it like their home.

During the team’s media day earlier this month, Beckman even hinted that the Illini may not return to Rantoul. He shortened the normally two-week camp into a week this season and said he wasn’t sure about returning next season.

If Illinois can buy into these changes, Brown thinks that his team could be better than last year.

“It’s a new opportunity and we recognize that, so we’re ready to go out there and prove ourselves,” Brown said. “I think we have a lot of talent on this team and a close group of guys. I don’t think there will be any drop in play. If anything, I think we’ll play a little harder this year.”

The holdovers, including players and coaches from when Ron Zook was coaching the Illini, have said they don’t want to talk about things from last year, even if they are positive, like the top-ranked defense.

Wide receiver Darius Millines said the team is buying into Beckman’s system, expressing excitement over having the chance to use the whole field with the spread offense.

Millines said of the 0-6 record to finish the year, “We’re starting to believe even more than we did … those last six games.”

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Twitter: @JamalCollier