Kevin Johnson may have been the most excited member of the Illinois baseball team to be able to practice outside. The weather was around 48 degrees, but he said it got him in baseball mode. As soon as the clock hit 3 p.m. on Wednesday, he was one of the team leaders calling players to begin their drills for the start of practice.

Johnson will take the mound Friday for the start of the Illini baseball season when the team travels to Cookeville, Tenn., for a three-game series against Tennessee Tech, just as he took the ball every Friday of last season.

And every Friday the season before that.

Actually, Johnson isn’t sure when he last missed a start.   

“I don’t think I ever have, to be honest,” Johnson said after some additional thought. “I guess I didn’t really think about it like that.”

The senior returns as the ace of the Illinois pitching staff and will be expected to repeat last year’s performance. He threw for a team-high 88 1/3 innings and won seven games, both career highs, with a 3.97 ERA as a career low.

That led to him being drafted by the New York Yankees in the 31st round of the 2012 MLB Draft, which was later than he expected. Johnson spoke with teammate Jordan Parr often over the summer about coming back; one of the factors that played into the decision was how good he thought Illinois could be this year.

Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb said Johnson is as sharp as he’s ever been coming into this season. Johnson even developed a slider during the summer to add to his repertoire.

Illinois will have depth on its pitching staff in 2013; Johnson thinks it’s the deepest pitching staff he’s been a part of at Illinois.

Sophomore John Kravetz also returns to Illinois after setting the Illinois’ record for single-season wins by a freshman with eight as last year’s No. 2 starter.

But he’s not even in the rotation this weekend. Two freshmen — Kevin Duchene and Nick Blackburn — will start on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

The left-handed Duchene was the No. 6 overall prospect in Illinois as ranked by Prep Baseball Report. He uses four pitches and hopes to give teams a different look after the right-handed Johnson. Illinois has five lefties on its pitching staff this season.

Blackburn throws hard, consistently from 89-92 mph, and was listed as the No. 21 overall prospect.

“Those guys, at least to this point, have shown maturity beyond their freshman year,” Hartleb said.

Illinois struggled finding a consistent third starter last season, which isn’t unusual for most teams. But Illinois will have Kravetz in the pen along with sophomore Josh Ferry, who got some experience starting last season, compiling a 3-1 record despite an ERA over seven.

Redshirt sophomore Rob McDonnell was expected to be Illinois No. 2 starter last season but was shut down after experiencing arm soreness following his first two starts. He’ll start the season in long relief, but Illinois is still cautious about his return.

Closing games figures to be a strength of Illinois’ again this year, as redshirt sophomore Reid Roper will fill in as closer along with his duties at second base. Opposing batters hit .196 against Roper last season, and he recorded three of Illinois’ six saves.

The man with the other three saves was his set-up man, Ronnie Muck. Both Roper and Muck were named to the Stopper of the Year Award Watch List by the National College Baseball Writers of America.

Muck was Hartleb’s workhorse out of the pen last season, leading the team with 23 appearances and finishing with a 2-1 record and a 4.36 ERA.

Hartleb expects a lot of the freshmen pitchers to see the field early in the season in relief to get them acclimated with the college game.

And the coach is glad to have a leader in Johnson, who said he tries to lead by example for the rest of the Illinois pitching staff.

One of the strong attributes the young staff can take away from Johnson is how he can be relied on to take the ball every week.

“My arm always feels good,” Johnson said.

Jamal can be reached at [email protected] and @jamalcollier.