First-year offensive coordinator Bill Cubit’s stamp could be seen all over the field during the Orange and Blue Spring Game on Friday night at Memorial Stadium. Quarterbacks Nathan Scheelhaase and Reilly O’Toole threw a combined 84 passes as Scheelhaase’s Blue team got the best of O’Toole’s Orange team 35-28.

O’Toole threw the ball 52 times, completing 34 passes for 362 yards and two touchdowns with four interceptions. 

Scheelhaase was more efficient, completing 24 of his 32 passes for 210 yards and throwing one touchdown with no passes picked off.

While passing was abundant, it was running back Donovonn Young who stole the show. The junior’s 86 yards led both teams, and he cashed in three touchdowns on 19 rushes.

Young put the Blue team on top first with a three-yard touchdown run on its first possession of the game. 

Scheelhaase followed the score with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Lankford on the Blue team’s next possession. 

Former quarterback-turned wide receiver Miles Osei threw an interception on a wide receiver pass on Orange’s ensuing drive, which led to another Young touchdown to give the Blue team a 21-0 lead. 

“The difference between last year’s spring game and this year’s spring game is points and offensive production,” Young said. “I think we can do a lot of good things with this offense. They called the right plays at the right time and they jelled.”

“He’s not anywhere near where he’s going to be in September,” Cubit said of Young. “We’re going to get him better, even still, and I think now he tastes it.”

The Orange team would rally to get within a touchdown. O’Toole threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Evan Wilson with just under a minute remaining in the first half, finally getting the Orange team on the board. He followed it up with a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tim Clary on the Orange team’s first possession of the second half.

After Young’s third touchdown for the Blue team, running back Dami Ayoola’s scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns for the Orange team, cutting the lead to 35-28. 

Head coach Tim Beckman decided to skew the rules and keep things exciting, giving the Orange team the ball back with just over two minutes remaining when it should have been the Blue team’s possession. 

O’Toole’s game-tying drive was cut short when he was picked off by Blue team linebacker Mason Monheim in the game’s final minute.

“A couple of them were tipped,” O’Toole said of his four interceptions. “And if you look at it again, they were high (throws). We always talk about getting the ball below the shoulder pads. That’s on me. It looks like it’s (the receiver’s) fault, but it’s really mine when it tips off their hands, even if it’s helmet level.”

With temperatures dipping into the low forties, the official crowd was an extremely sparse 2,100 people, a large portion of which consisted of the band. 

The game was played under the lights so it could be televised live on the Big Ten Network in primetime. The loudest cheer of the night came from the band when Scheelhaase kneeled to kill the remaining time on the clock, allowing the band and the rest of the crowd to escape the cold.

The Spring Game was the culmination of Illinois’ spring practice season. 

The Illini will not have any more official practices until training camp in August. While the extent of Cubit’s influence over the offense won’t be known until the season opens, the Spring Game made it apparent what can be expected. 

Joked Cubit after the game, “We only threw it like what, five or six times?”

Sean can be reached at [email protected] and @sean_hammond.