Spring practice recap: Day 7

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Ron Zook's team continued practice on Saturday with a scrimmage at Oak Park-River Forest High School. A look:

TODAY'S NOTES
-- Linebacker Martez Wilson spent the bulk of his time during Saturday's scrimmage playing in the middle. A spot that has been held in the past by J Leman and Brit Miller.

"They want the most experienced linebacker to play middle linebacker," Wilson said. "So, I feel very comfortable playing middle now. We've just got to get emotional and confident on defense and rally to the ball more.

"Playing middle, I like it a lot. I think I'm going to make a lot of plays there."
Wilson was surprised when the Illinois coaches asked him to try middle linebacker.

"I thought they were going to keep me outside because I'm more of an outside linebacker. I like to blitz a lot," Wilson said. "When they told me, I'm willing to do anything to help the team."

The hardest part of the change, Wilson said, was lining up. He calls a lot of the signals to the defensive linemen and the other linebackers.

Wilson said he is "100 percent healthy" after recovering from a stab wound suffered in the offseason.

Illinois coach Ron Zook is happy with Wilson in the middle.

"He's such an athletic guy," Zook said. "I saw him make some plays today. That's what you like about a big guy who can run. He's actually a lot more physical than people give him credit for. They won't bounce him out of there."

-- The stands at Oak Park Stadium were three-fourths full and the weather was by far the best of the three Chicago scrimmages for the Illini.

"It was beautiful," Zook said. "They talk about it being a little chilly. Compared to the last two years, this is like a day at the beach. The suns shining. The people are great."

But will the Illini hold another Chicago area scrimmage next season? Zook won't commit to it just yet.

"Once you get up here, it's fun," Zook said. "It's good for the university. It's good for our program. It's good for the people who are up here. But we'll wait and see what happens next year."

The Illini had trouble getting to the high school because of an accident on Interstate 294. Once they arrived, everything went like the coaches hoped.

"It was a long bus ride," Illinois guard Jon Asamoah said. "I'm not a fan. I wish we flew everywhere."

Oak Park-River Forest coach Jim Nudera thanked Illinois for holding the scrimmage on his field.

"It's very exciting that they chose us," Nudera said. "It went very well. For (Zook) to showcase his players here is just a credit to his character." 

-- Three days after a less-than-perfect scrimmage in Champaign, Illinois quarterback Juice Williams looked more like the guy who set three stadium total offense records in 2008.

Williams hit 13 of 20 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown to Jarred Fayson. He also ran 11 times for 48 yards and a touchdown.

Despite the good numbers, Williams gave himself a low grade.

"I'd say about a D," Williams said. "I try to be hard on myself. I think I did some things pretty good, but there's always room for improvement. That's how I try to attack it."

The main goal going into the scrimmage was to avoid turnovers, Williams said. Except for bad exchanges on the second team between the center and quarterbacks, the Illini kept control of the ball.

Williams said there was little difference between the play calling now and under former offensive coordinator Mike Locksley.

"It was very similar," Williams said. "That makes it a lot more comfortable."
Williams got plenty of help Saturday from his running backs. Mikel Leshoure and Jason Ford combined for 191 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

"They look like night and day versus what they looked like last year," Williams said. "They're coming along."

-- The coaches kept Arrelious Benn busy. The junior receiver caught three passes for 38 yards and ran six times for 25 more.

"Overall, everything went pretty good," Benn said. "There's just some little things we need to tweak."

Who won the scrimmage?

"The offense won today," Benn said.

-- Faces spotted in the crowd Saturday include Chicago Mount Carmel coach Frank Lenti, Hinsdale Central quarterback John Whitelaw and former News-Gazette All-State Player of the Year Robert Hughes.

Hughes is going into his junior season at Notre Dame. The running back's college choice came down to Illinois and the Irish.

TODAY'S QUOTES
-- "It's always fun being in a game situation with the guys, getting used to the speed of the game and beating on the defense a little bit. We moved the ball today," senior offensive guard Jon Asamoah.

--"We're more of a team this year. I think last year we weren't as much of a team. We're all brothers and we're just coming together to do what we came here for," receiver Arrelious Benn.

-- "I think we're trying to build on what we did last year. We did a lot of things in the passing game. I was able to hit him a lot. He got a lot of yards. We want to get other guys involved as well. There's no pressure. We come out and have fun with it. We're looked at as two of the better players on the team. We try to come out here and be leaders," quarterback Juice Williams on his relationship with Arrelious Benn.

-- "Everything we have at the University of the Illinois in football came from (Bob Zuppke), from here. It's kind of neat," Ron Zook on being at Oak Park-River Forest, where Zuppke once coached.

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