Ron Zook took the call at 3 a.m. His reaction to the news that Martez Wilson had suffered wounds in an early morning altercation?

“Your heart stops,” the Illinois coach said. “It’s just a bad feeling. All the worse goes through your mind.”

By the time he got on a plane from Florida back to Champaign on Friday, Zook’s initial fears had been wiped away by news that Wilson would make a full recovery.

Zook also learned that Wilson had come to the aid of a former teammate, Eastern Illinois’ D’Angelo McCray.

“The guy did something that you’re proud of him,” Zook said. “He was acting in the defense of a helpless person.”

Zook said Wilson will likely be released from Carle Foundation Hospital early in the week.

Zook talked with Wilson on Saturday and joked about the player being at the team’s banquet later that night.

“He laughed,” Zook said.

“He’s going to be fine. I feel much better about everything.”

Wilson’s injury became national news. ESPN2 repeatedly ran the incident on its bottom-of-the-screen crawl during Friday’s college football coverage.