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It's sneaking up on us. Three weeks from Saturday, under the dome in St. Louis, questions about Ron Zook's fifth team will begin to be answered. You've heard them. And they'll be resounding around Bill Walsh Field on Saturday night during the first full-scale scrimmage. Three grinding questions worry Illini Nation. Columnist Loren Tate tries to provide some answers:

For all his explosive talent, can Juice Williams improve his accuracy and reduce interceptions (16 last season)?

Juice Williams, now a senior, arrived on campus as a run-first quarterback. His 2,050 rushing yards is already a record for an Illini QB. And he became the seventh UI passer to top 3,000 yards with 3,173 last season.

Yes, he was more productive in a 5-7 campaign than when he led Illinois to the Rose Bowl as a sophomore. He led Big Ten players in total offense by more than 1,200 yards in 2008.

So, what's the problem?

The elephant in the corner, the question that burns, is whether Williams can avoid turnovers and produce in those inevitable fourth-quarter showdowns.

There will be games decided in the final minutes. There always are. Some quarterbacks swell up like Popeye in those situations (Jeff George, Kurt Kittner). Others don't.

Looking back, Williams led late marches to set up game-winning field goals against Michigan State in 2006 and Iowa in 2008, and his tackle-breaking eight-minute march at Ohio State in 2007 stands as the UI's most important non-scoring drive ever.

But the 240-pound Chicagoan never has led Illinois to a game-winning TD in the final minutes.

He was presented with two golden opportunities to avoid upsets last year. Trailing Minnesota 27-20 and reaching the Gopher 25, he first fumbled and then threw an arm-deflected interception with a minute to go. Behind Western Michigan 23-17 in Detroit, he arched a 54-yarder to A.J. Jenkins, who tumbled untouched on the Bronco 18-yard line. Williams' next four passes fell incomplete in the waning moments.

Williams has a powerful arm and is dangerous on long-range bombs. However, he hasn't always shown good touch on short, safe passes ... the way Dustin Scherer did in the closing stages for Wisconsin, to mention just one of several who rocked the Illini.

With Zook handing a confidence-building scholarship to Anthony Santella, is the Utah transfer poised to break out as an effective punter?

Yep, the rugby punt is back in. Well, sort of. Zook tried it several years ago, seemingly out of desperation, with DaJuan Warren. Santella has had more time to prepare and reportedly can dart either direction with "switch-hitting" capabilities by either foot.

"I am basically a right-footed punter," Santella said. "But I learned to kick with both feet in soccer. Actually, I thought soccer would be my ticket. But I had four knee surgeries in high school (Wauconda) and a fifth last summer to remove a growth. So I can kick either way. With my left foot, I do it differently with a step and a kick, and I can make it spiral. If we show it, that'll give other teams something to think about. We can do an array of things, mostly with the idea of getting the coverage down the field."

Outside gunners in the coverage could have two of the team's top stars, Martez Wilson and Arrelious Benn, although that is still in the experimental stage.

It is clear that the staff is making a major effort to improve field position.

"We may do some directional punting, and we're looking at a different scheme," said special teams coach Mike Woodford, referring to the formation as much as the punting style.

"Santella has been working on it. The whole idea is to improve our net punting. What we do will depend on the field position, the wind and all the other things that come into play."

Illinois finished 10th and 11th in Big Ten net punting the last two years. The push is on for improvement in this area.

Must the Illini continue to play soft in the short passing zones where tight ends and other rival receivers make high-percentage catches?

The defensive goal, handed down from Zook to co-coordinators Dan Disch and Curt Mallory, is to avoid the big play.

It is based on the theory that, if a team is forced to advance in small chunks, the offensive unit will make a mistake sooner or later. And by all means, stop the run and force the pass so that you can anticipate it's coming.

Be careful what you wish for.

Illinois played soft corners defensively and appeared cautious about blitzing. This resulted in a conference-low six interceptions in 12 games. It's difficult to win when you're throwing it to the other guys 16 times, and they're only giving six back. Illinois was minus-6 in turnovers, Ohio State plus-16.

The perception is that, though Illinois is physical up front, the secondary is vulnerable to short strikes than can be repeated. UI losses last year to Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Western Michigan and Northwestern bore this out.

Still, Williams passed for vastly more yardage than his rivals, reminding of a recent baseball game where the Chicago Cubs had 17 hits but, failing to bunch them, managed just single runs in five innings.

As mentioned, Williams is more explosive but rivals were more consistent, particularly in the late stages, a year ago.

And as everyone knows, most close games are decided by turnovers. Illinois needs more interceptions, even if there is a risk involved.

Need to know

What: Annual Camp Rantoul scrimmage
Where: Rantoul High’s Bill Walsh Field
When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday
Listen up: WDWS will broadcast the scrimmage with Brian Barnhart, Steve Kelly and Loren Tate handling the call
Listen in: Live blogging on IlliniHQ.com
Format: Game-like situations, including special teams
Price: Free. Charging would be against NCAA rules