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JUICE WILLIAMS will remain the Illinois starting quarterback against Purdue. But count on seeing redshirt freshman JACOB CHAREST in the game.

"Jacob is going to play," Illinois coach RON ZOOK said Friday evening at the team headquarters in Lafayette, Ind. "He's practiced well this week and done a good job. I think he deserves a chance.

"I'm going to start Juice because of the immense pressure that we don't want to put Jacob under. But I'm excited about the package we have for (Charest). We did some things against our defense this week that I think it will be interesting to see what happens."

When will Charest enter?

"Early," Zook said. "It depends a little bit on how things are going with Juice."

Charest hadn't taken a lot of snaps with the first and second and units since Rantoul. Until this week.

"He's prepared well," Zook said. "It's an opportunity. There's an excitement."

Zook said Williams had a good week of practice. The coach said he has been impressed with how the senior has handled a difficult season.

"Do people think it's not tearing him up? Do people think it's not tearing us all up?" Zook said. "There's a young man who wants to win. Nobody in a 1,000 years would ever have thought this was going to happen. But it has. Now, we have to deal with it and fix it."

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While the starting quarterback will remain the same, there are other changes on the offense. Redshirt freshman TYLER SANDS will start at left guard in place of RANDALL HUNT.

"We're going to keep making the changes that we need to make," Zook said.

Freshman HUGH THORNTON, who started against Indiana at right tackle, will remain in the lineup. He moved ahead of RYAN PALMER.

"It's helped the offensive line," Zook said. "I thought Ryan Palmer had an excellent week of practice."

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Receiver JARRED FAYSON (knee) and safety DONSAY HARDEMAN (neck) didn't make the trip to Purdue. Zook said a combination of ARRELIOUS BENN, CHRIS DUVALT, A.J. JENKINS and JEFF CUMBERLAND will start at receiver.

Another player you will see early at the position is EDDIE McGEE. The junior quarterback spent the week working with the receivers.

"Eddie will be in early also," Zook said. "He's got a little package."

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Unlike a week ago when the team stayed an hour from the Indiana campus, the Illini travel party found a hotel much closer to the Purdue campus.

The Illini spent Friday night at the Best Western in Lafayette, about a 10-minute drive to Ross-Ade Stadium. The Illini didn't visit the stadium on Friday, which was also the pattern at Bloomington.

The employees at the hotel were decked out in Illinois football T-shirts when the team arrived at about 6:45 p.m. (Lafayette time). The buses got caught in traffic, delaying the team's arrival by a few minutes.

The team worked out at Memorial Stadium before a 3:30 p.m. departure.

"Everything went fine," Zook said. "The practice, meetings went fine. We've just got to go win a game."

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Fresh off the huge win against Ohio State, Purdue didn't plan any changes to its pregame routine.

On a dreary day, the Boilermakers held a late afternoon practice before going to dinner at the Lafayette Country Club.

The team stayed at the Union Club Hotel on the Purdue campus.

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The Illinois captains for today's game will be center ERIC BLOCK, tight end MICHAEL HOOMANAWANUI, defensive end DOUG PILCHER and linebacker IAN THOMAS.

Illinois names captains each week. Permanent captains will be announced at the team's banquet in December.