A week to heal his aching ankle was enough for Donovonn Young.

The Illinois freshman tailback, who scored two touchdowns against Wisconsin last Saturday, is expected to be ready against Minnesota.

"He'll play," Illinois coach Ron Zook said. "He's practiced."

Offensive guard Hugh Thornton also will be available, Zook said. The junior missed the Michigan and Wisconsin games after suffering a knee injury at Penn State.

"He'll probably start," Zook said.

With Thornton sidelined, redshirt freshman Alex Hill and junior Tyler Sands have been filling in.

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They skipped a trip to the world's most famous shopping center, though they drove right by it.

The Illinois travel party landed in Minneapolis at about 4:30 p.m.

Instead of going to the Mall of America in nearby Bloomington, Minn., the team went directly to TCF Bank Stadium on the Minnesota campus.

The buses pulled up in the dark. The players wore dress clothes for the short stop at Minnesota's 3-year-old home.

After checking out the expansive locker room (actually two, divided by a large door) and the field, the Illini returned to the buses for the short drive to their downtown Minneapolis hotel.

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The Minnesota players and coaches didn't go to TCF Bank Stadium. That isn't part of the normal Friday routine.

After early meetings, the Gophers had a walkthrough at their nearby practice facility.

The Gophers don't spend the night at one of the many downtown hotels. Instead, they bus west of the Twin Cities to Wayzata, a Minneapolis suburb. With a police escort in the late morning today, the trip back will take about 20 to 30 minutes.

When they arrive at the stadium, the players will be dropped off at the open end for their Victory Walk. It was a tradition started by former coach Tim Brewster when the team moved into TCF Bank Stadium.

First-year coach Jerry Kill has tweaked the routine a bit, with the players locking arms and walking four wide into the stadium. Once on the field, before going to their locker room, the players wait for the entire team to be on the field.

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Attendance won't be near capacity for Saturday's game at the 50,805-seat stadium. About 41,000 tickets have been distributed, but the actual attendance figures to considerably less. Minnesota students are out of town for their Thanksgiving break.

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No bowl scouts will attend the game. Illinois is bowl eligible, and the Gophers have been eliminated since a Nov. 5 loss at Michigan State.

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Kill, who has suffered seizures during the 2011 season, had an episode on Saturday's return trip from Chicago. Kill was back at work Sunday and hasn't missed any games because of health issues.

The coach was asked about his health during his weekly news conference.

"I guess the final thing I'm going to say on that is that — and I don't want to talk about it anymore ... — I'm more open than any coach in the country, I think, in my situation, and my situation is something that is going to be with me the rest of my life, so it is what it is, and so I deal with it," Kill said. "But it's not going to affect my job, and it hasn't, and if it ever does, then I won't be the head coach at the University of Minnesota. I'm not going to cheat the University of Minnesota, and I'm not going to cheat our fans; I'm not going to cheat anybody. I've never done that in my whole life. I'd walk away from it.

"I know my health situation is something that can be controlled, and every once in a while something might happen, but I'm not going to let that define who I am or anything like that. I'll just keep plugging along. I'm in pretty good health; you come out to practice, I can still get after people's tail end pretty good, and I'm pretty scrappy, so I think I'll be fine."

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Kill's streak of eight consecutive postseason appearances is coming to an end. Kill led Southern Illinois to five straight I-AA playoff berths, then led Northern Illinois to three bowls in a row.

"I've been fortunate that I've been able to go in and turn programs around, but I think I forgot how tough it was," Kill said.

Bob Asmussen