Aug. 22, 2003

RANTOUL, Ill. - After an hour and a half practice Friday morning in full pads, head coach Ron Turner ended Illinois's stay in Rantoul a couple of hours earlier than scheduled, much to the delight of the squad members. Turner also gave the team the weekend off.

"Camp was outstanding," Turner said. "I really like the attitude of this team. I would say they were focused, but with that edge that you need.

"We came out of this in really good shape, health-wise. These guys will take this weekend to get rested, get their legs back and then we will get back to work on Monday.

"We had a great camp," Illinois quarterback Jon Buetjer said. "The whole team came together as one. We are excited to be done with camp, but not because we want to leave, because it means that it is game week."

SPOTLIGHT ON THE OFFENSIVE GUARDS: Illinois will line-up two new offensive guards this season with Dave Diehl moving on to the NFL and Patrick Babcock moving to right tackle. Junior Bryan Koch will start at one guard with either redshirt freshman Matt Maddox or junior Dave Hilderbrand starting at the other.

"Right now we've got three guys we really feel good about at guard, Bryan Koch, Dave Hilderbrand and Matt Maddox," offensive line coach Harry Hiestand said. "Those three guys are going to provide good, solid play for us inside. Dave and Matt are still in a battle for a starting position and we're pleased with the progress of those three at this point."

Babcock, a junior, makes the transition to tackle after spending the last two seasons at right guard, where he started every game except for the Sugar Bowl when he was sidelined with a broken wrist.

"Pat's made the move over (to tackle) and he's made great progress. Pat's a guy who takes great pride in doing things right and doing things well and he's made great improvement each day out here.

The Illini resume practice on Monday.