Aug. 21, 2004

Rantoul, Ill. -

Offensive and Defensive Stats from Rantoul Scrimmage
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Illinois held its annual scrimmage at Rantoul Township High School's Bill Walsh Field Saturday night in front of an estimated 2,250 fans. The Illini kicked off the scrimmage by grinding out a 13-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 19-yard touchdown pass from Jon Beutjer to Kendrick Jones. Freshman Jason Reda nailed his first extra point of the night behind the efforts of the first-string offense. "We've been in pads for five straight days, so I was anxious to see what we were going to do tonight," Illinois head coach Ron Turner said. "It's two weeks before the first game - we wish we had four - but we've got two so we'll see what we do in that time." After the Illini defense stopped the offense on drives two and three, redshirt freshman quarterback Brad Bower utilized three big plays to lead his offensive group on a seven-play, 70-yard drive. Bower gained 25 of those yards on two rushes, and he finished with 31 rushing yards on six carries. Marcus Mason reached the end zone when he bounced an off-tackle run outside and outraced Sharriff Abdullah to the goal line for a 32-yard score. Beutjer took the first-string offense on his shoulders on the fifth drive of the night, completing 7-of-8 passes for 67 yards, including an 8-yard touchdown to Lonnie Hurst. Jason Davis had the long play of the drive, catching a swing pass from Beutjer and tallying a 20-yard gain. Ade Adeyemo snagged a 13-yard reception, and Jones hauled in a 12-yarder. "I thought the offense was really sharp early; I thought Jon was really sharp," Turner said. "He did a great job of running the offense, made some adjustments that a year ago I don't know if he would've done. We've been going against this defense for 15 practices, so he's an experienced quarterback. He made some checks and made plays and did some good things to take advantage of the defense." Sophomore Chris Pazan engineered a 15-play scoring drive in his first action of the night, connecting with freshman fullback Brock Bolen on a five-yard touchdown pass. Bolen rushed three times for 20 yards during the drive, and Hurst hauled in an 11-yard pass. Pazan was 5-for-6 for 28 yards and a touchdown. The Illini defense forced a number of punts after halftime. The only scoring drive in the second half of the scrimmage came when Jason Reda knocked in a 35-yard field goal through, off the left upright. Drive highlights included a 14-yard pass from Brasic to Payne and a nine-yarder from Brasic to Mark Kornfeld. Beutjer ended the scrimmage 13-of-18 for 134 yards and two TDs. Marcus Mason was the top rusher on the evening, with seven carries for 56 yards and one touchdown. Fullback Jason Davis caught five balls for 43 yards. Defensively, safeties Kevin Mitchell and Morris Virgil tied for team high honors with six tackles apiece, while five Illini chipped in with five tackles. Illinois is off Sunday. The Illini return to the practice field at Camp Rantoul for two sessions on Monday (8:40 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.) and the final practice on Tuesday (8:40 a.m.) before breaking camp and returning to campus. *To view stats from the scrimmage, click on the .pdf link at the top of this page.