March 31, 2005

Champaign, Ill. - University of Illinois head football coach Ron Zook and the Illini football team continued the spring season with a two-plus hour practice Thursday afternoon on both the East practice fields and Memorial Stadium. The workout began outside until darkness forced the final period of practice to the stadium turf.

For the second day of practice, Zook thought things were better overall and has no complaints about the effort, particularly from what he has seen at the receiver position so far.

"There is talent there, it's just hard to judge everything right now because there are so many things running through their minds. However, their effort has been super, the attitude is good and they are doing everything we are asking them to do."

"Things were better (today), but by the same token we are still adding a lot of football. Sometimes the more football you add, it makes things clog up a bit particularly if you are going fast."

"I've told them they are going to have to spend some time on their own because we can only spend 20 hours with them. That means they are going to have to put some of their own work into it. I continue to say that our fourth phase (summer) is going to be critical in terms of the weights, conditioning and strength."

UPCOMING SCHEDULE: The Illini will return to action with Practice #3 on Saturday, April 2, which will be the first padded practice. The IHSFCA coaches clinic began on Thursday March 31, bringing over 1,600 high school coaches from Illinois and surrounding areas to Champaign-Urbana.