Aug. 19, 2006

Russ Weil (#41) rambled for 52 yards and a 52-yard touchdown after bobbling Tim Brasic's pass into the left flat.

The Illinois football team wrapped up the 2006 Camp Rantoul training camp with a scrimmage that lasted nearly two hours. The squad played in front of a large crowd that gathered for the morning workout. The offense put up big numbers, scoring four touchdowns during the regular drive period, and 9-of-12 times in the redzone. The defense also saw aggressive play, getting eight sacks and two interceptions, including a 28-yard touchdown return by true-freshman Vontae Davis. Quarterback Tim Brasic passed for 275 yards and new running back Charles Bailey had more than 100 yards in rushing. Twelve different players caught passes.

Quoting Head Coach Ron Zook:

...on the players' effort in today's scrimmage:
"I was a little worried at halftime, but I think for as hard as we've pushed them, they came out and got after it pretty good."

...on the play of the receivers today:
"That's the frustrating thing: these guys make the tough catches, then they drop some easier ones. That's just concentration. We've got to get that corrected. Those are the things you can't have."

...on the competition between the receivers and defensive backs:
"The DBs and the receivers have really gotten after each other this whole camp. We thought we really had to improve our blocking and we felt like defensively in the secondary we weren't getting off blocks."

Quoting defensive coordinator Vince Okruch...

...on the first team defense:
"The first team defense has had a great camp. We've got to find a way to get a little bit better every day, and that's what we've done over the last eight or nine days. We've got about 13 days until our first game, so if we're fortunate enough to make the same improvement over the next 13 days that we made over the last 13 days, we'll be in good shape."

...on the number of defenses in the playbook:
"All the combinations we've worked in camp, we won't use anywhere near that many packages and personnel groupings in a game. We'll probably spend another two or three days on fundamentals and then we'll start focusing on Eastern Illinois. I'd say if we used 20 percent of our packages, that would be a maximum."

...on what he saw in today's scrimmage:
"We need J Leman in the lineup. We took him out a little bit today to see how we'd respond. J has become the heart and soul of this defense. I thought Vontae had a nice day. The interior stuff you can't really tell from the sideline, you have to wait until you see it on film."

Quoting quarterback Tim Brasic...

...on the offense's improvement at camp:
"I think we definitely made some strides forward. We still got some things we've got to work on. But we came out, and in the full scrimmages we had, we performed at a pretty high level. That's what you have to have. You don't get to go live all the time, but when you do, you have to perform at that level and compete with the defense, and I thought for the most part we did a good job of that."

Former Illini All-America linebacker Scott Studwell who played 13 years with the Minnesota Vikings, was on hand at Saturday's scrimmage. He's shown here (left) with Lenny Willis, the UI director of athletic facilities and father of current Illini receiver Justin Willis and former Illini Lenny Willis.

...on what stood out during today's scrimmage:
"Our receivers really got out and blocked well on the outside and gave our running backs opportunities to get out on the edge. Pierre had a couple nice runs, E.B. got outside, Champ Bailey had a nice run down the sidelines. A lot of times people don't see that, they don't see the receivers doing that hard work. That's big. They've got to do that in order for the big plays to happen. That's a small detail that makes big plays happen."

Scoring Summary
3rd Drive - Thomas 1-yard run
7th Drive - Weil 52-yard pass from Brasic
12th Drive - Ellis 65-yard pass from Brasic
14th Drive - V. Davis 28-yard interception return
19th Drive - Bailey 52-yard run

Redzone Scoring Summary
1st Drive - Thomas 2-yard run
2nd Drive - Cumberland 5-yard pass from Williams
4th Drive - McPhearson 26-yard pass from McGee
6th Drive - Cumberland 10-yard pass from Brasic
7th Drive - Warren 26-yard pass from Williams
9th Drive - McPhearson 16-yard pass from McGee
10th Drive - Ellis 11-yard pass from McGee
11th Drive - Creamer 11-yard pass from Venegoni
12th Drive - Bailey 1-yard run

Two-minute Offense
1st Drive - R. Mendenhall 4-yard pass from Brasic (2-point conversion good)

Passing Statistics     Comp.     Att.     Yds.     TD     INT
Brasic                  11        23      275       4      1
Venegoni                 1         1       11       1      0
McGee                    4        12       74       3      0
Williams                 7        12       65       2      1
Garza                    0         4        0       0      0

			

			

			
Juice Williams (#7) handed the ball off to Charles Bailey (#24) on this play for a gain.  The converted defensive back-then-wide receiver led the Illini in rushing with 120 yards in the scrimmage on 14 carries. 
			

			
			

			
			
			

Rushing Statistics      No.      Yds.      TD
Bailey                  14       120        2
Mendenhall              11        76        0
Thomas                   9        51        2
Halsey                   8        33        0
Ijei                     7        33        0
Brasic                   3        13        0
Venegoni                 1         3        0
Warren                   1         5        0
Williams                 7       (31)       0
McGee                    5        (1)       0

Receiving Statistics    No.      Yds.      TD
Warren                   4        46        1
Ellis                    3        87        2
McPhearson               3        45        2
Cumberland               3        43        2
Willis                   2        71        0
Lenti                    2        29        0
Weil                     1        52        1
James                    1        21        0
Creamer                  1        11        1
Halsey                   1         9        0
Morgan                   1         7        0
Mendenhall               1         4        1


			

			

			
Jody Ellis (#29) caught three passes for 87 yards, including this touchdown reception that went for 65 yards.
			

			
			

			
			
			



Defensive Statistics
Leman - 9 (PBU)
Gillen - 6
Bellamy - 6
Steele - 5
W. Davis - 5 (QBS-1 yards)
Norris - 5 (QBS-9 yards)
Hicks - 5 (INT-48 return)
Thornhill - 4
Willis - 4 (QBS-10 yards, 2 TFL-13 yards)
Norwell - 4 (TFL-7 yards)
Harrison - 4
V. Davis - 3 (INT-28 return)
Lindquist - 3 (QBS-7 yards)
Ball - 3 (QBS-6 yards)
Ware - 2 (2 QBS-10 yards)
Pilcher - 2 (QBS-10 yards)
Walker - 1 (QBS-6 yards)
Nurse - 1 (PBU)
A. James - 1 (TFL-1 yard)