Aug. 19, 2007

When the Fighting Illini football team left campus two weeks ago for Camp Rantoul, Champaign-Urbana was relatively quiet. What a difference a fortnight makes. With roughly half of their pre-season practices and a couple of major scrimmages in the books, the Illini came back to the bustling twin cities yesterday. Most, if not all University of Illinois students are back in town.

The team took a break from hitting today, but hosted hundreds of Illini faithful for the annual Fan Appreciation Day. Coach Zook and the squad were on hand in the Irwin Indoor facility (due to the threat of rain) and signed autographs, posed for photos and visited with hundreds wearing Orange and Blue.

The team will have meetings and single practices Monday and Tuesday before fall semester classes commence Wednesday.