Illini expect another bowl game next season
PASADENA, Calif. - As the finality of their collective journey sunk in, Illinois' players walked around their vast Rose Bowl locker room Tuesday night exchanging hugs and consoling words.
Offensive coordinator Mike Locksley stopped by quarterback Juice Williams' locker briefly to offer one last lesson about the merits of avoiding turnovers.
Some seniors - guard Martin O'Donnell and receiver Frank Lenti in particular - sat in front of their lockers and waited as long as possible to start removing their uniforms for the last time.
Virtually every Illini took a moment to climb up and balance themselves on a chair, making it possible to reach up and remove the souvenir-worthy placards above their lockers that listed their name between the school logo and the Rose Bowl logo.
As they took their final steps out of the locker room, they grabbed their KFC box dinners, a few Gatorade drinks and headed into the cool Pasadena night.
And one question lingered all around them like the L.A. daytime smog:
Where might Illinois go from here?
With 15 Rose Bowl starters eligible to return in 2008 - and fistfuls of blue-chip freshmen and incoming recruits expected to seize bigger roles - the Illini expect to compete for a Big Ten title and another BCS berth.
Presuming, of course, that their 49-17 Rose Bowl loss to USC doesn't dampen their ambitions.
"I don't think this represents us at all," said junior linebacker Brit Miller, one of six returning starters on defense. "As the next season comes around, we'll realize we've got a lot of great talent coming back.
"We're going to have to continue to prove ourselves. Prove that we belong. That's going to be a great challenge for us.
"We're going to have a bull's-eye on our back for a lot of teams in the Big Ten. Hopefully we'll survive and get back here or a national championship. That's where our thoughts and our hopes are right now."
Williams, who already has 22 career starts under his belt, will be back to direct an offense that will return seven starters even if stud running back Rashard Mendenhall elects to leave for the NFL.
Williams produced career highs for completions (21), attempts (35) and yards (245) in the Rose Bowl loss, but he walked off his biggest stage disappointed in his 0-to-3 touchdown-to-turnover ratio.
"We've just got to come out and correct those mistakes in the offseason, spring ball," Williams said. "Myself and (backup quarterback) Eddie (McGee) have got to prepare even more and get better in the passing game and running this offense and try our best to get back to this point next season."
Spring ball should be a spirited month in which head coach Ron Zook will be sure to "turn the wick up," as he likes to say.
Since Illinois loses four of its top five tacklers on defense, including all-American middle linebacker J Leman, there'll be some battles to fill jobs and claim leadership roles.
Top receiver Arrelious Benn will sit out spring ball as he heals from a soon-to-occur shoulder surgery. That will give other receivers chances to prove they deserve snaps in the fall.
Presuming the record-setting Mendenhall takes his 1,681 rushing yards and 19 total touchdowns to the league, junior Dan Dufrene, redshirt freshman Troy Pollard and early-enrolling freshman Mikel Leshoure will start a running back battle that incoming freshman Jason Ford will join in the fall.
"We feel like since Coach Zook has been here, we're getting better and better as a team," Mendenhall said. "I don't see anything else happening but us getting better."
"This is something that these guys will learn from," Zook said. "We'll get better. And next time we're in this situation, we'll play the way we're capable of playing."