Illini back to Juice to start the day

CHAMPAIGN -- When Illinois needed to get things done against a traditional Big Ten power, head coach Ron Zook and offensive coordinator Mike Locksley took the ball away from Juice Williams.

They handed it to redshirt freshman backup Eddie McGee and asked him to get it done against Michigan.

Hard to believe that was a mere 25 days ago.

McGee entered the Michigan game midway through the third quarter when Illinois trailed 17-14, led the offense on a 50-yard drive for the game-tying field goal, and probably would have played the rest of the way if he hadn't gotten dinged on an option run.

Then, in the minutes after Illinois' 27-17 loss to the Wolverines, Zook assessed the quarterback situation by suggesting it would "probably continue to be a question throughout the year."

Not anymore.

Not after Williams went the distance against the Big Ten's other traditional powerhouse and led Illinois to its first victory over a No. 1 team since 1956.

At long last, with Saturday's 28-21 win at Ohio State, Williams became as big of a hero for his college exploits as he was for simply committing to downtrodden Illinois in May 2005.

"It kind of feels like my high school days again," Williams said. "Classmates walking up to me saying 'congratulations.' People asking for autographs and things like that, so it's a great feeling. It's something to keep in my memory bank and pass along to other generations.

"In my opinion, I always wanted to get this team turned around, but I didn't expect the things that are going on right now to come as quickly."

How did the Big Ten's reigning offensive player of the week go from being a question mark into an exclamation point in such short order?

"The magic answer is time," Locksley said. "As a coach, you always have to have the patience that, at some point, the light switch goes on.

"I've said for five weeks that I've seen in practice the light switch flickering. I've seen the progress Juice is making. Coach (Zook) has seen it and I think it's finally clicked a little bit.

"And he's also gotten help from his protection and from guys going out and making plays. When you make a play, your confidence is higher and it's easier to sit back in there and make the throws that he's made."

Zook did his best to nudge Williams' confidence after consecutive losses to Iowa and Michigan.

In the days following the Michigan disappointment, Zook quietly named Williams a team captain for the Ball State game. He's the only non-senior or junior to receive the honor this season.

"It lets me know that the coaches still have faith and confidence in me, that those guys haven't given up on me," Williams said. "And actually just pushed me even harder to prove Coach Zook right, to let him know that I am capable of doing this job and he's not putting me out there just for showboating or anything like that."

The rest, as they say, is becoming history.

Williams will join fifth-year seniors J Leman, Chris Norwell and Martin O'Donnell at midfield for the coin toss prior to Saturday's regular-season finale against visiting Northwestern (11 a.m., ESPN).

That's a good sign for the Illini. In Williams' games as a captain, Illinois has gone 3-0 and risen from No. 42 to No. 19 in the Bowl Championship Series standings.

And his stats? Williams has hit 33 of 58 passes for 492 yards, 6 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He has run for 302 yards and 3 scores.

"I'm extremely confident right now throwing the football around because I was able to hit some guys in stride a few weeks back," Williams said. "And that pretty much just leads over into every week."

In a similar vein, doubt seemed to build from week to week during the season's first two months.

In Williams' first eight games, which featured six relief appearances by McGee in more than a mop-up role, his passing-efficiency numbers ranked with the nation's worst quarterbacks.

Williams completed 84 of 151 passes for 786 yards, 6 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He rushed for 336 yards and 2 scores.

He claims the Western Illinois game, when he managed just 139 total yards against a Football Championship Subdivision team Sept. 8, hurt him more than Illinois' 3 losses and his two injuries (to his eye and knee).

"I was coming off an injury and I didn't have the best performance I've had in my life," he said. "I was pretty down on myself. I was just walking around by myself alone being quiet, even after a victory. It was kind of selfish on my part because there's more to the game than personal success."

Now Williams has the personal success, if throwing 4 touchdown passes against the nation's No. 1 defense is an accurate gauge.

Locksley wants this to be known: Though the true sophomore already has made 20 career starts, there's a lot more in Juice's tank.

"He's by far nowhere near perfect," Locksley said. "He played a pretty good game, but when you look at the tape, obviously he was shown there was a lot of things he still needs to be more consistent in.

"His footwork. His timing. All the little things and all the nuances that go with playing quarterback. I think he's starting to understand it."