Leman's speech fires up Illini

CHAMPAIGN -- Senior guard Martin O'Donnell stood up to speak first. Then senior wide receiver Frank Lenti. Then senior safety Justin Harrison.

Then last, but not least, senior middle linebacker J Leman became the fourth Illinois native to take center stage Friday night at the Park Inn in Urbana as the Illini held their final pregame meeting of the regular season.

Leman's spine-tingling, tear-jerking speech had his teammates more than ready to deliver the performance that became Saturday's 41-22 win over Northwestern -- Illinois' first since 2002 against its intrastate rival.

"I had a couple of the seniors talk last night because I thought it was important that they talk about what this game means," said Illinois coach Ron Zook. "J was the last one and I'm going to tell you now, if we could've played last night when he got done talking, it would have been over."

Sophomore quarterback Juice Williams said he had to compose himself to keep tears from falling from his eyes.

"I saw how much the seniors were dedicated to this team and had a passion for this," Williams said. "I just made an oath to myself while he was talking that I was going to do everything I can to come out with a victory for them."

Williams rolled up a career-high 356 total yards and 3 touchdowns. Junior running back Rashard Mendenhall added 124 yards and 2 scores to set single-season school records for rushing yards (1,526) and touchdowns (16).