Illini Football Draws Crowd For Open Practice

About 5,000 fans took advantage of Saturday’s weather by watching Lovie Smith's first Illini football team hold an open practice at Memorial Stadium.

Smith said his top priority is evaluating a team that’s still relatively unfamiliar to its coaching staff.

"We tried to get everybody on video today," Smith said, "so we'll have good video to evaluate."

Senior quarterback Wes Lunt was one of five quarterbacks to take snaps during Saturday's practice.  Lunt says new offensive coordinator Garrick McGee has been gradually teaching them the playbook.

"I know Coach McGee hasn't given us all of it, but he's done a good job installing a lot," Lunt said.  "He always says how fast we're picking it up."

Lunt is the presumed starter at the position, but reserves Chayce Crouch, Jeff George, Jr., and Jimmy Fitzgerald also got plenty of repetitions.  George says that kind of rotation allows all the quarterbacks to help each other.

"It's definitely an intense competition," George said, "but at the end of the day, we're all friends, we're all teammates.  It's all friendly competition because at the end of the day, we realize the best man's going to play."

George, Jr. is the son of Jeff George, who played quarterback at Illinois in the late 1980's.  The elder George enjoyed seeing some excitement around his old team again.

"Everyone's believing in coach Smith and buying into the program again," George said.  "Not just the players that are here now, but future recruits, former players.  Everyone's wanting to come back and support the program."

New athletic director Josh Whitman, a former Illinois football player in the late 1990's, was also excited about what he saw.

"It's been a great start," Whitman said, "and exciting to watch the progress from the first practice to today. They've really improved by leaps and bounds, and I look forward to them continuing on that trajectory."

Illinois opens the 2016 football season at home against Murray State on September 3.