Freshmen offer hope for future

Watching quarterback Juice Williams fumble the ball away in the red zone early in Saturday’s game against Minnesota was painful.

But seeing him limp off the field was downright disheartening.

Discounting Williams’ early turnover, he looked like his old self on the first three Illini drives, accounting for 63 total yards and a touchdown. But despite the injury to its starting quarterback, Illinois managed to grind out a 35-32 victory at Minnesota’s new TCF Bank Stadium and held the same Gopher offense that put up 505 yards of total offense against Michigan State to just 271.

More importantly, however, Minnesota’s junior quarterback Adam Weber (who passed for 416 yards and five touchdowns a week ago) was upstaged by Williams’ replacement, redshirt freshman Jacob Charest, who put on a show for the Block-I faithful who made the trip to Minneapolis.

On the other side of the ball, freshman Terry Hawthorne showed his big-play ability for the second straight week, this time by returning an interception for a touchdown.

So what did I take away from watching Saturday’s victory?

That, no matter how the rest of this season plays out for the Orange and Blue, the recent performances of Charest and Hawthorne should give Illini fans reason to be hopeful about their team’s future.

Charest finished the game 10 of 19 for 185 yards passing and a touchdown. But consider three big drops by wide receiver Jeff Cumberland, as well as a well-thrown ball that a Minnesota defensive back managed to wrestle out of the hands of Arrelious Benn, and Charest could have easily ended up with 250 yards through the air.

He also showed great poise in the pocket, especially when facing third-and-long situations (something Williams, as a senior, still struggles with), and he stepped up on the final drive of the first half.

Charest managed to convert a third-and-13 to receiver Chris Duvalt and later went back to the senior on a third-and-17. On the next play, Charest eluded a heavy Minnesota rush by rolling to his right side. Then, rather than deciding to take off running (as the typical freshman would), he easily found running back Jason Ford on a pass that got Illinois down to the Minnesota 1-yard line.

Charest again showed maturity on Illinois’ second drive of the fourth quarter, when he calmly followed up a 4-yard loss by Ford with a perfectly thrown fade to Benn on third-and-goal, a play that pushed the Illinois lead to 35-25.

Hawthorne, on the other hand, put his stamp on the game defensively for the second straight week. Many around campus were anointing the converted wide receiver as “the next Vontae Davis” after he chased down Michigan receiver Ray Roundtree on a play that turned the momentum in Illinois’ favor en route to the team’s first conference win of the season on Oct. 31.

But Hawthorne proved Saturday that he is more than capable of making big plays on a consistent basis. He recorded five solo tackles in covering Minnesota’s top receiver (excluding the injured Eric Decker) in Da’Jon McKnight and also recorded his first touchdown in an Illini uniform after returning an interception 44 yards for the score. He later broke up a big third-and-goal pass by Weber to make the Gophers settle for a field goal on their first drive of the second half.

So, the bottom line is that Charest and Hawthorne are the real deal.

In fact, it’s safe to say the pair are freshmen in name only, as Saturday they both played like seasoned veterans. Charest demonstrated composure and moxie after being thrown into the game somewhat unexpectedly, while Hawthorne has been the defense’s top guy two weeks in a row.

By now, everyone knows that if the Illini win out (against Northwestern, Cincinnati and Fresno State) they’ll be bowl-bound with a 6-6 record. Realistically, I’m still not sold on the fact that this will happen, and I’m sure half of Champaign will again be calling for Ron Zook’s head the next time Illinois loses.

But with the recent emergence of Charest and Hawthorne, Illinois will undoubtedly be playing in that elusive 13th game in 2010-11.

Peter Zervakis is a junior in Media. He can be reached at pzervak2@illinimedia.com.