Zook, Illini attempt to emulate 2007 season

Illinois’ Juice Williams (7) throws a pass to Arrelious Benn (9) during the game against Indiana University on Saturday. The Illini lost to the Hoosiers 27-14.
Trevor Greene The Daily Illini

Fueling the frustration of Illinois football fans is the fact that only two years ago, the Illini posted a 9-3 regular-season record on their way to the Rose Bowl.

But the Illini have been stuck in a downward spiral the last two seasons, following up last year’s disappointing 5-7 season with a 1-5 start this year.

“I’ve already done it,” Illinois head coach Ron Zook said of trying to make changes to emulate the 2007 season. “I’ve already gone back and tried to do a lot of the same things with practice times and the whole bit.”

The 2007 Illini knocked off three teams ranked in the top 25, including No. 5 Wisconsin and No. 1 Ohio State. This season, the Illini have yet to notch a win against a Football Bowl Subdivision school, losing by an average of 19.8 points per game.

“One of the things, if you go back and look at that year, is that we had some guys who made some plays and you wondered how they made them,” Zook said. “We’re not making those plays this year and even to a certain extent we weren’t last year either. A lot of that has to do with passion.”

The Illini have fallen to the bottom of the Big Ten despite having plenty of returning talent.

Quarterback Juice Williams returned to become a four-year starter at quarterback after leading the Big Ten in total offense last season.

He was supposed to have one of the nation’s most heralded receiving corps at his disposal, led by junior wide receiver Arrelious Benn, who is projected to be one of the top receivers taken in next year’s NFL draft if he decides to leave early.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper has Jon Asamoah rated as the nation’s top senior offensive guard for next year’s NFL draft, and Illinois has three seniors who have seen significant playing time since coming to campus — Williams, cornerback Dere Hicks and defensive end Doug Pilcher.

“I remember in the summer during the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon, a lot of the buzz was about Illinois’ talent, how they were going to be really the most talented team in the league,” Purdue head coach Danny Hope said. “They still might have the most talent in the league.”

But talent alone doesn’t win football games, and Zook has largely failed to capitalize on his highly rated recruiting classes. Of Zook’s 2007 recruiting class, which was rated as the No. 20 class in the nation by Rivals.com, only five are currently in the starting lineup. Eight players from the class of 21 are no longer on the team for various reasons.

“Talent is one thing, but productivity is another,” Zook said. “Measuring productivity is what happens in the game of football, and obviously we’re not where we were two years ago.”

Zook said that the players need to raise their intensity levels in order to reach the level of production from two seasons ago.

“A lot of that has to do with passion,” Zook said. “When our guys are finally tired of this and decide, ‘That’s it, I’m sick of it, I’m not going to take it anymore,’ that’s when we’ll get back on track.”

Zook pointed to the up-and-down nature of football in both college and the NFL.

“There are a lot of things that have to go right to have a successful season, and as I told them last night, the Tennessee Titans had the best record in football last year,” Zook said about the now 0-6 Titans. “They’re basically the same guys, and coach (Jeff) Fisher is a great football coach, but for whatever reason, things aren’t clicking and that’s the nature of this game sometimes.”