Juice runs through Illini of the Week honors

Erica Magda

Accumulating 124 yards through the air and another 174 yards on the ground, Juice Williams showed Eastern Illinois what a Big Ten quarterback looks like.

"He's outstanding, he's a great player," EIU's head coach Bob Spoo said after Saturday's game. "He's come a long way and he's got another year to go. He's going to put a lot of pressure on people all year long, there's no question. He's that good, and now he's developed into a very fine thrower. He does it all."

Williams' versatility between his arm and legs helped the Illini easily cruise to a 47-21 win in the home opener against the Panthers. Instead of just settling for a victory, Juice went on to break the school's single-game rushing record by a quarterback - a feat he previously accomplished in 2006 against Purdue when he turned in a 145-yard performance.

The 6-foot-2 junior's first two seasons wearing orange and blue were stop-and-go at times, but as an upperclassman, the Chicago native finally has it figured out.

"Being his third year, he's so much more alert to what's going on," head coach Ron Zook said. "Obviously, he dealt with his feet more this week than he did last week. As he goes, we're all gonna go.

"He's going to get better with each game, and that's what we want him to do - we want him to just continue to improve. I love his attitude. I love his work ethic and what he's trying to get done."

Williams connected with seven different receivers against Eastern and has developed confidence passing to "open guys instead of looking for particular guys out there." He opened the game by connecting with junior Chris Duvalt in the first quarter for a 16-yard touchdown pass and threw seven completions to sophomore Arrelious Benn.

Even with the signal caller's improvements, he still has a way to go.

Against Eastern's mediocre defense, he threw two interceptions and several incompletions, connecting on 16 of his 25 attempted passes -- mistakes offensive coordinator Mike Locksley has been addressing.

"There's some things I need to correct as far as turning the ball over, fumbling at the one-yard line," Williams said. "I had two interceptions and obviously trying to secure the offense, but luckily we was able to come out and beat Eastern this past weekend, but I know against better teams out there, that won't be able to fly."

As Williams tries to rid himself of errors against Louisiana-Lafayette this Saturday, there is one thing Locksley wants to continue: his quarterback's leadership on and off the field.

Before the season began, Locksley said Williams was reserved and quiet. Now he is one of the team's most vocal and powerful leaders.

"We really lost that leadership that we had last year," Williams said. "So I feel like it's up to me to step in and take their part and I thought I'd been doing a pretty good job at it, so I just want to keep it going and keep having these young guys look up to me."

Editor's Note: The Daily Illini sports desk sits down on Sunday nights and decides which Illinois athlete is our Illini of the Week. Student-athletes are evaluated by individual performance, contribution to team success and personal achievement.