Stepping into the spotlight

Illinois' Jacob Charest (12) waits for the snap during the game against Minnesota at TCF Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn. on Nov. 7, 2009. The 35-32 win against Minnesota brings two victories in a row to an Illinois team that had not gained a Big Ten win until the end of October.
Wesley Fane The Daily Illini

Jacob Charest isn’t used to the attention that accompanies a starting quarterback on a college campus. He’s not accustomed to the looks he gets around campus or the wall of media members that engulfs him after practice.

“Actually sometimes it’s kind of awkward because people will just look at me,” Charest told the media wall as he flicked his hair out of his eyes, something teammate Walt Aikens said he does approximately 100 times in a 30-minute conversation.

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“It’s like, ‘Are you going to say hey? I’ll say hey. I’m a friendly guy,’” Charest added.

Charest’s life has certainly changed in the last three weeks, in which he made his college debut at Purdue on Oct. 24 and guided the Illini to victory against Minnesota last weekend.

He now visits the film room daily and said he doesn’t have much of a social life.

But teammate Walt Aikens, who went to high school about 20 minutes from Charest in the Charlotte, N.C. area, said this new job hasn’t changed his friend’s personality.

“I see Jake as my boy, just my boy,” Aikens said. “Real laid back, real cool dude. He’s a jokester.”

Charest came into this season expecting to fly under the radar.

Behind four-year starter Juice Williams and junior Eddie McGee on the depth chart, the redshirt freshman said he would have just been happy to play at the end of a blowout.

“I’d love to get out there,” he said during preseason Camp Rantoul. “That would be awesome to get out there in front of those fans and the cameras. That would be a lot of fun. It would be nice if Juice would help me out with that.”

Williams helped him get playing time and so did McGee, but not in the way Charest envisioned. The two veterans struggled through a 1-6 start, and Charest finally got out in front of those fans and the cameras in the Illini’s game against Purdue, in which he finished 4 of 8 for 52 yards.

Head coach Ron Zook promised Charest playing time for the entirety of the next week — so much so that his parents drove to Memorial Stadium from their home in Matthews, N.C. — about an 11-hour ride — to see the Illini play Michigan.

However, Williams and the Illini rolled past the Wolverines defense in a game that showed shades of 2007, and Charest never got in the game.

But he was called upon in the second quarter of Saturday’s game against Minnesota, when Williams went down with an ankle injury.

Charest embraced the challenge and proved his worth, finishing 10 of 19 for 185 yards and a touchdown. But his performance wasn’t spotless, even he’ll admit.

A third-quarter pass was almost picked off when he was hit as he threw. The ball flew nearly straight up in the air, as Minnesota defensive backs looked up and ran to intercept it. The ball, though, fell harmlessly to the ground, and Charest remained unblemished.

“My heart stopped,” Charest said. “I just thought, ‘Please don’t get picked off, please don’t get picked off.’ I saw the DB running for it, and I was like, ‘He’s gonna get it,’ and then he dropped it, and I’ve never had a better feeling in my life than when he dropped it.”

On the next play, Charest again faced an oncoming blitz but this time completed a 17-yard pass to Jack Ramsey before being flattened.

The play seemed to exemplify the unflappable nature of Charest, one that isn’t often seen in freshmen.

“The funny thing about Jake is, he has the type of confidence that he has,” junior receiver Arrelious Benn said. “He comes to the sideline, smiling after a three-and-out, keeps the momentum going. He’s in his own little world when he’s out there.”

With only minutes remaining in the game, Charest got the first touchdown of his college career when he completed a fade route to Benn in the end zone.

A flag was thrown on the play for pass interference, but it was called on the defensive back so the touchdown was good.

“After they ruled it a touchdown, I was, like ‘Yes, finally I’ve got one,’” he said after the game.

Charest had his touchdown, but McGee, whom Charest replaced on the depth chart, was already impressed. McGee was in Charest’s shoes at one point, replacing an injured Williams in his first game as a redshirt freshman two years ago, and thinks he’s handled the pressure well.

“His whole style of quarterbacking, his ego, his persona, it’s great,” McGee said. “He’s calm in every situation. Everything that’s thrown at him, he’s ready for it; he’s calm, and he does what he has to do to make sure we go down the field.”

Charest, though, knows handling pressure, on and off the field, just comes with playing the position.

“As a quarterback you’ve got to be able to play and prepare under pressure,” he said. “You can’t let it get to you, I guess. You just try and block it out, and ignore it, but some of it gets to you, I guess.

The Illini hope to keep the momentum going and have their sights set on winning their final three games and becoming bowl eligible. Only three months ago he was an afterthought, but Charest could be regarded as a hero if he helps lead the Illini to 6-6.

“That would be nuts,” he said.