Redshirt freshman quarterback Jeff Hecklinski, from Palatine, won’t forget his first collegiate pass.
In fact, he can spend the whole week with a perfect record. He is 1 for 1 at Illinois, that pass a 31-yard scoring play to Theoren Harris in the closing minutes of Saturday’s 42-0 blistering of Missouri.
Hecklinski replaced Johnny Johnson during a drive with Illinois at the Tigers’ 31. After two running plays, Hecklinski connected.
Hitting home: Sophomore quarterback Scott Weaver performed well as the starter, taking charge of a huddle that the Illinois coaches felt Johnny Johnson had mishandled in the opening loss to Washington State.
But Weaver admitted to being unsettled last week by the USAir crash near his hometown of Beaver Falls, Pa. His dad is a pilot for Delta.
“I had to call him at home right away,” Weaver said after learning about the tragedy. “I knew it wasn’t a Delta crash. But it happened 20 minutes from home, and it was a real down for me with my dad being in that business.”
The other side: Johnson isn’t buying the criticism from his coaches that he failed to run the huddle effectively against WSU. “I’m the general when I’m in the huddle,” he said. “I didn’t have trouble running it last year, and I haven’t had trouble running it this year.
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“I think it’s more personnel problems. We have less coaches now under NCAA rules and people are coming in late from the sidelines.”
Landry saw it differently. “If you have played the game of football, you know the quarterback can control a huddle,” he said. “Scott did that today, getting the plays called and getting us in the right formation.”
Illinois’ quarterbacks set up the blocking and Johnson fell apart in that assignment against blitzing WSU.
Early exit: Linebacker Dana Howard was ejected in the fourth quarter after slapping Missouri’s Darryl Major in the head. “Dana said somebody ripped his headgear off first,” coach Lou Tepper said. “But even though he was wronged first, we can’t have that kind of response.”