If you’re in the mood to feel old, here ya go.
Illinois has been hit hard by injuries at the quarterback position, with season-opening starter Wes Lunt dealing with a back issue while Chayce Crouch, last week’s starter in place of Lunt, hurt his shoulder against Rutgers. Neither of those signal-callers are expected to be available for today’s game against Michigan.
So, just who will line up under center against the No. 3 team in the country in the Big House? According to the Champaign News-Gazette, that honor will fall to Jeff George Jr., the son of former Illini great Jeff George.
The 6-3, 205-pound George was a two-star 247Sports.com recruit in 2014 who took a grayshirt that year before enrolling at Illinois in 2015. He took a redshirt his true freshman season, and has not thrown a pass at the collegiate level.
Obviously, this will mark his first career start, and it will come against a team with which his father had some familiarity. From the News-Gazette:George’s dad, who was scheduled to be at today’s game, started twice against Michigan in the late 1980s.
He had 135 yards in a 1988 loss and threw for 253 yards in a 24-10 loss in 1989 at Memorial Stadium.