Upon the conclusion of spring practice, Nate Scheelhaase left the 15 sessions as the purported leader for Illinois’ starting quarterback job.
Wednesday afternoon, head coach Ron Zook officially named Scheelhaase as his starter. For now.
“Following spring ball, our coaching staff had some time to review the quarterback situation and felt Nathan proved himself as a leader both on and off the field,” Zook said in a statement released by the school. “He showed the ability to run Coach Petrino’s offense at a high level, and we thought it was important to establish Nathan as a team leader entering summer workouts.”
The redshirt freshman had been in a battle with redshirt sophomore Jacob Charest and freshman Chandler Whitmer throughout most of the spring.
That battle will be resumed at the start of summer camp, although, this time around, Scheelhaase will be the clear-cut leader from the get-go and the other two will have to clearly outplay him to pass him.