Ron Zook's Last Stand: Illinois Fighting Illini Season Preview

Ron Zook came to Illinois offering hope for a football program that had been suffering through a few rough seasons.  Zook came in, grabbed top recruiting classes, and took the Fighting Illini to the Rose Bowl in his third season.

That has been his main problem at Illinois and as a head coach.  There is no question that Zook can recruit, but he does not seem to be able coach and utilize the talent on his roster.

Now three years removed from that Rose Bowl, Zook finds himself on the hot seat with the 2010 football season being a make-or-break season for him.  If he wants to keep his job, the Illini must be competitive in 2010.

This offseason, Zook changed his staff up a little bit, hiring a new defensive coordinator (Vic Koenning), offensive coordinator (Paul Petrino), and quarterbacks coach (Jeff Brohm).

The Fighting Illini kick off the season today against Missouri, which features a quarterback with Heisman potential.

Illinois enters the season with low expectations, mostly due to the number of question marks that this team has.

Despite being the second-best rushing offense in the Big Ten last season, the Illini defense was awful.  It was second-to-last in pass defense and towards the bottom of the standings in rush defense as well.

If the Illini want to stop Missouri and be successful this season, it will need to make sure that the players on the defensive side of the ball have their heads in the game.

To make matters worse, the Illini lost two starters before the season even started.  Supo Sanni, the starting safety, ruptured his Achilles tendon and sophomore phenom cornerback Terry Hawthorne suffered a stress fracture in his ankle.

The only positive is that Illinois hopes to get a full season out of junior linebacker Martez Wilson, who was lost for the season last year in the opening game against Missouri.

On the offensive side of the ball, Illinois returns three starters on the offensive line and running back Mikel LeShoure.  Those players enabled the Illini to finish as the second-best rushing offense in the Big Ten in 2009.

The Juice Williams era is over, which paves the way for the main question mark to be at quarterback.  Redshirt freshmen Nathan Scheelhaase is getting the nod as the starting quarterback for Illinois.  Scheelhaase is a former Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year and was one of the better quarterback recruits coming out of high school.

Despite his inexperience, new quarterbacks coach Jeff Brohm should be able to mentor Scheelhaase and have a solid season.

The Illini do not have high expectations for the 2010 season, but if Ron Zook is able to coach his talent, a record of 5-7 or 6-6 is a reasonable goal to have.  If the Illini falter and play like they did last year, Ron Zook’s tenure in Champaign will be done.