Saturday’s column from CBS Chicago …
(CBS) The weather is supposed to be warm Saturday in Champaign for the University of Illinois’ spring football game, but probably not as hot as Tim Beckman’s seat will be this fall if his Illini don’t make a bowl game.
If the third-year coach is to be assured of a fourth, it likely will be thanks to the strapping kid wearing the red No. 12 jersey during the 2 p.m. scrimmage at Memorial Stadium.
That would be 6-foot-5, 210-pound Wes Lunt, the strong-armed Oklahoma State transfer who hasn’t yet been formally named the Illini’s starting quarterback for the 2014 season, although from all indications it’s only a matter of time until he is.
On Friday, Champaign News-Gazette columnist Loren Tate wrote about the redshirt sophomore quarterback, “While it’s too early for comparison, there are those already mentioning Lunt in the same sentence with Tony Eason, Jeff George and Kurt Kittner.”
In the pantheon for Illini football, such as it is, that trio would be considered the gold standard of signal-callers. Asking Lunt to live up such billing in his first season playing in Champaign may be asking a lot, but if he does excel, just how much of an instant impact can a high-caliber quarterback even have on a bad team?
Well, based on past history at Illinois, perhaps a lot.
Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …