Today’s column from CBS Chicago …
(CBS) Since midway through Ron Zook’s final season, the University of Illinois football team has enjoyed about as much good news as it’s enjoyed victories.
In other words, next to none.
But on Monday, the moribund Illini program got its biggest win in quite some time when rocket-armed Oklahoma State quarterback Wes Lunt announced that he was transferring from Stillwater to Champaign, located just 90 minutes from where he grew up as a two-time state football champ in Rochester, Ill.
“I’ve always just loved Illinois. I grew up a huge fan,” Lunt told reporters on Monday, saying all the right things about the college that he didn’t pick out of high school – even if they weren’t really true. “I like the coaches – great enthusiasm, very passionate. I could see that when they were recruiting me.”
Like Zook before him, current Illini coach Tim Beckman doesn’t lack in the enthusiasm and passion departments. Rather, like Zook, it’s the coaching department where Beckman fell short during last season’s disastrous 2-10 campaign.
With Lunt now officially an Illini, however, Beckman has in his program a quarterback who’s probably Illinois’ best – on paper, at least – since former pro Kurt Kittner. But the looming question hanging above Lunt’s transfer is will Beckman ever get a chance to actually coach the QB in a real game?
Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …