Squeezing Juice

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- An unsettling thought or two might sneak into his head on New Year’s Day.

At some point during the Rose Bowl game, Juice Williams might glance across the line of scrimmage and spot a linebacker inching closer. Maybe a cornerback threatening to blitz.

The young Illinois quarterback knows the troubles that USC’s defense can cause.

“It’s going to play with your mind,” he said.

That’s not so good for a sophomore who has struggled at times this season, battling inexperience and inconsistency, turnovers and, most of all, self-doubts.

But he has shown a knack for bouncing back, guiding the Fighting Illini to Pasadena for the first time in 24 years with the kind of raw scrambling talent that -- as Ohio State discovered -- can change a game.

The kind of talent that, in recent years, has given the Trojans fits.

“It’s like having an extra running back because, at any moment, he can take off,” USC defensive lineman Sedrick Ellis said. “In the past, we’ve had our problems with guys like that.”

So, while the 13th-ranked Illini have an aggressive defense and running back Rashard Mendenhall, the nation’s eighth-best rusher, Williams could play the wild card against the heavily favored, sixth-ranked Trojans.

“That’s the power of a mobile quarterback,” he said. “You can make things happen.”

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Some guys get hung up on semantics. They don’t like the “running” part of running quarterback.

Williams doesn’t mind.

“That’s how it goes when you can do something with your feet,” he said.

This season, the Illinois coaches have worked to keep him in the pocket a little longer, eyes downfield, running through his progression of receivers. But they aren’t about to deny his natural abilities.

“It’s not necessarily about making him a passer,” offensive coordinator Mike Locksley says. “We’re going to design our offense to do what he does well. He has the ability to make plays with his feet.”

So the Illini like to run the ball with traps, the speed option and zone read. USC has been down this road before (see Vince Young and Texas, circa 2006).

In the zone read, Williams starts in the shotgun and extends the ball toward the running back, who is lined up beside him. In the breadth of a second, the quarterback must read the defense.

Say the running back is headed left to right. If the defensive end on the left side comes straight upfield, Williams leaves the ball with his back, who continues running right. But if the end takes a flatter angle, chasing after the back, the quarterback keeps the ball and runs left into open space.

Williams was successful enough at such trickery to rush for 774 yards and seven touchdowns this season, seventh best among Big Ten Conference runners.

In early October, he and Mendenhall combined for 252 yards in an upset over fifth-ranked Wisconsin.

“They’re strong runners,” Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema said. “The quarterback has good size in addition to being quick and they can make you miss tackles.”

Throwing the ball was another story. Williams passed for 1,498 yards and 13 touchdowns but had 10 interceptions and, in terms of yards per game, did not even rank among the top 10 quarterbacks in the Big Ten.

It wasn’t until late in the season -- 207 passing yards against Minnesota, 220 versus Northwestern -- that he began to show potential through the air.

“The biggest thing we stressed was having confidence,” Locksley said. “Confidence has been an issue for him.”

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Looking back to Williams’ arrival in Champaign last season, it’s no surprise he had a bumpy start.

Among the first blue-chip recruits signed by Coach Ron Zook, Williams chose Illinois over Ohio State, Penn State and Tennessee because he figured to break into the lineup more quickly.

For better or worse, that’s exactly what happened. Offensive lineman Martin O’Donnell recalls: “An 18-year-old kid starting at quarterback in the Big Ten?”

A product of Chicago public schools, the freshman had no experience with a sophisticated passing attack and no understanding of what it takes to succeed at the college level.

Back at Chicago Vocational High, he rarely studied opponents.

“Coming in here, I thought it would be the same,” he said. “I remember times when I watched film once a day, went out for the game on Saturday and was absolutely clueless.”

Clueless as in a 40% completion rate, Illinois limping to a 2-10 record.

“There were a few low points,” he said. “Coach Zook told me that I didn’t smile for two weeks.”

Williams had some personal history with hard times. Born so large at 13 pounds, 8 ounces, he nearly died. His grandmother called him big and juicy, coining a nickname that supplanted his given name, Isiah.

After that first season at Illinois, he spent the off-season doing his football homework. Coaches taught him to watch film, looking for cornerback location and body language that might tip off a blitz.

When this season came around, a more assured Williams figured to soar.

But in the opener against Missouri, he ran a zone read to the outside where defenders hit him from front and back. Swelling above his eye forced him to sit out the second half while backup Eddie McGee nearly led the team to a comeback victory.

In the days that followed, fans and the media called for McGee -- a slighter, quicker player -- to take over. Zook stuck with his starter even as Williams continued to struggle, averaging barely 100 yards passing and throwing three interceptions over the next three weeks.

McGee continued rotating into the lineup for parts of each game. The Illini were winning, but Williams pouted.

“It was the same feeling I had as a freshman,” he said. “I felt like I didn’t really deserve to be a Division I quarterback. I didn’t really think I could do it.”

Finally, he told himself to loosen up.

“It’s easy to say,” he said, “but I really meant it in my heart.”

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The smile. The swagger.

Into November, teammates noticed Williams having more fun and playing better, his completion rate climbing toward 60%. Then came a watershed moment.

On a Saturday night in Columbus, Williams torched No. 1 Ohio State for four touchdown passes before taking over the game with his feet.

Less than seven minutes remained when the Illini, clinging to a lead, faced fourth and inches. As the punt team lined up, the Buckeyes called timeout because they had too many men on the field.

That gave the offensive players time to lobby their quarterback: “Juice, go say something to Coach because if they get the ball back, they’re going to score.”

Williams tapped Zook on the shoulder.

“I told him I could get it,” Williams recalled. “He said, ‘You’d better.’ ”

Williams bulled into a pile of defenders, then wiggled left for the first down.

Three times in the following minutes, he converted on third down, twisting and pushing his way past the marker.

The clock ran out and Illinois had a 28-21 victory. Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel could only muse about “the added challenge of the quarterback being part of the run game.”

The Buckeyes had focused too intently on Mendenhall, leaving Williams free to either throw over the top or take off running in the opposite direction.

Surely the Trojans have studied that game and will try not to make the same mistake on New Year’s Day.

They say Williams isn’t as quick as Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon, but has the strength, at 6 feet 2 and 223 pounds, to break tackles. They must combat his running, in part, by remaining disciplined with the pass rush.

Meanwhile, Williams must try not to worry.

“With everything that people say about USC, it’s not going to do anything but make your mind play tricks,” he said. “It takes you out of your comfort zone.”

Before each snap, the quarterback will check the defensive formation. He’ll look for a possible blitz.

Just as important, he’ll remind himself to have fun.

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david.wharton@latimes.com

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Williams at a glance

A look at Juice Williams’ game-by-game statistics for 2007:

*--* SE PASSING RUSHING AS ON RE CA P Da Illinois result Cmp. Att. Yds. TD Int. Att. Yds. TD te Se Lost to Missouri, 6 9 59 0 0 6 11 0 pt 40-34 . 1 Se Def. Western 12 24 123 0 1 9 16 1 pt Illinois, 21-0 . 8 Se Def. Syracuse, 13 18 97 1 0 12 90 1 pt 41-20 . 15 Se Def. Indiana, 13 28 98 2 2 11 32 0 pt 27-14 . 22 Se Def. Penn State, 11 24 120 1 2 7 37 0 pt 27-20 . 29 Oc Def. Wisconsin, 12 19 121 1 0 14 92 0 t. 31-26 6 Oc Lost to Iowa, 10-6 9 15 98 0 0 10 41 0 t. 13 Oc Lost to Michigan, 8 14 70 1 1 7 17 0 t. 27-17 20 Oc Def. Ball State, 7 15 145 0 2 17 99 2 t. 28-17 27 No Def. Minnesota, 14 21 207 2 1 18 133 1 v. 44-17 3 No Def. Ohio State, 12 22 140 4 0 16 70 0 v. 28-21 10 No Def. 15 23 220 1 1 23 136 2 v. Northwestern, 17 41-22 TO Record: 9-3, 6-2 132 232 1,498 13 10 150 774 7 TA Big Ten LS *--*

Source: ESPN.com