Lovie Smith’s Choice: Play “our starting QB” Brandon Peters or “our other QB” Isaiah Williams

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Whether it is his subconscious talking or not, Lovie Smith is still referring to Brandon Peters by one title: starting quarterback.

Despite refusing to officially name Peters the starting quarterback for the Illini’s next game at Nebraska (11 a.m., FS1), Smith referred to the Michigan transfer in his weekly media conference as the “our starting quarterback” when asked about the Illinois situation behind center.

After Isaiah Williams set the school record for rushing yards by a quarterback in the 23-20 victory over Rutgers Saturday, the questions were destined to come about whether Peters would keep his starting job despite missing the last three games due to testing positive for the coronavirus.

Smith addressed his team’s situation saying he’s happy with either of his three options.

“What I see is we’ve had our starting quarterback that has been out and he’s available this week. That’s a good option. What I also saw is what our other quarterback was able to do this (past) week.” - Illinois head coach Lovie Smith

Those three logical options for the Illini are:

Option A) Start Brandon Peters, who opened the 2020 season as the clear frontrunner, co-captain and the first returning starter at quarterback, as soon he’s cleared for competition.

Option B) Go with Williams and begin the era being eagerly anticipated by Illini fans since the day the St. Louis native signed in 2018 despite his passing accuracy still being in question.

Option C) Play them both, which is what Smith’s staff did unsuccessfully in the 45-7 season-opening loss at Wisconsin.

When Smith was asked to clarify if the media and fans should read into the head coach referring to Peters as the “starting quarterback” and Williams as “our other quarterback” in his description of the situation, Smith again declined to name a starter.

“I’m not going to get into anything like that with word choices or anything like that,” Smith said. “What I said was our starting quarterback, who was Brandon, hasn’t played and he’s back this week. We had Isaiah Williams, while Brandon wasn’t here, who played outstanding ball. That’s what I said. That’s what I’m saying right now. I also said that gives us great options at the quarterback position since we’ve played four quarterbacks this year.”

Illinois (1-3) was led Saturday by a run-first and practically run-only offensive philosophy directed by Williams, a redshirt freshman in his first collegiate start, and his 296 total yards (192 rushing, 104 passing) as the highest-ranked quarterback recruit in Illini history since Isiah "Juice" Williams in 2006 cut through the Rutgers defense with highly effective RPO run reads.

Before the disappointing opener for the entire Illini offense at Wisconsin, Peters was looking to build off a 2019 campaign with the Illini that saw him finish fifth in the Big Ten Conference in passing touchdowns (18), eighth in yards per completion (12.4), ninth in completion percentage (55.3), ninth in passing efficiency (128.6), 10th in passing yards (1,884), and 10th in total offense (190.6). And all of those numbers included missing two games due to concussion-like symptoms and only having a month of training camp with his new Illini teammates.

Peters finished at Wisconsin just 8 of 19 for just 87 yards through the air and 75 yards on the ground for an offense that failed to put up a point. Nearly a week later after that Friday night opener, Peters was informed he was one of two Illini players who tested positive for COVID-19 and according to league protocols, would be inactive for 21 days forcing him to miss games against Purdue, Minnesota and Rutgers.

Smith said Monday morning that Peters will be cleared for practice when the Illini begin weekly preparations for Nebraska (1-2) and the Illini were scheduled to first hit the practice field later that same afternoon.