Writing the Pine

I tend to gravitate towards players that have infinite potential that hasn’t been realized yet.  The beauty of watching a prospect blooming into stardom is awesome, but rooting for player through thick and thin and while watching it happen – that’s one of my favorite things in all of sports.

That is perhaps why I was absolutely fascinated by (“obsessed with” is probably the better phrase here) by Deron Williams’ NBA career.  Although many pro scouts and the Utah Jazz front office were convinced that D-Will’s game physical frame would translate well at the pro level, I’ll be the first to admit that I never imagined D-Will would become a franchise player with a max contract after seeing former (and bigger) Illini stars such as Brian Cook and Frankie Williams fade into oblivion.  Rooting for Deron, following him every Jazz game, throughout his progression – from his learning of Jerry Sloan’s offense and eventually mastering it, to his severely sprained ankle injury early last season – and watching him blossom into a superstar has been one of the most fulfilling fan experiences in my lifetime.

My love for watching raw prospects live out their potential is also perhaps why I enjoy rooting for Martez Wilson more than his fellow blue-chip 2007 classmate Arrelious Benn.  With Benn, we already knew what we were getting – a five-star recruit who was already one of the most polished receivers in the country and a preseason favorite to win the Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors.  He then fulfilled his expectations by winning the award and now has become one of the most prolific receivers in the country and Illini history.  Benn’s success this coming season and his success as a pro will be the single most important thing for Ron Zook’s recruitment since he took over the program.

It’s great to see players such as Benn fulfill and exceed their expectations (see: LeBron James) and I love Rejus as much as the next guy, but rooting for Tez is more exciting for me.  His five-star status as a high school senior was almost entirely based on his potential.  He has an extremely chiseled physique and is as strong and fast as anyone on the team, but he had little experience at linebacker entering college and struggled to grasp the position after playing defensive end for most of his high school career.  He dominated special teams play his freshman year, which led to fans absolutely salivating for his appearance as a starting linebacker.  As a starter in his sophomore season, he was third on the team in tackles (behind All-Big Ten first-teamer Brit Miller, who led the conference in tackles, and NFL first-rounder Vontae Davis), but his inconsistent play was never able to satisfy the expectations that the fans had for him.  Luckily for Tez, he still has at least a full season ahead of him to reach his potential.

Juice Williams is that raw player with tons of potential and unrealistically high expectations that I have waited to see blossom the most and the longest.  He was the single most important building block in the Zook Era and was paramount to Zook’s selling line in the recruiting of Rejus and Tez.  The Chicago Vocational alum had never been exposed to a playbook before and did not know how to watch tape.  What he did have were all the raw tools necessary to become a successful dual-threat quarterback to anchor Zook’s spread offense – speed, cannon arm and mobility.  Each offseason, his overall quarterbacking has improved drastically and there is no reason to think his game won’t be much improved for his final year at Illinois.

This is the year of Juice Williams.  More than half of his linemen are returning, he loses none of his running backs and just one of his receivers from last season.  Juice’s final season will be one of the defining factors when time comes to judge Zook’s performance after his first five years with the program.  After establishing himself as the greatest rushing quarterback in Illinois history, he showed tremendous improvement in his decision-making and accuracy on long passes.  He already owns a handful of Illini offensive records and will further expand his list of accomplishments before he graduates.  He still needs to improve his reading of defenses and controlling his touch on his passes, which should happen this offseason with his work with Quarterbacks Coach Kurt Beathard and new Offensive Coordinator Mike Schultz.  Juice understands that this is his last year to bring his team back to a bowl game and to increase his draft stock for the NFL.

What I love about players like Juice is that they will remain underdogs until their game completely mature and gain national respect as a star.  It makes it all the more exciting once they achieve greatness.  He was overlooked by his own conference, as Ohio State’s Terrelle Pryor took the Big Ten Preseason Offensive Player of the Year honors seemingly strictly based on his potential because Juice is certainly a more polished, complete and accomplished player than Pryor.  Members of the media have repeatedly snubbed him when naming the top players of the conference, even this season!

Juice has become the most polarizing figure of the Fighting Illini since Zook’s arrival.  Some fans wanted back-up Eddie McGee to start over his place when things didn’t go the way they wanted.  They scoffed at his dream of becoming a quarterback at the professional level.  They called for his head every time he threw an interception.  But to many other Illini fans, he is the heart and the soul of team.  He is the X-factor that will determine how far we will go.  He is our beloved forever-underdog.

You can either hate him or love him, but this year, the underdog will be on top.