Illinois Football: Top 10 Illini Quarterbacks of All-Time

The No.1 spot on the list of the top ten greatest quarterbacks can be argued but I think it should go to Nathan Scheelhaase.

Scheelhaase wasn’t the flashiest of quarterbacks but if he had some more offensive talented around him those Illinois teams could have been great.

Illinois Fighting Illini

In 2010, Scheelhaase started for the Illini as a freshman.  He had a pretty good season throwing for 1,825 yards and 17 touchdowns in year one.

Illinois went on to beat Baylor in the Texas Bowl that season 38-14.

The following season Illinois finished with the same record as the year before, 7-6.  They once again made a bowl game and this time they beat UCLA in the Fight Hunger Bowl.

Despite having a 6-6 record heading into the bowl game, new AD Mike Thomas fired Zook and moved onto a new head coach.

This was not a good decision and the following year things compiled with Scheelhaase getting hurt.  He finished his junior season off with 1,361 yards passing and 4 touchdowns.

Scheelhaase improved his senior season.  He threw for 3,272 yards and 21 touchdowns, but Illinois couldn’t get out of the basement.  They finished 4-8 and missed another bowl game.

Scheelhaase’s career was great because he was a solid quarterback and he could run the ball with the best of them.

At the end of his career, Scheelhaase totaled 8,568 yards passing and 2,066 yards on the ground.  He finished his time in Champaign as the Illinois all-time career total offensive yardage leader.

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I think Scheelhaase goes down as the best quarterback in the history of the Illinois football program.