Illinois Football: It is time for the Illini to transition to Isaiah Williams

It isn’t very often a top-tier quarterback comes to play for the Illinois football team but, when it happens, we need to use him.

I am not going to lie, I was pumped when Brandon Peters decided to transfer to Illinois. He was a somewhat experienced quarterback who was ranked as one of the best players in his class at the time. But we have seen what Peters can do when healthy. He isn’t healthy anymore. We have seen what Matt Robinson can do on the field as well. While I like them both, I think it is time for Isaiah Williams to come off the bench and give this team a shot in the arm.

Supposedly, Peters and Robinson have better arms than Williams. Even if they do, the arm talent gap can’t be very big. Over the last two games, the Illinois quarterbacks have thrown for a combined 29-of-63 for 235 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. That is a 46-percent completion rate. My main argument for starting Williams is; why not? The other Illinois quarterbacks aren’t putting us in a position to win.

Williams would be wildly inaccurate at times. The kid wasn’t terribly accurate at the high school level. He is also a freshman who won’t know the playbook fully. But when you continue doing the same thing over and over again and keep getting below-average quarterback play, then you need to play for the future. We need to see what Williams can bring to the team.

I also believe Williams would fit well with Rod Smith’s offense. Smith did a great job getting this Illinois offense running well last season under AJ Bush’s leadership. I think we need to have Williams in the starting role and mimic what we did with Bush. The running ability that Williams brings to the table would surpass anything both Peters and Robinson can bring with their arm.

The one argument against bringing Williams into the fold is burning his redshirt. My response to that is; the best experience is playing experience. This kid isn’t going to improve by just sitting on the bench for a couple of years. He is going to improve by getting thrown out there and learning from his mistakes.

I am willing to take the bad from Williams because I know there will be good. I know he is going to throw interceptions at crucial times and make freshmen mistakes. But I also know he is going to dazzle with his feet and sometimes thrown 60-yard bombs to our wide receivers. Those are two things we can’t get with what we have behind center right now.