Top 10 Illinois football quarterbacks of all time

No. 8 Jason Verduzco

In the early 1990s, Illinois has some successful football teams. We weren’t winning at the highest of levels, but this program was respectable. Jason Verduzco was one of the reasons the Illini were winning games.

Verduzco was a great quarterback for Antioch High School out in California. After having a big high school career, Verduzco decided to come to Illinois and develop his arm. He spent four seasons with the Illini, and he was one of the winningest quarterbacks in recent history.

Illinois made a bowl game in all four years Verduzco was with the program. In his final three seasons, he got to start in those bowl games.

Sadly, under Verduzco, Illinois was 0-3 in postseason appearances. We dropped the Hall of Fame Bowl to Clemson 30-0, the Sun Bowl to UCLA 6-3, and the Holiday Bowl to Hawaii 27-17.

The Illini still managed to win a lot in those three seasons, though. We had a total of 20 victories, and making three straight bowl games is unheard of with this program.

Overall, Verduzco’s numbers were pretty solid too. He finished his Illinois career with 6,974 yards, 40 touchdowns, and 29 interceptions. His 40 touchdowns and 63.1% completion rate rank No. 5 all-time among quarterbacks at Illinois who had at least 200 attempts.

Without a doubt, Verduzco is one of the best quarterbacks to come through the Illinois program. If he had won some of those bowl games, he would have been higher on this list too.