No. 4 Nathan Scheelhaase
The Juice Williams era was fun, and he was able to get us to a Rose Bowl appearance. The transition out of the Williams era at quarterback and into the future was Nathan Scheelhaase.
Scheelhaase came into the Illinois program in 2010. He hailed from Rockhurst High School in Missouri where he established himself as a talented dual-threat four-star quarterback. He was a great get for Ron Zook, and the future seemed pretty bright for the Illini.
Illinois saw instant success with Scheelhaase at quarterback. In his first two seasons, he threw for 30 touchdowns and 16 interceptions while helping Illinois to back-to-back bowl games. In 2010, Illinois took down Baylor and future Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III in the Texas Bowl. We followed that win up with a victory over UCLA in the Fight Hunger Bowl a year later.
Despite back-to-back bowl appearances, new athletic director Mike Thomas fired Zook and took a different path. This decision, along with some injuries, affected Scheelhaase’s career the rest of the way out.
Even though things didn’t end well at Illinois as far as winning is concerned, Scheelhaase still put up some eye-popping numbers. In his four-year career, he threw for 8,568 yards, 55 touchdowns, and 37 interceptions. He also ran for 2,066 yards and 19 touchdowns.
The 10,634 total yards by Scheelhaase during his career ranks No. 1 all-time in the history of the Illinois football program. He did all of that while still having a 63.0% completion rate.
The numbers alone put Scheelhaase in the top five among the greatest Illinois quarterbacks of all time. He also won two bowl games for the program, which is rare. It was honestly hard not putting him higher, but I think No. 4 on this list is the right spot.