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| Jon Beutjer stopped by Monday night at 9 to answer fans' questions. |
The Illini season is just around the corner, but you got the inside scoop on training camp and more as Illinois senior quarterback Jon Beutjer stopped by for a live chat.
Be sure to check back each night during the week as a different Illini student-athlete will join fans for a live chat!
Go Illini!
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| Moderator: Hello everyone. Sorry that we're running a few minutes late. The team just got done eating dinner and Jon Beutjer is on his way right now so we should get started any minute. |
| Moderator: OK, Jon just got here so we're ready to get started with the first question... |
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| Brian (Peoria): How much game film do you watch? |
| Jon Beutjer: As a team, we watch about 2 and 1/2 hours a day. But then the quarterbacks get together as a group after dinner and usually watch 2 to 2 and 1/2 hours. So during the season, it's easily over 4 hours a day. Mondays through Thursdays are our big nights for film. |
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| AK (Crystal Lake, IL): John,
First of all, good luck and best wishes for the upcoming season. I am a 1997 grad of UIUC and follow U of I football very closely.
Does being a senior (6th year) affect your game mentally? Do you feel any kind of extra pressure to perform better and carry the team as a senior? Who have you been trowing the most during the practice? |
| Jon Beutjer: I don't feel extra pressure as a senior, I just feel like I need to do a good job of leading this team and setting a good example for the younger players. As for your question about who I've been throwing to the most, Kornfeld, Kendrick, Lonnie have been my three main guys so far, but in Coach Turner's system, everybody has a chance to get the ball, so we spread it out and at the end of the day it's pretty even among the receivers. |
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| Moose, (Wheaton, IL): John, You have come a long way since fetching balls for our high school team! What areas of the offense still have question marks and do you have the players to step up at those positions to be competitive this year in the big 10? Good Luck, Go Illini! Moose |
| Jon Beutjer: What's up Moose, it's good to hear from you. There's always room for improvement at every position, and that's what we're trying to do out here at camp, get better every day, be coachable and learn from our mistakes. I feel like we've got great talent at every position, it's just a matter of us running Coach Turner's system and executing it. If we do that, we'll be successful. |
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| Brian (Peoria): How has Kurt Kittner helped? |
| Jon Beutjer: We watched a lot of film this summer together, so that helped. Also, on the field, he taught us a lot of drills to use in the summer that will help us with scrambling, how to get rid of the ball quicker, reading defenses and certain coverages. |
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| CHICAGO: HOW ARE YOU JON? I WANT TO KNOW HOW FRESHMAN BRYANT CRAEMER FROM SIMEON HIGH SCHOOL ADJUSTING TO THE COLLEGE GAME? |
| Jon Beutjer: Bryant is very talented and has a lot of potential. He makes some rookie mistakes, like all rookies do this early. But he comes out with a great attitude every day and wants to learn. He's gotten some reps with the 1s which is impressive for a true freshman. He's got the talent, it's just a matter of him learning the offense and getting more reps. |
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| IlliniDan (Madison): What area of your game have you worked hardest on this summer and what area do you still need to improve? Also, which of the freshmen on offense have looked the best so far this summer and in camp? Thanks. |
| Jon Beutjer: This summer I worked hardest on film study, reading defenses, working timing with the receivers and making smarter decisions. I'm continuing to work on all those areas and being smart with the football. Sometimes throwing the ball away can be the best pass you can make, so I'm learning to take better care of the football. As for the freshman, Bryant (Creamer) has looked really good so far, and so has Alex Stroud another receiver. But I'm very excited about all our freshmen. In time, they'll all make a big impact here. |
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| Steve (Wheaton): Hi Jon, great to have you back for another season. Compared to the same point in time last year, how is the offensive line this year? Best wishes from your home town fans. |
| Jon Beutjer: First of all, thanks to all the great support all my fans back in Wheaton give me! I feel like our O-Line had a great offseason, a great summer. They've gotten bigger, have watched a lot of tape. We all believe in them, and have no question that they're going to get the job done. Duke (Preston), Bucky (Babcock) and Bryan (Koch) have been great senior leaders and not only that, they have really improved their game. It helps to have a lot of experience there with four returning starters on the offensive line. |
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| Z (Decatur, IL): Hey, Jon! How's your back now? Any lingering effects from your disc injury last season? Good luck and GO ILLINI! |
| Jon Beutjer: No effects, my back is 100 percent. The doctor did a great job with the surgery and the trainers have done a great job with my rehab. It was a long recovery rate, it took me about seven months before I really started to feel good. But I definitely feel a thousand times better than I did before I had the surgery. I feel like my normal self again. |
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| Alex (chicago): Jon, since this is your final season on the squad, what do you personally hope to accomplish? |
| Jon Beutjer: Just win. It's a team game, football is the biggest team game there is. Our team wants to do nothing but win and get to a bowl game. I have no personal goals other than winning. Whatever it takes to do to win and everything else will fall into place. |
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| The Mayor, Champaign: Jon-
What are the keys to success this season?
Over and out - Mayor |
| Jon Beutjer: I think it comes down to blocking and tackling. It may sound simple, but if we block people on offense and tackle on defense we'll win games. Also, we've got to win the turnover battle this year in games. We've got to protect the ball and not turn it over, and on defense we've got to create turnovers. With Coach Mallory being the new defensive coordinator, he brings a lot of enthusiasm and energy to that side of the ball and I think we're going to be a lot better this year on D. I can tell you as a quarterback that it's a lot harder to complete passes against the defense in practice this year than it was last year. I think Coach Mallory's enthusiasm is contagious and he has the defense playing with so much energy, and that's exciting to see. |
| Moderator: OK, we have time for one more question. |
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| AK (Crystal Lake, IL): Who do you admire the most as a QB? How have other QBs on the team have challenged you and have helped your game? |
| Jon Beutjer: I'd have to say my favorite quarterback would be Joe Montana or John Elway because of their leadership skills and the way they performed under pressure and how they reacted to adversity during games. And most importantly how they led their teams to championships and set good examples for kids. You never heard about off the field issues with them. For your second question, you're always competing out there and we've got a great group of QBs on this team. We're all out their competing with each other, which is making us all better. I'm confident in them and more importantly I know Coach Turner has confidence in them too. |
| Jon Beutjer: I'd like to say thanks to all of you for your support during my time at Illinois. I love being an Illini and am looking forward to my senior season. Keep coming out, having fans in the stands is really important to us winning. Go Illini! |
| Moderator: Thank you all for participating. We had a ton of questions for Jon and he said that he wished he had time to answer them all. Be sure to come back tomorrow night when we'll have senior wide receiver Mark Kornfeld in the chat room. Good night! |
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