Iowa gets Jeff George Jr. as Illinois plays QB musical chairs again

IOWA CITY — Illinois has a new quarterback. Well, the Illini have a different quarterback.

Jeff George Jr. will start his fifth game for Illinois on Saturday at Iowa coming off playing the second half against South Florida, so this isn't new for him. But he will be the third different starting quarterback under head coach Lovie Smith in his 16 games leading the program.

He signals a drastic shift from the run-first style of Chayce Crouch to the gun-slinging style that made his dad a polarizing quarterback in the 1990s at Purdue and Illinois and then with seven different NFL teams over 11 years.

Smith made the switch official Monday, moving Crouch from QB1 to QB3, sliding Cam Thomas into the No. 2 role. Through four games, Crouch had thrown for 427 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions, while rushing for 93 yards in 46 carries — as a guy whose calling card was his running ability.

Smith compared evaluating the quarterback position to marriage. He said, 'It's like in a marriage. What makes you ask your wife? What makes you want to get married? You have a good feeling on what you should do. I look at it a lot like that.'

'I believe in some positions you try to stay the course as much as you possibly can,' Smith said Monday. 'But, you have to kind of look at what's going on in film. There's a lot of things we're not doing right, but we feel like that in order to take that next step we need to make a change.'

George came in against South Florida and went 12 for 22 for 211 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. The Illini lost, 47-23, but he did enough to earn the job, Smith said.

Smith said last week Illinois isn't a passing team. He wanted their identity to be run-first. With a young squad at pretty much every position, it makes sense Smith would have that mentality to be able to — at least attempt at — establish a flow to the offense with a phase that leads to fewer turnovers.

While the switch from Crouch to George seems to fly in the face of such a notion, Smith insisted Monday Illinois still is run-first in its mentality.

'We're not a passing team, but we need to be able to pass the ball,' Smith said. 'We want to have balance with what we do. We want to be able to run the ball, but the forward pass is a part of it. We need to be able to do that.'

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said in his Tuesday news conference his staff is preparing like they'll see more than one quarterback, and Smith's language both Monday at his presser and Tuesday on the Big Ten coaches teleconference left the door wide open for just that.

Several times, Smith used the word 'starting rotation,' and said the situation should be fluid.

'It's based on what happens; production,' Smith said. 'You have to have an open mind with that being fluid.'

It's George's turn to see if he can be productive, it appears.

In his four games last year, George had 40.4 percent completion, threw for 470 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions — four of those picks in 16 pass attempts at Wisconsin. He also finished with minus-50 rushing yards after taking multiple sacks against Minnesota.

While that might not scream production either, George did lead the Illini past Michigan State. It was that performance Smith mentioned specifically.

George gets compared to his dad frequently — Jeff George Sr.'s rocket arm, mullet and mustache were oft-discussed during his stops in Indianapolis, Atlanta and Minnesota, among others — and Smith actually coached his dad for a short time during the 2004 season in Chicago. George will have to be more what his dad was at Purdue and Illinois than what he was in the NFL if the Illini can get the most out of his time as the starter now — and if Illinois is going to leave Kinnick Stadium with an upset.

'I know he's pumped up about this opportunity,' Smith said. 'Last year, there weren't a whole lot of good things that happened with our football team, but getting that big win against Michigan State was, and of course Jeff led us to that.

'At every position at the top of the depth chart, it's pretty simple. Production, do what you're supposed to do and you're locked in. Where our program is at and the amount of young players we're playing, we find something every week and we listen to what players tell us on the field.'

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com