CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois football closed the spring with its annual Orange and Blue Spring Game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The scrimmage included the offense donning all-blue jerseys along with all-orange attire for the quarterbacks, while the defense dressed all in white.
Luke Altmyer, who played only in the first half, went 10-for-14 with 116 yards and two touchdowns. Playing in the first three quarters of action, Donovan Leary finished with 207 yards through the air and two passing scores while completing 13 of his 23 pass attempts. Five different quarterbacks saw action in the contest.
Aidan Laughery totaled 70 yards on the ground across his 11 carries, while he also tacked on a receiving score.
Malik Elzy recorded a game-high six catches for 85 yards, and he hauled in a 23-yard touchdown reception. Alexander Capka-Jones accumulated a game-high 95 yards and a touchdown on four receptions, while Kenari Wilcher amassed four catches for 38 yards. Collin Dixon’s lone reception was a 33-yard score.
Defensively, Saboor Karriem and Jojo Hayden each had a team-high seven tackles, while Karriem also made a game-most 2.5 tackles for loss. Kaleb Patterson had two pass breakups, and Elijah Mc-Cantos was credited with the game’s lone interception.
Josh McCray found the end zone in the first quarter for the first score of the day before Elzy hauled in a 23-yard touchdown pass from Altmyer. Laughery spun past a defender before breaking a tackle for a 26-yard pickup – the largest play of the opening frame – earlier in that second scoring drive. The defense forced three three-and-outs across the first 15 minutes of action.
After the Illini defense held the offense out of the end zone for nearly 11 minutes to open the second quarter, Laughery secured his first touchdown of the afternoon on an 18-yard completion from Altmyer. The first three drives of the second frame featured two three-and-outs and a stop on fourth-and-1 before the offense pieced together a 12-play, 59-yard drive over the span of six minutes to find the end zone.
On the next drive, with Leary under center, the offense needed only two plays to get back…
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