CHAMPAIGN - Earlier this week, Illini coach Ron Zook assembled his prized freshman class and tried to prepare them for the start of practice and life at Camp Rantoul.

"I told them athleticism won't be an issue," Zook said. "It's the mental part, the drain, the intensity, learn-ing a new system. You don't have time to recover. Camp is what it's supposed to be. It's hard."

Then he invited the veterans into the room, and Zook asked his starting quarterback to speak on the subject.

"Juice, tell them how easy Camp Rantoul is," Zook said to sophomore Juice Williams.

So Williams told them. "By the third day, I was crying," Williams said, and he wasn't kidding.

College football can be overwhelming for a freshman, and it no doubt is overwhelming for a freshman quarterback. Kurt Kittner, who was Illinois' freshman quarterback in 1998, said he felt like a drowning man caught in a fast current.

"It was crazy," Kittner said of his freshman year. "There's so much to learn. There were times when I had no idea what I was doing."

Williams found out first-hand last year. Knowing Williams represented the key to Illinois' football future, Zook made the decision to slide him into the starting lineup in time for the Big Ten opener against Iowa.

Williams was probably in over his head. But he never backed down, and Zook never stopped believing in Williams' ability to succeed.

And while his completion percentage of 39.5 is far below what is needed to win at this level, his individual stats were a bit skewed due to dropped passes and protection breakdowns by an offense that will need to help him much more.

So on Sunday, an hour or two before boarding a bus for today's Camp Rantoul debut, Williams could look back on that first year and smile. So much hinges on his rocket arm and dancing legs. At least this time, he begins camp with a far greater level of confidence that he can do the job.

"Last year was extremely tough," Williams said. "The guys are older, they know what they are doing, the trash talking is there, the crowd is there and a new playbook is there, too. But you just have to fight through it.

"The coaches brought you in for a reason. They believe in you. You just have to find something inside to pull you through.

"I'm a lot less nervous now. I was scared last year I wouldn't be ready for the (season-opening) Eastern Illinois game. Now I wish I could fast forward and get to Sept. 1 (this season's opener against Missouri). It should be an exciting year."

Williams gained some confidence over the summer while working as a counselor at a camp for high school quarterbacks conducted by NFL brothers Peyton and Eli Manning. The camp, held in Thibodeux, La., allowed Williams a chance to visit with both pro quarterbacks and gave them a chance to critique the Illini QB.

"They talked a lot about the leadership role, about being a captain out there, about being a coach when the coach isn't around. And they watched me work out," Williams said.

"They said I have a very strong arm and pretty good accuracy. They told me to just perfect everything, to watch film and to know where to go with the ball."

Williams, who has one of the strongest arms in college football, takes some of the heat for dropped passes because some of them were 98 mph fastballs when a batting practice fastball was called for.

"He's throwing the ball with a lot more touch now," said Marques Wilkins, one of Williams' wide receivers. "He's throwing a more catchable ball."

Williams has also been cultivating relationships with the new Illini players, and No. 1 on his list is Arrelious Benn, the high school All-American who figures to be one of Williams' go-to weapons on offense.

"He allows me to sleep at night," Williams said of Benn, who graduated high school early and dazzled during spring practice. "We're going to get him out and let him be the athlete he is. He's going to go up and make the tough catches. Having him in there takes stress off my shoulders."

Benn scoffs when someone suggests that Williams throws the ball too hard.

"I love it. He throws the ball perfect to me. His accuracy has gotten better."

Zook says Williams' most significant transformation began the day he realized that being a starting quarterback is not a 9-to-5 job.

"He had to understand that being the quarterback is a way of life, a lifestyle," Zook said. "It's a change he's undergoing, and now he's starting to live that life."

Offensive coordinator Mike Locksley said Williams is putting in the time studying films, working on his technique, working individually with his receivers and being the kind of leader a successful team needs. Just what Peyton Manning talked to him about.

"You don't show up for practice at 3:30, then at 6:30 go back to being Juice Williams, student at Illinois. It's something you do 24 hours a day." said Locksley. "If you want to be the best, you have to put in the time, and that's something he is understanding."

Williams has grown from 218 pounds to 230 and reduced his body fat from six percent to five percent. He's better prepared physically and mentally.

Perhaps best of all, he no longer feels overwhelmed to the point of tears. That's for the new freshmen to deal with.