CHAMPAIGN — After his first college start Saturday, Jeff George Jr. soon talked to his dad, Illini great Jeff Sr.
The message was simple:
“He’s a proud dad,” George Jr. said. “He’s a dad over everything. Seeing me out there, he had nothing but good things to say.
“We didn’t really get into too much about football. He knows that everything is taken care of here. It’s just, ‘Hey, you did good.’ Keeping me positive.”
George Sr. has been in his son’s shoes. He led the Illini as starting quarterback in 1988 and ’89 and played well enough to be the first pick in the 1990 NFL draft.