Jeff George Jr. installed as Illinois' starting QB

Oct 3, 2017 - 1:47 AM Jeff George Jr. will take over as the starting quarterback for Illinois, coach Lovie Smith announced Monday.

The son of former NFL quarterback Jeff George will take the place of Chayce Crouch on Saturday for a Big Ten matchup at Iowa.

"There's a lot of things we're not doing right," Smith said at his Monday news conference in Champaign. "To take the next step, we do need to make that change."

Illinois (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) is coming off a lackluster 28-6 loss to Nebraska on Saturday and is the lowest-scoring team in the conference with 73 points.

George has appeared in one game this season, replacing Crouch in a 47-23 loss at South Florida on Sept. 15. He finished 12 of 22 for 211 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

A redshirt sophomore, George struggled in four games last season, passing for four TDs and five interceptions while completing 40.4 percent of his throws.

His father, Jeff George Sr., played at Illinois in 1988 and '89 before a 12-year NFL career. He was the NFL's passing-yards leader in 1997 with 3,917.