Brandon Peters’ status in question for revenge game against Michigan

Brandon Peters transferred to Illinois from Michigan this past offseason and the Oct. 12 showdown between the two teams has been circled on the calendar for awhile. However, the Illini quarterback suffered an upper body injury against Minnesota and his status for the weekend may be up int he air.

“It’s always concerning when a player doesn’t finish a game — so you start with that,” head coach Lovie Smith told reporters on Monday, via 247Sports. “They’re getting better. We’re hopeful. We’ll need everyone to be able to beat a team like Michigan.”

Smith plans to have two quarterbacks ready to go for Saturday’s game and with Peters and Isaiah Williams banged up, who knows who may take the first team snaps in practice this week.

“We better have two quarterbacks ready because you never know what’s going to happen,” Smith said. “We have a group of five in my room. Depending on who can get reps and who won’t, we’ll divvy it up then. Brandon and Isaiah both were on the injury list, I guess, so you got Matt Robinson, Coran Taylor and Cam Miller. If the other guys can’t go, we’ll get them reps and get them ready to go. If the other guys are healthy, we’ll definitely get them reps and get them up to speed.”

Still, Smith leaves open the possibility that Peters will get a crack at revenge this weekend if he is ready to go.

“(Peters) knew that Michigan was on the schedule when he decided to come here,” Smith said. “Nothing has changed. It’s Michigan week now, so I know he’s pumped up and of course hoping he’ll be ready to go this week. Hopefully, that’ll be the case.”

Peters started four games at Michigan in 2017, but only threw two passes last season at Michigan after being passed over for Dylan McCaffrey as the No. 2 quarterback. This season for Illinois, he has thrown for 797 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions. He was Jim Harbaugh’s first quarterback signee at Michigan and was a four-star prospect in the 2016 class.