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Coach Bret Bielema's Illinois Fighting Illini are enjoying a bye week this week with their next game scheduled for October 24 against coach Dan Lanning's 3-2 Oregon Ducks. 

The game looks daunting because of the opponent, and because of Illinois starting quarterback Katin Houser's broken hand injury that is expected to keep him out 4-6 weeks, including Oct. 24's game. 

True freshman Michael Clayton from Orlando, Fla. filled for Houser against Michigan State in Week 6 action, completing 6-of-8 passes for 88 yards and leading Illinois to a thrilling 38-37 overtime victory. 

Clayton has been mentored by Houser this season, giving him a leg up as he prepares to start his first game against the Ducks. 

Bielema Details Mentorship Arrangement

Bielema spoke about Clayton and Houser's relationship during which he revealed that they spent time as roommates. He made a suggestion to Clayton that the freshman put into practice, which could help him as he prepares to lead the Illini in his first start. 

"They lived together for about a month, I saw him walking in one day. My office looks out the back of the stadium there, and I saw those guys walking together, and I knew that they had showed up together," Bielema said according to Carson Gourdie of FOX Illinois. 

"I said to Michael, 'Hey, man, like this guy's been through a lot. He's played a lot of football. The more you can absorb from him, and I think he's done that." 

Clayton came to the Fighting Illini as a three-star prospect according to 247Sports.com and will soon have the exciting, yet difficult, task of keeping pace with an Oregon offense capable of putting points on the board in a hurry, especially if Heisman Trophy candidate Dante Moore is healthy. 

Clayton Has a Live Arm

At 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, Clayton has a lot of leverage throwing the football. He got a compliment from Bielema about his arm strength that could foreshadow lots of passes in the next few weeks.

"One of the most dynamic arms just purely as a quarterback that I've recruited and been around," Bielema said of his freshman QB according to The Champaign Room. 

Offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. unleashed Clayton on the Spartans and the result was a close, much-needed Big Ten win in hostile territory. 

"I knew Barry wasn't going to hold back because he knows he got a thrower, a little bit of a gunslinger," Bielema said. 

Bielema and Lunney Jr.'s track record for developing quarterbacks is well known and respected throughout Midwest circles, and Clayton is their next project, thrust into the limelight before either coach thought it would happen. 

The Fighting Illini have the leadership to point Clayton in the right direction, now it's up to the talented freshman to take his opportunity and run with it. 

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