La Salle-Peru sophomore quarterback Marion Persich took a game-day visit to the University of Illinois for the No. 9-ranked Fighting Illini’s 38-0 victory over Western Michigan.

“It was definitely a 10 out of 10,” Persich said about the visit. “Illinois is a really good school. I love all the guys. I love the coaches. I love how they respect me.”

Persich arrived in Champaign around 4:15 p.m. and had a conversation with Pat Ryan, the Illini’s director of Illinois high school relations.

“He asked how my season was going,” Persich said. “He asked about our games, what I’m doing better and what I can do better. He gave me some tips on stuff I can do better and talked about my film.”

Persich went to a gathering with other recruits that had food, mini golf, bags and other activities. The recruits then went down to the field and watched the team warm up before heading to their seats to watch the game.

“It was definitely a fun experience,” said Persich, who previously visited Illinois on April 2. “There’s really levels to the game in college compared to high school. It definitely shows me a lot more stuff I can learn before I get to the next level.”

Persich is scheduled to take a game-day visit to Northwestern on Oct. 4 for the Wildcats’ game against Louisiana-Monroe.

“I visited there and went to their camp, so that should definitely be another fun one,” Persich said.

Persich also was invited to a game-day visit at Michigan State, but nothing has been scheduled yet.

Over the summer, the 6-foot-4, 215-pounder, who has an offer from Temple, went to camps at Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Iowa, Iowa State, Purdue, Minnesota and North Central. He also was invited to camps at Alabama, Michigan State and Indiana.

“It’s definitely going pretty good,” Persich said about the recruiting process. “I’ve talked to a decent amount of coaches. Going on all these visits gives me an extra opportunity for them to get to know me. I’m definitely trying to go to as many as I can and meet as many coaches as I can.”

This season, Persich has completed 30-of-55 passes for 500 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions while running for 340 yards and eight scores on 40 carries.

“I think I’ve been playing pretty well,” Persich said. “In the first game against UT, I had two picks. I think they were throws that should have been thrown away, but I think I’ve been playing pretty well. I’ve been trying to stay in the pocket more than run, but I’ve been running a lot still. My coach is emphasizing to try to stay in the pocket, and even if I am scrambling to look down field as I’m scrambling. That’s helped me a lot.

“Coach is really emphasizing timing. Everything’s really about timing and just getting the ball out quick. He’s been helping a lot.”

The Cavaliers are 1-2 after beating Ottawa 41-24 last week. L-P opens Interstate 8 Conference play Friday at Morris (3-0).

“The first two games, I think both were winnable,” Persich said. “We had a good game against Ottawa, and we’re hopefully going to keep our momentum going into Morris and Rochelle. I think we can beat both of those teams, but it’s going to take a lot of practice and a lot of film. We have to keep working hard.”