At this time last year — June 30 — the Block I had sold about 600 student season tickets in the north end zone of Memorial Stadium.

As of two weeks ago, that number had topped 1,000.

At last year’s Quarterback Club golf outing, 84 people played the 18-hole scramble at the Orange and Blue Course.

At this month’s outing, 128 hit the links.

Across the board, all things Illini football — from tickets to T-shirts, marketing efforts to media requests — are trending upward.

Call it the Lovie Smith Effect.

Since the former Chicago Bears coach was announced as the new man in charge of Illinois football, the buzz surrounding the program has remained constant, and it will only continue to grow as Smith gets closer to coaching his first game, five weeks from now against Murray State.

Champaign’s two Gameday Spirit stores have had trouble keeping their Lovie Smith T-shirts in stock. There are two versions: one, a campaign-like shirt celebrating Smith and new Athletic Director Josh Whitman that reads “Lovie/Whitman ‘16”; the other, an orange T-shirt with “Lovie” in blue letters across the front.

“Nothing we have is touching the numbers of that orange shirt,” said Cory Shumard, retail manager at Gameday Spirit, which sells official UI apparel.

Retail folks use the term “turn” to describe an item that sells out completely, then sells out again when it’s restocked. Gameday Spirit has gone through “seven or eight” turns of the orange Lovie T.

“I don’t know the exact numbers, but it’s literally in the thousands of shirts sold,” Shumard said.

Since the Lovie-themed apparel was introduced shortly after his hiring in March, Gameday Spirit has reaped the benefits — big-time.

“We’ve proceeded to have the best April and May we’ve had in at least 10 years,” Shumard said.

Outside the Gameday locations is a yard sign similar to the ones you see around town advocating for a particular political candidate. With the same design as the “Lovie/Whitman ‘16” T-shirt, Gameday has cardboard signs on display that are not for sale.

That hasn’t stopped a few people around town from securing their own.

“We’ve had a couple stolen from each location,” Shumard said. “We’re not allowed to sell those, but I’ll take it as a compliment of the popularity of those two gentlemen.”

From a marketing perspective, UI officials have been doing all they can to promote the Illini brand by utilizing the popularity of their new coach.

In April, a large billboard of Smith decked out in Illinois gear was erected in the heart of the Loop in downtown Chicago. It was well-received.

“Obviously, with the name brand that Coach has, he’s definitely part of the plan from a creative standpoint and a marketing standpoint,” said UI Associate AD Brad Wurthman, the department’s point person for marketing and fan development.

There are no specific plans yet for what comes next, but get ready to see a whole lot of Lovie as the season approaches.

“You’re going to see him in a TV spot, a print ad, a digital ad,” Wurthman vowed. “He will very much be included in the content we provide.”

When it comes to attendance at Memorial Stadium, there’s nowhere to go but up.

Officially, Illinois ranked 12th in the 14-school Big Ten in home attendance last season, averaging 41,342 fans. That’s paid attendance, however.

Only once did more than 40,000 fans actually pass through the turnstiles in 2015, according to official figures obtained by The News-Gazette via open records request. Memorial Stadium was more than half-empty for four of six games in Champaign last fall.

UI Associate AD Jason Heggemeyer says season ticket sales are up about 4,000 from last year. That group includes 1,000 people who’d never been UI football season-ticket holders at any time in the past.

“To have 1,000 new customers is big for us and something we want to build on for sure,” Heggemeyer said.

Heggemeyer said Illinois is trending toward having 30,000 season tickets sold for this season.

Student interest has picked up, too. The Block I has already eclipsed 1,000 tickets sold, a number it didn’t hit last year until a big membership drive once students arrived.

“We get most of our push in the first couple of weeks of school, and if this keeps up, we’re looking to have a really good season, probably the best we’ve had in four or five years,” said Sam LeRoy, Block I chairman.

The UI Quarterback Club won’t know its membership numbers until closer to the season, when there’s generally a rush to join. But if the increased participation in its recent golf outing is any indication, the Friday luncheons will be significantly better-attended than recent years.

“It is the Lovie effect. A lot of people wanted to come and see him and hear him speak,” said past Quarterback Club President Todd Lindsey.

Kent Brown, Illinois’ associate AD for media relations, said requests from national and local outlets have reached heights not seen around here in a while.

The last time Illinois received this much attention from the national media was in 2008, after Ron Zook led the Illini to the Rose Bowl. Some national outlets have requested behind-the-scenes access to Smith and his program.

“That’s just not his M.O.,” Brown said. “He’s a very private guy and what happens inside his staff room and inside his team meeting room will generally stay there. I don’t think he looks at that as a shared space.”