Illinois Football: Are the Illini in for another graduate transfer quarterback?

The Illinois football roster looks better now than it has in, arguably, over a decade.

The cliché trust the process has ballooned over the last few years with Joel Embiid sending it into the stratosphere. But that cliché has true meaning, though. It isn’t just a saying to delay failure. Trust the process is a saying that some Illinois fans took to heart just a few years ago when Lovie Smith took over the program.

Lovie is starting to build a team that is competitive against just about any program in the nation. That wasn’t the case when he first took over, though. Fans had to trust the process and see what he was building. With some major help from his excellent coaching staff, Lovie has been able to pull in some talent that the previous coaching regime couldn’t even dream of during their time.

Some of the talent I speak of comes at the quarterback position. The quarterback position has been a bugaboo for the Orange and Blue since Nathan Scheelhaase left the program back in 2013. Illinois fans, sadly, had to see a rotation of quarterbacks who were good people off the field but couldn’t get the job done on the field. We witnessed injuries upon injuries at the position. We had a few players transfer out. We even had one quarterback switch to tight end and then retire from the game altogether.

Trusting the process is vital, though. Lovie and the coaching staff have done a good job over the last few classes with bringing in talented quarterbacks who can lead this team to wins.

MJ Rivers is looking to be the lead man right now. I have heard numerous reports where Matt Robinson is pushing him, though. It will be interesting to see which one of these two emerges as the starter. Let’s not forget about Coran Taylor who has great athletic ability as well. But, the big question is; will any of these quarterbacks win the starting job over incoming freshman Isaiah Williams? He is a four-star quarterback who is coming in from the class of 2019. His athletic ability might set him apart from the rest.

With that being said, each and every time a quarterback pops up on the transfer market it seems like rumors start about Illinois being involved. We did land AJ Bush last season who helped this team put wins on the board, but landing him was necessary considering our entire quarterback group was true freshmen. I am not so sure going after a transfer is necessary anymore.

The latest rumor is from Connor O’Gara (@cjogara) of the site Saturday Tradition (@Tradition). He typed out a great article about the five potential power-five landing spots for Penn State graduate transfer quarterback, Tommy Stevens.

O’Gara’s list included Ole Miss, Louisville, NC State and Pittsburgh. But, of course, the No. 1 team on the list was none other than Illinois. The main reasons he said the Illini would be a great landing spot are youth and it’s a make-or-break bowl season. He also pointed out that Stevens just started following offensive coordinator Rod Smith on Twitter. I checked and this is legit. Stevens is actually following a lot of the Illinois coaching staff and they seem to be recent additions.

What should we make of this as Illinois fans, though? There are some pros to getting someone like Stevens. If he gets the starting job, that would give us some flexibility to redshirt Williams. This would enable him to improve through the air and get the speed of the game down.

On the other hand, I would love to see Williams on the field this season. His speed is electric. He would be able to run circles around the Big Ten. I can live with some bad throws, but he has a cannon for an arm too.

If I had to choose what to do right now, I would say let’s ride with what we have on the roster and coming in. I want to see a battle of Williams, Rivers and Robinson for the starting spot. I think Williams will, probably, win out. But, I love that competition and I want to see what we have on the roster right now.

Illinois could end up bringing in Stevens, and I would completely understand that move. I wouldn’t be mad or sad about it either. But, for me, I am ride or die with the quarterbacks we have for 2019.