Illinois Football: Illini lose secondary depth with Cameron Watkins transfer
The Illinois football team lost a member of the secondary on Tuesday morning.
Cameron Watkins took to Twitter to announce that he has decided to transfer out of the Illinois program after he graduates this May. He will become a graduate transfer and will be able to play immediately wherever he ends up.
Watkins joined the Illini via the class of 2015. He was a 6-foot-1, 180-pound cornerback from Pearl Cohn High School in Nashville, Tennessee. He was rated as a two-star recruit who was the No. 2463 player in the class of 2015 and the No. 208 cornerback in the nation. He was also the No. 64 player in the state of Tennessee as well.
The first year in Champaign, Watkins took a redshirt. He then came out during his redshirt freshman season and played in nine games while starting two. He had 21 tackles that season. Watkins then had a solid redshirt sophomore campaign. He had seven starts at cornerback and played in every game for the Illini. He finished the 2017 season with 39 tackles and an interception.
Last year, Watkins had another solid season. He had seven starts at cornerback and played in 10 games for the Illini. He ended the season with 38 tackles. Now he has decided to move on and finish his career with another program. My assumption is that he will land with Vanderbilt. They received another Illini transfer a few years ago who was also Watkins teammate in high school.
Illinois is now looking for someone to replace Watkins. While he did start seven games last season, I didn’t have him starting in 2019. My defensive depth chart had Sydney Brown starting at the nickel position for the Illini. He really started to develop last season. I then had Watkins backing up Brown. So, if this was going to be the depth chart, it would make sense for Watkins to go somewhere else to play.
The Illini should be okay despite Watkins leaving. His departure does hurt depth, but we have some solid players who were young last year. Someone like Delano Ware or Quan Martin should suffice at the nickel role for the Illini. They should be able to step up into a primary backup job.