Illinois Football: Instant impact transfer portal tight end offered by Illini

Illinois football is looking to have a powerful offense in 2023, and one way to achieve that goal is to land some key players in the transfer portal.

The Illini already secured commitments from some big-time transfer portal players. Luke Altmyer is the odds-on favorite to start the season’s first game at quarterback for Illinois. He is a four-star quarterback who transferred in from Ole Miss.

Illinois has a lot of solid wide receivers who will help Altmyer get acclimated to the offense. I can’t wait to see Isaiah Williams, Casey Washington, and Pat Bryant, among others, flourish with Altmyer behind center.

One area Illinois has been weak in is at tight end. The tight end position hasn’t been a focus for the past few coaching regimes, but it looks like Bret Bielema might be trying to build out the tight end room.

On Friday, Seydou Traore announced that he had received a scholarship offer from Illinois. He is a transfer portal tight end who would make a huge difference for the program and start from day one.

Landing Seydou Traore out of the transfer portal would be a massive get for the Illinois football program

You might see Traore as a Colorado transfer, but he was there long enough to have a cup of coffee and that is about it.

Coming out of Clearwater Academy International in Florida, Traore was a three-star recruit and the No. 153 wide receiver in the class of 2021. He had some solid mid-major offers and ended up picking Arkansas State as his landing spot.

Traore would flourish with the Red Wolves. He would have 11 catches for 79 yards as a freshman, and he would top that season with 50 catches for 655 yards and four touchdowns in 2022. These numbers earned Traore first-team All-Sun Belt honors this past season.

After the 2022 campaign concluded, Traore hit the transfer portal. The glitz and glamour of the Colorado program caught his eye, and he would end up picking the Buffalos as his transfer landing spot. That was on December 25. On April 30, he re-entered the transfer portal and is looking for a different home.

The fact Illinois came in with an offer to Traore is exciting. We haven’t had a pass-catching tight end like him for as long as I can remember. Just look at the Illinois record book. The most receiving yards by an Illini tight end was 628 yards by Tim Brewster in 1983. Traore’s 2022 campaign would have broken that record.

Illinois hasn’t had a tight end like Traore in a long time. Altmyer needs more talent so we can move the ball down the field. It would be smart to put some resources into this transfer portal option. I think Traore would do wonders to this Illinois offense.