Top 5 Illinois football transfer quarterbacks of all time

No. 4 Dave Wilson

Illinois could have had something special with Dave Wilson in the early 1980s. But his recruitment and participation at Illinois got the program in some trouble.

Wilson would start his college career on the West Coast. He suited up for Fullerton Junior College where, according to multiple reports, he developed a reputation of having a strong arm. This piqued the interest of Illinois head coach, Mike White. White, who was hired before the 1980 season, came from California where he was the head coach of the Golden Bears for six seasons.

After his stop at Fullerton JC, Wilson would make his way to Champaign. There was an issue with his transcripts, though. In 1977, on the first play of Wilson’s career, he broke his arm. The Big Ten said that Wilson didn’t have the credits to be considered a senior, so he wasn’t eligible. Wilson said he was only a junior because he took a redshirt in 1977.

It ended up going to the Illinois Supreme Court, where they would rule in favor of Wilson. He would get to play.

In his lone season with the Illini, Wilson would go bananas. He threw for 3,154 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. He would have six 300-yard passing games and three 400-yard passing games that season, which are still both school records to the day.

The biggest issue, and the reason I didn’t have Wilson higher on this list, is the fact he was only 3-7-1 in 1980. Illinois started 3-2-1 but would then lose the final five games. Winning matters, and Wilson’s 27.3% winning percentage is the second-lowest among all of the transfer quarterbacks on this list.