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Top 5 Illinois football transfer quarterbacks of all time

Illinois football hasn't had tremendous quarterback success in the history of the program, but the transfer portal has been good to us.

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - NOVEMBER 05: Tommy DeVito #3 of the Illinois Fighting Illini catches the hiked ball during the first half against the Michigan State Spartans at Memorial Stadium on November 5, 2022 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - NOVEMBER 05: Tommy DeVito #3 of the Illinois Fighting Illini catches the hiked ball during the first half against the Michigan State Spartans at Memorial Stadium on November 5, 2022 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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No. 2 Tommy DeVito

A familiar name that all Illinois football fans know and love is Tommy DeVito. He was a big transfer commitment for Bret Bielema and one that would set Illinois up for tremendous success.

DeVito was a four-star recruit coming out of Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey. The kid would pick Syracuse as his first landing spot, and he would see some success with the Orange. After four years of injuries and depth chart uncertainty, DeVito would decide to enter the transfer portal.

Illinois, in need of a quarterback after Brandon Peters graduated, came calling. DeVito would answer, and this ended up being a great marriage.

DeVito would come in and win the starting job from day one. He would end up throwing for 2,650 yards, 15 touchdowns, and four interceptions. This was one of the best seasons from an Illinois quarterback in over a decade.

Illinois would go on to win eight games in 2022, which was the most victories for the program since the 2007 campaign. We also made a bowl game under DeVito’s leadership.

DeVito completed 69.6% of his passes, which set an Illinois single-season record. His completion percentage is over 8% higher than the second-best Illinois transfer quarterback. DeVito also had the best touchdown-to-interception ratio of 3.75. He is second on the list in winning percentage at 61.5% as well.

There really aren’t any downfalls to DeVito’s time at Illinois. If we had won the bowl game over Mississippi State, then DeVito would have been No. 1 on this list.

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