Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini win over Minnesota

5. Illinois needs to do work in the transfer portal

What a victory for the Orange and Blue. Beating Minnesota pulls us to just two games away from becoming bowl-eligible at 4-5. This season seemed lost at times, but now we have rattled off two wins in the past three contests.

With that being said, there is some serious work Illinois needs to do in the offseason. We need to tackle the transfer portal to fill in some serious holes on this team. Minnesota, and other teams we have faced, have really exposed our weaknesses.

The first and most urgent area that needs to be tended to is the Illinois offensive line. I haven’t seen this bad of an offensive line in my time of being an Illinois fan. Even when we have had bad teams, we still have decent offensive linemen protecting the quarterback. That isn’t the case this season.

At this point, I would argue the only offensive lineman safe as a starter for next season is Josh Kreutz. Everyone else is on the chopping block. Starting tackle Julian Pearl is a senior, so he is probably gone. Illinois needs to go into the transfer portal and bolster the offensive line. It is unacceptable what we are watching every weekend.

I think going into the transfer portal and getting a game-wrecker on the defensive line should be a priority too. Jer’Zhan Newton is going to be gone after this season, and we all saw what this defense looks like without him on the field. Illinois needs to address the defensive line via the transfer portal.

I would also like to see the secondary addressed this offseason. Illinois continues to get torched in the secondary. We have some solid pieces. I love Zachary Tobe and a few others, but we need to find a solid shutdown cornerback and maybe a safety in the transfer portal.

This offseason, regardless of how Illinois finishes the 2023 season, is going to be crucial. We have some glaring holes in this team, and they need to be addressed.