Illinois Football: Prediction placed for Illini to land transfer portal cornerback

The Illinois football coaching staff knows they need to add a lot of talent through the transfer portal.

Bret Bielema didn’t just lose the entire starting defensive line from 2022. The Illini will also have to replace some secondary talent as well.

One of the best defensive backs for the Illini, Taz Nicholson, entered the transfer portal days ago and has already committed to Ole Miss. So, this gives the Illinois coaches more work to help fill the voids left by departing players.

Thankfully, Bielema and the Illinois coaching staff have done a great job in the transfer portal thus far. They have landed two talented defensive linemen, and now the Illini are favored to pull in a big-time defensive back.

Last Sunday, Ohio State cornerback Ryan Turner announced he was entering the transfer portal. A week later, On3.com is projecting that Illinois has the lead to land Turner at 53.3% with Iowa State in second place at 46.7%.

Ryan Turner would be a crucial transfer portal addition for the Illinois football program

The fact that On3.com thinks Illinois is in the lead for Turner is a big deal. Coming out of Florida, Turner was a big-time recruit. He was rated as a four-star recruit who was the No. 341 player in the class of 2022. He was also the No. 37 cornerback in the country and the No. 40 player coming out of Florida.

All of the big-time programs wanted Turner. He ended up picking Ohio State as his landing spot, though. In year one, Turner took a redshirt. This past season, he played in two games for the Buckeyes. In the limited snaps, Pro Football Focus graded Turner relatively high at 72.0.

Adding a player like Turner would be crucial to the Illinois defense. Without any departures, the Illini secondary struggled greatly in 2023. We couldn’t stop much in the passing game. Illinois gave up 228.1 yards per game through the air, which ranked No. 61 in the country. What was most frustrating was the fact opponents were converting 44.0% of their third downs, which ranked No. 109 in the nation.

On top of an already below-average secondary, Illinois has lost Nicholson to the transfer portal. Nicario Harper and Clayton Bush were both seniors too. That is a lot of talent to replace.

I love what Illinois has in Zachary Tobe. I think he is going to be a first-team All-Big Ten player in the next couple of years. There is also a ton of potential in Miles Scott and Xavier Scott. But let’s not get things misconstrued. Illinois needs more talent in the secondary.

I see Turner coming into the program and starting from day one. He was behind some great talent at Ohio State, so Illinois should give him the opportunity to blossom as a player. Landing Turner would be huge for the Orange and Blue.