Even before the regular season concluded, I thought the Illinois football team needed to go out and get offensive line help in the offseason.
The Illini had a hard time protecting Luke Altmyer at times in 2024. The best offensive linemen we had are departing the program as well.
JC Davis, a third-team All-Big Ten offensive lineman, is heading to the NFL. Along with Davis, Zy Crisler, Hunter Whitenack, and Kevin Wigenton II are all departing as well.
While the departures are plentiful, Bret Bielema is going out and attempting to land more talent and potentially hit the upgrade button on the offensive line.
On Monday, Miles McVay took to social media to announce that he was entering the transfer portal. Just days later, Matt Zenitz of 247Sports reports that McVay is slated to take an official visit to Illinois on Friday.
Alabama offensive tackle transfer Miles McVay (@McVayMiles) is set to visit Illinois tomorrow, his agents @callmeagentdwil and @FCProspects_ tell @chris_hummer and me for @CBSSports/@247Sports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 12, 2024
The 6-foot-6, 340-pound McVay was a Class of 2023 top-200 overall recruit.… pic.twitter.com/zegruGIKGX
This is a massive official visit for the future of the Illini program. The 6-foot-6, 358-pound offensive tackle was a four-star recruit who was the No. 196 player in the class of 2023. He committed to Alabama and saw limited action.
In 2024, McVay only saw 94 snaps on the offensive line. That number would surely increase with Illinois.
Full resources need to be put into the Illinois football team bringing Miles McVay back home
As of right now, the Illinois offensive line is a huge worry for 2025. We don’t just need bodies up front, but we need some good talent to protect Altmyer. He is poised for a great year, but he won’t be able to do that without protection.
Illinois needs to dump whatever resources we have into landing McVay. From day one, he would start at offensive tackle and be instantly the best option we have on the offensive line.
It would be cool to bring McVay back to the state of Illinois too. The kid was a star with East St. Louis High School. He would be able to play in front of friends and family. This is a transfer portal recruitment Illinois needs to win.