Illinois football gets on the board with first transfer portal commitment

Since the 2024 regular season concluded, multiple Illinois football players have departed the program.

As of Tuesday morning, the Illini sat at -11 in the transfer portal. 11 players had already transferred out of the program, and we hadn’t had a single player sign up in favor of the Orange and Blue.

That has now changed. On Tuesday, the Illinois football social media account announced that Leon Lowery Jr. has signed on with the program.

Coming out of North Brunswick Township in New Jersey, Lowery was a three-star recruit who was the No. 1448 player in the class of 2020. The defensive end picked Syracuse as his landing spot.

Lowery spent four seasons with the Orange with his best campaign coming in 2023 when he had 46 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and one pass deflection. After the 2023 campaign, he entered the transfer portal and landed with Wisconsin. This past season with the Badgers, Lowery amassed 29 tackles and one sack as a linebacker.

Illinois football filled a need by adding Leon Lowery Jr. from the transfer portal

Does this addition to the Illinois roster blow me away? No, not in the least bit. But that doesn’t mean it won’t help the Illini for the 2025 season.

One of my top five needs for Illinois in the transfer portal was the outside linebacker/edge position. That is what Lowery is going to play next season.

Gabe Jacas is one of the clear-cut starters at this position. He is set to be a preseason All-Big Ten player heading into next season.

Illinois losing Seth Coleman was a blow to this position. But Illinois does have a handful of options who still need to prove something on the field. I like the potential of Jojo Hayden. You also have Alec Bryant, Joe Barna, Demetrius John, and Daniel Brown who could all have a say in snaps in 2025.

Adding someone with Lowery's experience will only help in this position. We needed more depth, and that is exactly what this addition accomplished.