Illinois football loses quarterback to the transfer portal

While the season is far from over, the Illinois football team has lost some players to the transfer portal.

Now that the regular season has concluded, chaos in college football ensues. The transfer portal essentially opens, and the Illini are starting to feel the wrath a bit.

No one big has transferred thus far, but there are little drips here and there. The first to announce he was transferring was tight end Nate Guinn. Defensive lineman Enyce Sledge and cornerback Chase Canada soon followed.

For me, those three departures weren’t big. None of them had a huge impact on the program in 2024, and Illinois will be just fine without them on the team in 2025.

On Saturday, a slightly bigger departure was announced. Tom Loy of 247Sports took to social media to announce that Illinois is losing quarterback Cal Swanson to the transfer portal.

Swanson was a good addition to the Illinois football team back in 2023. He was a top 1000 recruit, ranked as the No. 855 player in his recruiting class.

As a freshman in 2023, Swanson took a redshirt and didn’t play in a game. This season, he was a backup for the Illini, but he was deep on the depth chart. Luke Altmyer was the starter with Donovan Leary and Kirkland Michaux both taking snaps ahead of Swanson.

Losing Cal Swanson is sad, but the Illinois football quarterback room is stockpiled with talent

Swanson had potential for the Illini. I think he was a pretty underrated recruit coming out of Oklahoma, but Illinois, for once in my lifetime, has a pretty talented and deep quarterback room.

Altmyer is just a junior this season, so he is going to be back for his third year as the starter in 2025. So, that is another year of the backups riding the pine before the starting job opens up.

Behind Altmyer is some interesting competition. There is a chance that Illinois isn’t done with the transfer portal as far as departures go. Waiting in the wings right now is Leary, Michaux, and Trey Petty.

Leary seems like the next in line, but who knows what happens in the coming weeks. Leary is finishing up his third season in Champaign and may want to branch out and start somewhere in 2025. With zero knowledge of the situation, it wouldn’t shock me to see him depart the program.

I think there is a strong chance Petty is the backup to Altmyer in 2025 unless Bret Bielema goes out and gets a transfer portal quarterback. But Petty was a great addition to the program last year, and he was the Mississippi 7A Mr. Football in 2023. This kid has a ton of talent.

Illinois also has top-800 recruits Carson Boyd and Jershaun Newton coming in to play quarterback. My guess is that Newton eventually moves positions, as he is a versatile athlete and the brother of former Illini great Jer’Zhan Newton.

Boyd, on the other hand, is an insanely talented quarterback out of Cardinal Ritter Prep. He just finished his high school career with 6,544 yards, 77 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. That isn’t a typo. 77 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

While a departure is never fun, and I wish Swanson nothing but the best, Bielema has stockpiled some impressive talent at quarterback. Illinois should be just fine with this hit to the roster.