Illinois Football: Transfer portal lineman schedules Illini official visit

The Illinois football team is looking to add another transfer portal player for 2024.

Bret Bielema and the Illini coaching staff have done a great job recruiting for the class of 2024. We have 19 commits and a 2024 class that ranks No. 43 in the country. Our transfer rank is also No. 49 in the nation.

Among the transfers who have pledged to Illinois include two offensive linemen and two defensive linemen. All four players will see snaps this upcoming season, and don’t be surprised if all of them are starting in game one.

But Illinois isn’t done adding players via the transfer portal. We are currently favored to land a defensive back who could help the Illini secondary. Illinois is also looking to add another defensive lineman in Sterling Webb.

This past Friday, Webb took to social media to announce that he was going to be taking an official visit to Illinois. We get the first crack at Webb on January 3 and 4. Houston follows us on January 4 and 5, and Arizona State is locked in for January 6 and 7.

Illinois football could use another defensive lineman like Sterling Webb out of the transfer portal

As mentioned above, Illinois has already added two defensive linemen out of the transfer portal for 2024. Enyce Sledge out of Auburn and Anthony Johnson out of Youngstown State will help bolster a depleted Illini defensive line. Adding someone like Webb would help put Illinois over the top, though.

Webb was a two-star recruit coming out of Westminster Christian Academy in Missouri. He secured a scholarship offer from New Mexico State and committed to the Aggies from the class of 2022.

As a freshman, the 6-foot-2, 295-pound defensive lineman played in 11 games and had 17 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 forced fumbles, and 1.5 sacks. This past season, Webb took his game to another level and had 30 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks in 14 games.

Webb helped New Mexico State get to 10 wins in 2023, which is the most wins by the program since 1960. Now the talented defensive lineman is looking for a new home after head coach Jerry Kill stepped down from the position.

Bielema is really answering the bell after losing Jer’Zhan Newton and Keith Randolph Jr. to the NFL. Illinois needed to bolster the trenches, and after adding four players on the front lines via the transfer portal, we are possibly adding another player in Webb.

Let’s knock this official visit out of the park. Webb can get to the quarterback and ball carrier well. He is quick for his size. I would love this addition to the Illinois defensive line.