Link: Rivals Transfer Portal Rankings

1. Maxime Raynaud
9. AJ Storr
22. Vlad Goldin
23. Johnell Davis
28 Brandon Garrison
41. Selton Miguel
59. Roddy Gayle Jr.
78. Igor Milicic Jr.
107. Otega Oweh
109. Xavier Amos
134. Dante Maddox Jr.
137. Danny Wolf
150. Tre White
158. Carey Booth
177. Cameron Corhen

Is it today?

Orange and Blue News discusses Illinois spring football with former Illini QB Reilly O'Toole, plus his thoughts on the transfer portal, the trajectory of the program under Bret Bielema, and more.

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Illini finish up as 6th. Pretty impressive.

Big another Big and a point ?

The scrimmage was closed, so all we have to go by is what Bret Bielema told us today.

Anyone know who "Gordon" is?

He had the highest score in our group and gets 6 months free subscription.

Getting ready to watch their game. Hope the big ten does well. Painter is a top notch coach.

Raftery, Kampe to Join Underwood at Kickin' Cancer April 16 at Gordyville USA

Limited tickets remain for annual Coaches vs. Cancer fundraiser

Purchase Tickets

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.– A limited number of tickets remain for next week's Kickin' Cancer dinner and auction, set for Tuesday, April 16 at Gordyville USA. Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood welcomes beloved TV analyst Bill Raftery and Oakland Head Coach Greg Kampe as featured guests at this year's event.

Raftery just concluded his 43rd season broadcasting college basketball games, including his 10th Final Four. Kampe, meanwhile, is the nation's longest tenured Div. I coach, with his 40th season highlighted by a thrilling upset over Kentucky in this year's NCAA Tournament.

The duo will join Underwood for an evening at Gordyville, a horse show arena located in Gifford, Illinois, 30 minutes outside of Champaign. While the event has a western theme, Illini gear is encouraged as well. The program will run from 5:30-9 p.m. and includes dinner, both silent and live auctions, and plenty of memorable stories and laughs from the speakers on stage.

The event is quickly approaching a sellout, but tickets can still be purchased at this time online at coachesvscancerillinois.com.

Illinois will get visits from Toledo guard Dante Maddox Jr. and Notre Dame forward Carey Booth.

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Maddox cut his list to Louisville, Michigan, Creighton, Xavier, Illinois. I get the feeling that it will come down to Illinois or Louisville. He's visiting both schools in the next few days after the dead period ends on Thursday, then will visit Illinois early next week followed by Xavier. He's the top priority for Illinois at guard right now.

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Carey Booth has definitely grown on Illinois after his Zoom conference. He will be on campus at Illinois this weekend and I think there's an outside chance that he will commit. Others are Alabama, Michigan, Texas, Colorado State, and Ohio State. With Nate Oats committed to staying at Alabama, the Tide may be the strongest competition right now.

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Illinois is still kicking the tires and trying to gauge interest from Oklahoma State transfer guard Jovan Small. He could emerge into that top group of targets over the next few days. So far, the list of schools inquiring about him is extremely long. Some of the notable onces are Kansas, Louisville, Michigan, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Texas Indiana. Villanova, Baylor. Many more.

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There's a chance that Caleb Love returns for another season at Arizona. If that happens, Kylan Boswell is almost sure to enter the portal. As it is, Arizona people aren't yet sure on what Boswell is going to do. I would put the odds of today at 60 / 40 that he jumps into the portal, and Illinois would be involved if he does.

Is the Michigan Game now scheduled for Friday October 18th?? Has this been confirmed??

So far in her career, Caitlin is simply one of the best BBall players to ever play male or female. Ultimate respect 2 u!

Friday update:

Michigan is pushing hard for both Danny Wolf and Johnell Davis.

Those around the Wolverines program feel like they lead for Wolf.

Good feeling on Davis too who would be following coach Dusty May. Davis is going to be costly, though, and Louisville is thought to be the main competition.

Arizona isn't sure what Kylan Boswell is going to do yet. He's talking it over with his family and his people are reaching out to other schools to gauge interest and NIL opportunities. 50/50 IMO. To come back to AZ, he would have to commit to staying in shape.

Out of his top 8, I think Illinois and Louisville are probably talking the most to Dante Maddox Jr. right now. The feeling is that neither him or Marcus Hill are full time point guards, so we will see what direction that goes. If Maddox was a sure take, he might already be on board. LIPO.

Stanford believes they can get Maxime Raynaud to return. He's getting a ton of big NIL offers, though. Can Illinois compete? Not sure.

Zooms with Carey Booth and Brandon Garrison went well. Neither side committed to anything. Two different players. Booth has shooting potential. Good stroke, but forced a few shots and didn't have a high FG%. Garrison would be a rim protector and rebounder.

Indiana St. big man Robby Avila is much-debated, and not just among the fans. Not sure how interested Illinois would be if he portals. Up in the air, IMO.

I think Sencire Harris is leaning towards portalling. We'll see. Exit interviews this coming week.

Tiple digit NIL money for Dainja to Memphis. They backchanneled a deal with third parties over the last few weeks. Illinois wasn't going to pay that kind of money. There are no hard feelings, really.

No one knows which way the NCAA waiver request is going to go for Marcus Domask. Waiting game.

Edit: Jeremiah Fears is still in the 2025 class and may stay that way, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that he reclassifies to 2024. May depend on who Illinois lands in the portal.

Edit2: Expect backcourt roster attrition soon.

The dead period runs through April 11. Expect visits after that.

Article by Steve Greenberg. I don’t usually find much useful information in that paper. I’m not sure this is useful as much as it is statement on the state of college basketball. Plus lots of Illini references and the paragraph on Jake Davis made me laugh.

Reading about all the roster upheaval in other programs and their need to bring in portal players brings me to two conclusions. Illinois needs portal additions not because we’re losing players to the portal as much as the fact that what’s left is poorly constructed. The portal benefits a coach like Underwoid who constructed that roster. How much he can ever accomplish putting together a new team every year is pretty questionable to me.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are 1-2 losses to the portal.

Green will likely try to add some veteran size.

Wallace is a McDonald's All-American and should play right away and make an impact.

Roster

Makira Cook, 5-6, guard, Grd.

Genesis Bryant, 5-6, guard, Grd.

Adalia McKenzie, 5-10 guard, Sr.

Kendall Bostic, 6-2 forward, Grd.

Gretchen Dolan, 5-11 guard, Soph.

Cori Allen, 5-10 guard, Soph.

Kam'ren Rhoads, 5-6 guard, Jr.

Shay Bollin, 6-3 forward, Jr.

Brynn Shoop-Hill, 6-3 forward, Sr.

Berry Wallace, 6-1 forward, Fr.

Hayven Smith, 6-6 center, Fr.

Already thinking about next year. Any preseason tournies that the Illini are scheduled for that may require a trip? Vegas? Destin? Bahamas? Maui? Alaska? Center deck of the Icon of the Seas?

Media was allowed inside the Irwin Indoor facilities for three period of practice on Thursday. We didn't get see much more than than some position work and a few minutes of team stuff.

I primarily watched the offensive line and came away with a rough draft of the 2-deep.

The standout is JC Davis. He's a stud and a potential All-Big Ten type of lineman.

Surprised to see Priestly withe 1's. He's wearing No. 58 and playing tackle, so maybe a number change is in order. He's not very tall, but he has an intriguing combination of power and quickness. Priestly and Brandon Henderson are likely in a battle at the RT spot.

As much as they love Kruetz and his experience and leadership, there's a chance that MSU transfer Kevin Wigenton will give him a battle at center. Wigenton probably has to get in better shape and get more snaps at the position, but he has a chance.

Overall, it's not a super athletic group, but they have size, power, and more depth than in the past.

LT: JC Davis | Magnus Mueller
LG: Josh Gesky | Hunter Whitenack
C: Josh Kruetz | Kevin Wigenton
RG: Zy Crylser | Dezmond Schuster
RT: Melvin Priestly | Brandon Henderson

I watched defensive line go through drills, but no team stuff so I'm not sure about the depth chart yet.

A few notes...

Two underclassmen to watch are redshirt freshmen Jeremiah Warren and Alex Bray.

Warren looks to have take an big leap forward. He was in the front of the drill line and looks bigger and quicker. He's 300 lbs+ now and is confident and aggressive going through drills.

Bray is a plus athlete and may have the quickest burst and best change of direction of all of the interior defensive linemen. He still looks smallish and is a tweener at 270 pounds, so I'm not sure how ready he is to take on Big Ten offensive linemen. He can really move though. Looks like a different kid than last year.

Ezekiel Holmes went through drills with the interior defensive linemen. Looks like they are testing him there since the OLB room is talented deep. Holmes has length, but he's still thin. Not sure how that's going to work out unless they play some 4-man front.

Other notable items...

JUCO transfer Daniel Brown is still with the OLB group. He's easily the fastest guy they have off the edge. A blur rushing the passer. I'd like to see them try him at WLB so they can have him on the field with Seth Coleman and Gabe Jacas. We'll see.

Justin Stepp is still raving about Malik Elzy, who goes through drills first and is easily the most fluid and physically gifted of the group.

Hank Beatty is the #1 punt returner right now. A bunch of guys are getting reps.

Tanner Arkin looks like the most complete tight end. Arkin, Griffin Moore, and Cole Rusk will all play.

The spring Transfer Portal widow opens up April 16 and Illinois has a few spots open.