The Illini’s betting favorite for the transfer portal quarterback

With the transfer portal in full swing, there has been a lot of talk about the next quarterback for Illinois football.

Who could end up filling Tommy DeVito’s shoes? That’s a big question for the fan base and the future success of the Illini.

Writing Illini released a list of Illinois’ top five transfer portal quarterbacks to target. This list was made up of some pretty big names, and now the Orange and Blue are the betting favorites to land one of the names.

On Tuesday, Bookies.com produced the probability of landing North Carolina State transfer Devin Leary. The talented quarterback hit the transfer market a few days ago and every team in the country is drooling over this kid.

Illinois is currently the betting favorite to get Leary at +250. They have the Illini a 28.57% chance of securing his transfer commitment. Well. 2 favorite is Notre Dame +400. Alabama, Missouri and others are next on the list at +500.

Illinois football has ties to transfer portal quarterback Devin Leary.

I think it’s pretty obvious why Illinois is the current betting favorite for Leary. There are too many connections between the Illini, Leary and the North Carolina State program.

pic.twitter.com/tGGJIUUGux

— DLeary (@DevinLeary1) December 5, 2022

The most obvious connection is that Leary’s brother Donovan is on the Illinois roster. He is a future quarterback, but it would be optimal for him to learn another year after someone like his brother.

Another connection would be that North Carolina State head coach Dave Doeren was a Bielema’s defensive coordinator for five years in Wisconsin. That connection has to carry weight and I’d venture to say some calls have been made.

Those two big connections are important, but I also think the proof is in the pudding. In Wisconsin, Bielema secured a transfer quarterback from North Carolina State in Russell Wilson. They went on to great success together. Bielema managed to land DeVito last season. DeVito had one of his best seasons at the collegiate level, and Illinois had the most wins since 2007.

Bielema has shown that he can bring transfer quarterbacks into his program and take them to the next level. He gets the best out of transfer players, and Leary could be next in line. Hopefully we can beat out countless other programs to land this future NFL talent.