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Greetings from “Can’t Wait For Saturday,” your morning morsel of college football, courtesy of longtime Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter and Heisman state rep Bob Asmussen. He’ll give you his views each day on the game he loves.
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Manny Navarro of The Athletic put together a nice story Tuesday that lists the most important transfer portal addition for every team in the Power Four.
While I am interested in all the other leagues, I quickly jumped to the Big Ten. I tried to guess who the author would pick for Illinois and I was correct. It happens.
Navarro went with receiver Hudson Clement, who Illinois pulled away from West Virginia.
About Clement, the author wrote: “Clement, a former walk-on who caught 51 passes for 741 yards in 2024, will be a primary in a receiving corps that must replace departing Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin.”
So true. Before the transfer portal, Illinois would have been relying on unproven newcomers. If Clement duplicates his catch total and yards from last season, Illinois will have a banner season.
The rest of Big Ten added important players at eight positions.
There are quarterbacks at Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern, UCLA and Wisconsin; defensive backs at Maryland, Oregon and Rutgers; a running back at Michigan; offensive linemen at Michigan State, Ohio State and Washington; receivers at Minnesota and Penn State; a defensive end at Nebraska; a linebacker at Purdue; and a defensive lineman at Southern Cal
Oh, in case you’re wondering, Citrus Bowl MVP Josh McCray was not the pick at Georgia. The author went with Southern California receiver Zachariah Branch.
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Source link : https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/cant-wait-for-saturday-finding-a-go-to-guy-tops-the-illinois-priority-list/article_4160b6f2-9053-4b32-b2e1-f767dce269ba.html
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Publish date : 2025-07-30 14:47:00
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