Roster breakdown

Illinois built this roster heavily through the transfer portal, pulling in 35 transfers (31% of classifiable), leaning hard on non-FBS and G5 feeders (29 of 35) rather than P4 raids — a volume-over-pedigree approach that mirrors their blue-chip rate of just 14% at 3.14★, both trailing Maryland's 16% and 3.18★ by a slim but real margin. The roster is meaningfully greener than ours — 1.38 years of average experience versus our 1.79, and while upperclassmen percentages are nearly identical (41% vs. 40%), that raw experience gap suggests less depth of proven college reps across the two-deep. The offensive continuity picture is mixed: they return 74% of rush production and 41% of receiving, comparable to our numbers, but only 1% of passing production coming back is a structural fragility we don't share (we return 95%). A 24% SR/GR departure cliff after 2025 will force another heavy portal cycle, and their one DMV tie is Osada, a kicker out of the DC area — no skill-position foothold in our backyard to worry about.