Eastern Illinois head coach Chris Wilkerson and other Illinois FCS coaches have endured losing players to FBS schools via the transfer portal each year. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)
By Dan Verdun
In the days leading up to the April 25 transfer portal deadline, each of the four Illinois FCS head coaches checked their phone with trepidation.
“Coach, when is a good time for me to come in and talk?” was not the text each leader wanted to appear.
“We all know what that usually means this time of year,” Eastern Illinois head coach Chris Wilkerson told Prairie State Pigskin.
Wilkerson certainly could have been speaking on behalf of Brock Spack of Illinois State, Nick Hill of Southern Illinois or Joe Davis of Western Illinois.
The transfer portal has become as much a rite of spring as exchanging snow shovels for lawn and gardening tools.
“I tell the team all the time, it doesn’t mean that we don’t love them (players who transfer out), it just means we’re moving on without them,” Davis said. “That’s just 2025 college football.”
Change is a constant. Whether coaches want to accept or reject that, the effects of the transfer portal are here to stay.
The positive is that Illinois FCS schools have become an attractive destination for FBS transfers, even while some of the state’s top FCS players have departed for the likes of the Big Ten, Big 12 and other power conferences.
“You can dig your heels in, but we’ve taken a different approach. Listen, the toothpaste is not going back in the tube,” Davis said. “We have to embrace it. We have to figure out every cycle what works best for Western Illinois. How do we attack it? How do we evaluate it? What’s the best strategy? We’re always evaluating to make our portal ‘gets’ efficient.”
The spring transfer portal window ran from April 16-25. Published reports have stated the window for the 2025-26 academic year is likely be shortened to a single 10-day period in January. This change is being considered by the NCAA after a vote by FBS coaches to shorten the two current portal windows to a single stretch.
Prairie State Pigskin examined the comings and goings of Illinois FCS players to FBS teams, and vice versa, in the list below.
Illinois FCS spring semester changes
Note: This list only addresses Division I movement (FCS to FBS and FBS to FCS) as of May 13.
Who’s out?
EIU
DB NiJhay Burt (Sr.) to Michigan State
RB M.J. Flowers (Jr.) to Connecticut
ISU
DB Mark Cannon Jr. (Sr.) to Bowling Green
DL Steven Curtis (Jr.) to Minnesota
WR Xavier Loyd (Sr.) to Missouri
DB Teon Parks (Jr.) to Colorado
OL Hunter Zambrano (Sr.) to Texas Tech
SIU
DB Jamir Conn (Jr.) to Nebraska
DB Desman Hearns (Jr.) to Wyoming
WR Keontez Lewis (Sr.) to Oklahoma
WR Allen Middleton (Soph.) to Bowling Green
WIU
WR Eli Aragon (Jr.) to Coastal Carolina
WR Matthew Henry (Sr.) to Western Kentucky
RB Cameren Smith (Sr.) to Charlotte
Who’s in?
EIU
RB Charles Kellom (Jr.) from Akron
QB Cole LaCrue (Soph.) from Wisconsin
WR Jack Trembley (Jr.) from Central Michigan
ISU
OL Logan Brasfield (RS-Fr.) from Coastal Carolina
RB Victor Dawson (Sr.) from Cincinnati
DE Logan Jellison (RS-Fr.) from Purdue
DB Christian LeBraun (RS-Fr.) from UMass
DT Christian Lorenzo (Jr.) from Georgia State
OL Jack McGarry (Jr.) from Missouri
DB Shadwel Nkuba II (Jr.) from Louisiana
TE Caleb Schmitz (Sr.) from Cincinnati
TE Nick True (RS-Fr.) from Illinois
SIU
LS Ryan Algrim (Soph.) from Minnesota
DB Dashaun Gibson (RS-Fr.) from Northern Illinois
DB Naz Hill (Soph.) from Wyoming
OL Jacob Katauskas (Soph.) from Coastal Carolina
WR Blayne Sisson (RS-Fr.) from Illinois
WR Kyle Thomas (Soph.) from Northern Illinois
WR Ty Walls (Soph.) from Oklahoma State
LB Charlie Whepley (RS-Fr.) from Iowa State
WIU
DB Amare Bickham (Soph.) from Iowa
DL David Borchers (Soph.) from Nebraska
DB Jerrod Cameron (Jr.) from UMass
OL James Durand (Soph.) from Wisconsin
LB Wyatt Milkovic (Soph.) from Boise State
RB Brinston Williams (Jr.) from Mississippi State
Prairie State Pigskin 
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