Illinois FCS D-I transfer tracker: Who’s out and who’s in?

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