Can’t Wait For Saturday | Important to remember: Transfer portal can giveth and also taketh away | Opinion

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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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Yes, Illinois football has made important additions to its roster and plugged some holes with the transfer portal. Receiver, tight end, defensive line and special teams will be better at Illinois in 2025 because of guys who came from other schools.

Bret Bielema has shown a knack for hitting it big with the portal. No better example of that than quarterback Luke Altmyer, who enters his third year as starter after a move from Mississippi.

The reality for Illinois is that the opponents have access to the portal too,

And one of the most important Illinois games of the 2025 season — the Sept. 20 trip to 2024 College Football Playoff qualifier Indiana — could very well be decided by a transfer.

In a ranking of the top transfer quarterbacks in college football this season by The Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner, Indiana’ Fernando Mendoza is at the top.

Mendoza, who spent last season at Cal, has the size (6-foot-5, 221 pounds) and experience to be a game-changer at Indiana. That’s what Curt Cignetti, the producer of the miracle in Bloomington last season, is counting on.

Baumgardner thinks it is a good fit for the player and the school.

“Mendoza has enough ability to land a first-round draft grade.” Cha-ching.

Mendoza tops a quality list that includes Oklahoma’ John Mateer (from Washington State), Miami’s Carson Beck (from Georgia), UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava from Tennessee) and Louisville’s Miller Moss (from Southern California).

My guess is at least three will be major forces, one will a ho-hummer and one will flame out. Just don’t ask me which is which.

Bob Asmussen is a college football reporter and columnist for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at 217-393-8248 or asmussen@news-gazette.com.