Agreed. Peters and BheBhe were a nice help, but Betiku wasn't much outside early games. Others weren't impacts last year.
We can go in-depth all the way down if anyone cares to but for your post, let's discuss Betiku. The comment Arizona Bob has made, on a number of occasions, is that this team acquired an unsustainable quantity of talent via the transfer market last cycle and that without this talent our roster had/has the makeup of a 3-9 football team (He said 3-8, guessing he meant 3-9). Much of his reasoning is based off of composite scores/stars from places like 247. On page 5 he specifically notes the addition of a 5* transfer that we wouldn't normally add through our HS recruiting efforts, the player in question is Betiku. On it's face this thought has merit. However, that merit is lost when you analyze Betiku's on-field play and thus his actual contribution to the team. His inability to diagnose what is happening has rendered him ineffective in the run game as a whole (I openly campaigned in the gameday thread to keep him out against Iowa, which we did. That type of misdirection offense would be a disaster for him). His value only comes from pressuring the QB, something he failed to do in Big Ten play (Of his 9 sacks in 2019, a meager 2 came in conference games). The case for value is further complicated by the fact that Betiku missed a 4 game stretch that saw us win 3 of 4 games (In a season where we won 6 in total) in order to secure bowl eligibility. The idea that this team minus transfers is of 3-9 caliber when in actuality it went 6-7 categorizes Betiku, to a reasonable extent, as the football equivalent of a 3 WAR player (WAR is useless in this game, using only for illustration purposes) when his on-field play suggests he was little more than replacement level. His 247 composite status and place in the starting lineup has tricked Bob into overstating his on-field value.
The case above, again if anyone cares to break it down, can also be made for Trevon Sidney, Richie Petitbon and Milo Eifler. Our concern with the portal should not be that it's an unsustainable method of talent acquisition but instead, an overall poor use of our resources aside from the QB position.
I have very strong feelings about the transfer market but football has a funny way of forcing you to constantly re-evaluate your position and if necessary, alter it in an effort to evolve as the game itself evolves. I am no exception. After a few conversations and some deep internal thought, I'm resigned to the fact that my view of the transfer market must change as it relates to the QB position. The idea that talent at QB must be acquired at the HS senior level and developed over the long term is clearly no longer accurate. It was communicated to me that 13 bowl teams (Illinois included) started a transfer QB in the 2019 postseason. 3 of the 4 CFP participants started a transfer QB in the 2019 postseason (Lincoln Riley himself has never coached a team without one). And it's not slowing down. Oregon is likely to take and start a transfer this cycle (Hot rumor is the kid from Wake, Newman), Utah has taken and will start a transfer this cycle, Kentucky has taken and will start a transfer this cycle and all of those decisions have happened before February, a wave will follow. The idea that we can continue to add the quantity of talent that we have in the transfer market is clearly one of flaw but it's no longer reasonable to include the QB position within this view point. I personally am of the opinion that it must be excluded from the conversation entirely. The transfer market, for the QB, is now the new normal.