Good info, certainly paints a more positive picture than my initial thoughts, and now I think it may be worth a shot as a one-year stopgap (he only has 1 year eligibility anyway). Found the article and linked below.I just saw an article by Rivals Transfer Portal about Lyles and it said should be plenty of interest in him. Article said he was the starting center in 2020 before going down with season ending knee injury (didn’t mention during what game). This year he was mainly backup with one start against Michigan. He has also played guard. Rivals gave him a 7.2 out of 10 on impact meter, which equates to high impact player that while not a program changer will be a very good contributor and starter (6.1 to 9.0). Article lists a bunch of teams that will likely show interest (Illinois among them). His dad played at Wisconsin in mid-1990s. Obviously, BB wasn’t there yet, but did see an article that mentions the kid visiting Wisconsin when he was in 4th grade and talking to BB and meeting some players.
I'm still a tad skeptical of transfers who come to Illinois after failing to find playing time elsewhere. Sometimes it works out (Bhebhe) but usually we see there was a reason they needed to leave to find playing time (our QBs) and often they can't even find the field here (all those WRs we transferred in this year).
Edit: does anyone have reliable info on how many games he actually played at Wisconsin? Sports reference has it at 4, all freshman year (2018) on defense, but this article says he started in 2020 at center.
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On3's NCAA Transfer Portal offers up-to-date news and rankings on college football and basketball transfers. Dive into detailed NIL valuations and stay informed on student-athlete transfer intentions.
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