Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular

January 20, 2025

The Transfer Portal has closed but there are still plenty of players out there who remained unsigned. We will see if the Illini land additional defensive linemen and/or linebackers.

The Illini were plagued by players that received offers that may have surprised the staff – or maybe not. It appears that some teams were willing to pay players for potential (more dollars earlier without performance) while the Illini (and other teams) hoped to pay less up front with additional dollars based on results.

As an old sales guy, I can tell you that the bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Apparently, college football players agree.

Many old sayings seem to have more than a grain of truth. This one has proven to be true. Again.

Hail Mary #1 – The Job I Would NOT Want to Have

As General Manager of Illini football, Pat Embleton has a job that would not be an easy one.

Think of any job you’ve had in your past. Has any position you’ve been in had no rules? Well, that’s not fair. There are rules. Such as the salary cap that would be roughly $22 million for each school’s total pool of athletes. That seems easy enough, but schools are already spending more than their entire school’s budget – on football alone. Has any job you’ve ever been in had rules that were ignored by most involved?

In this case, there are rules, but they aren’t respected and no one will enforce them. Fun, eh?

Pat gets to figure out how much to spend by player and try to do that as some teams exceed the salary cap limit - and more importantly, players are being contacted and “qualified and profiled” by teams to see if they’re available.

It’s totally conceivable that teams (not just Illinois) find themselves attempting to “protect their own flanks” as players who may not have had any intention in entering the portal are being induced to do so. Thus, you see QBs entering the portal at this last moment or players who had no plans to enter the portal jump in and sign almost immediately with another team.

I’m sure situations like the “no portal interest” player who the signs right away with a school are all coincidental. Don’t believe me, yeah, I don’t buy it either.

This system stinks but it is what it is until someone can figure out a way to allow player movement, eligibility and salary cap requirements that can stand up in a court of law. Until then, we’re stuck with what we have.

Lessons are out there to be learned. A few jump out at me - from the outside looking in:

• Always have extra money, or someone you can call for extra money. (Always have a NIL Sugar Daddy!)
• Never assume a player is sticking around – someone may be on the phone with him right now.
• It is less expensive to keep the guys you recruit, sign and develop than it is to bid for replacement on the open market – and the open market has no guarantee of success. So bid higher than you might want to and save time.
• Always be scouting – you’ll never know who you might discover.
• Always be recruiting – for NIL sponsors, businesses, partnerships - or whatever one can creatively dream up.

We’ve seen transfer quarterbacks winning national titles quite often. Winning in Portal Kombat is mission critical in collegiate sports – regardless of the amount of money one has to spend compared to other teams.

If the Illini struggle next year or if Illinois exceeds expectations, General Manager Embleton’s performance will have a huge effect on results.

Let’s hope he and the Illinois staff have done a great job.

I know I’d not want to have his job. It can’t be easy. And its way more important than most fans would suspect.