Illinois tight end Griffin Moore enters the NCAA transfer portal

After putting together his best season yet, Illinois tight end Griffin Moore has entered the NCAA transfer portal, On3 has learned.

Moore logged 12 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown during the 2023 campaign, his most productive season so far, coming in his junior year.

Though he had only recorded one catch for 17 yards prior to the 2023 season, Moore had been a regular on the Academic All-Big Ten team, earning those honors in each of the last three years.

At 6 foot 4, 250 pounds, he offers good size to any team looking for an addition at the tight end position.

Prior to enrolling at Illinois, Griffin Moore was a three-star prospect and the No. 1,703 overall recruit in the 2019 recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

He also checked in as the No. 76 tight end in his class and the No. 41 overall player in the state of Illinois, hailing from Bloomington (IL) Bloomington.

Another Illinois player enters the transfer portal

Illinois defensive lineman Anthony Johnson has entered his name into the transfer portal.

Johnson transferred to Champaign from Youngstown State in the first portal cycle. However, per Bret Bielema, he will be leaving the program in search of another opportunity elsewhere.

“Anthony Johnson actually came in yesterday and he’s moving on so we’re out of the mix with him,” said Bielema on Saturday.

“I could see it the last couple of weeks. There were guys playing, right, that I don’t know if he saw himself getting that starting role,” Bielema said. “I get it. The guy has got one year left. Asked him to kind of think about it but totally understand where he’s coming from. So he quit, moved on.”

Johnson is heading into his fifth collegiate season after a redshirt year at Bowling Green and the past three at Youngstown State.

In three years with the Penguins, Johnson posted 36 tackles and five sacks. That included this past fall as a senior where he had career numbers with 22 tackles and four sacks. Those sacks were good for a three-way tie while the tackles were tied for Top-10 on the team.

On3 will have more on this developing story shortly.