CHAMPAIGN — Bret Bielema knows well enough about college football these days to table any potential shock and awe when it comes to the transfer portal.
That’s why when Josh McCray entered his office on Tuesday to express his intention to transfer once the spring window opened on Wednesday, Bielema turned into response mode. Shock is gone. Awe is gone.
The Illinois head coach knew that he had a talented running back room returning, even without McCray, and that there are other positions to address on his team during the spring transfer portal window, though those are largely depth pieces and backup spots.
“It’s been a four-year conversation,” Bielema told Illini Inquirer on Wednesday. “Josh is a kid we’re incredibly proud of. He should finish up this spring with a degree. He’s going to walk out of here as a four-year player who has done a lot of really good things. He was the bowl game MVP. …Josh came in and expressed his interest in getting in the portal yesterday. Obviously, I talked to him about what I thought we could do and where we’re at, but his intentions are to get in the portal, and I totally understand that. The great thing with me as a head coach is he’s walking out of here with a degree and accomplished a lot of really good things. I know a lot of people have opinions on it, but I wasn’t shocked at what yesterday was. We’ve prepared for that moment.
“For me personally, one door closes and another door opens. Josh is a very accomplished player. I don’t know if we’ll do much in the running back room. We’ve just got such a talented room coming back. He saw himself as the backup running back, and I couldn’t change his opinion on that. That’s what he saw himself as, and if a kid sees that and believes that, that’s where it’s at.”
If there was any shock or surprise about McCray’s departure, Bielema didn’t show it on Wednesday. The reality is, though, that the move was at least somewhat surprising.
McCray was Bielema’s first high school recruit when he took the job at Illinois, and the two have maintained an incredibly close relationship during McCray’s four-year career. When injuries piled up and cost him most of the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Bielema got emotional at times when discussing McCray’s resurgence on last season’s 10-win team that culminated with McCray’s Citrus Bowl MVP award after he ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns a win against South Carolina, the Illini program’s first win over an SEC opponent.
McCray had a strong season, rushing 117 times for 609 yards and 10 touchdowns. It was his most productive (and healthiest) season since his freshman year in 2021 where he rushed 112 times for 549 yards and two touchdowns.
After two years ravaged by injuries, Illinois stuck with McCray through a slow start to the year (25 carries for 108 yards in the first five games) that ultimately paved the way — behind a season-ending injury to Kaden Feagin — for McCray’s stellar close to the year. He was one of Illinois’ top running backs in pass protection and a threat out of the backfield in the passing game.
On the other hand, keeping four ready-to-play running backs in the fold — as Bielema did at Wisconsin with John Clay, James White, Montee Ball and Melvin Gordon — is a tall task for any program in the portal era. Bielema isn’t naive to that reality.
“If someone doesn’t want to be here, I don’t need them here,” Bielema said when asked if he wanted McCray back for the 2025 season. “It’s kind of like being in any relationship. I think any time you’re involved with people on a long-term basis, or if they’re not interested in you the way you’re interested in them at one point, it’s never going to work. I don’t see it as a negative. I see it as a positive. It’s not what happens in this world, it’s how you react to it. I know our guys react very well. I wish Josh nothing but the best. I told him anything I could do to help him going out (the door), I’m not oblivious that he’s probably been contacted before yesterday. I talked to his high school coach yesterday, I tried calling his group of family that’s around him. We’ll do everything we can to help him. The best thing is he’s leaving the University of Illinois as a grad. As soon as that happens, mission completed.”
Illinois returns Feagin, Aidan Laughery, sophomore Ca’Lil Valentine and will add incoming three-star freshmen John Forster and Cedric Wyche to the roster this summer. Walk-on Aaron Ball also had low-level Division I offers out of high school.
That’s why Bielema doesn’t sound like a coach interested in adding a back out of the transfer portal. If health becomes an issue with a group of backs who have battled injury in the past, tight end Jordan Anderson could slide back to running back in a pinch.
McCray’s departure largely opens the door for more reps for Valentine, who now becomes the team’s third back in a committee approach. The two are radically different players, but Valentine — a quicker, more explosive option who must continue to add strength — ran 53 times for 212 yards and a touchdown last season.
“Ca’Lil’s had a really good spring,” Bielema said. “He actually was unfortunately a little banged up with an ankle. He unfortunately wasn’t fully cleared until this past week. Even today, we do a two-on-one tackle drill and he left some people on the ground. Ca’Lil is extremely talented.
“I do like the fact that Josh was kind of a back who fit the category of a couple different backs. Obviously, Kaden is a big back. Aidan is a back with all-purpose value. Ca’Lil is kind of a smaller scat back, every-down back, who has a little bit of third-down value. I like the fact that we keep recruiting backs. We’ve got two freshmen coming in, and we’ve got Aaron Ball, who is another guy who has played a lot of really good football for us this spring and last fall. It helps define who we are, but it doesn’t really affect what we do.”
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