Illinois has dipped into the NCAA transfer portal to land another quarterback.

Friday night, ex-Syracuse quarterback Tommy DeVito announced his decision to commit to Illinois after entering the transfer portal. He was a 4-star member of the Orange’s 2017 recruiting class, spending 5 seasons with the program before opting to finish his career elsewhere.

During the 2021 season, DeVito played in 3 games and completed 32-of-52 passes for 388 yards and a touchdown. He also totaled 90 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries.

Over the last 4 seasons with Syracuse, DeVito has thrown for 3,866 yards and 28 touchdowns while completing better than 58% of his passes. His best year came in 2019 as the starter, piling up 2,360 yards and 19 touchdowns with just 5 interceptions and completing 63.2% of his passes.

DeVito will have 1 year of eligibility to utilize at Illinois.

Illinois is looking to reinvent its passing attack, one that struggled quite a bit through the course of the 2021 campaign. Bret Bielema had to rotate between Brandon Peters and Art Sitkowski because of poor performances and injuries at different junctures in the year.

The Fighting Illini ranked last in the B1G in passing offense, averaging just 156.2 yards per game through the air. The two quarterbacks combined to throw for 13 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.

Illinois is coming off a 5-7 season in 2021.