Illinois coach Bret Bielema is puzzled after losing his top returning rusher, Josh McCray, to the transfer portal. McCray signed with Georgia, which was in need of immediate assistance in the backfield following Branson Robinson’s transfer in April. Bielema wondered this week how McCray was on the Bulldogs’ radar and made such a quick decision to transfer to the SEC program. Without saying it, Bielema implied Georgia tampered to sign one of his best players.
“We did lose a guy to Georgia,” Bielema said on The Triple Option podcast, published Wednesday. “Somehow, he found his way to the portal and 12 hours after being in the portal, he was on a flight to Georgia. I don’t know how that happened, but it’s crazy.”
One of 10 transfers Georgia added, McCray signed with the Bulldogs in April at the end of spring practice. He will have one year of eligibility in Athens and Georgia was the only school he visited after his portal entry.
Bielema’s comments were widely interpreted as implying potential tampering — an increasingly common concern in the transfer portal era. But following fan criticism of his remarks on social media, Bielema responded directly Thursday morning to clarify the timeline and defend McCray’s decision.
“Dear Jon — He actually entered the portal on [April 18] at 12:08 p.m., which we helped him do and guided him on the process moving forward,” Bielema posted. “Appreciate your time and inaccurate information. He is a great young man and at a great place with great people. Don’t make something of nothing.”
Back in April, Bielema seemingly knew McCray sought to leave Illinois for his final season.
“It’s been a four-year conversation,” Bielema told 247Sports. “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.”
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As a redshirt junior season, McCray rushed for a team-best 609 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 5.2 yards per carry.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart explained in May why his staff made McCray a priority on the transfer market.
“In a world of a lot of third-and-ones and fourth-and-ones in college football with analytics people going for it, you need short yardage backs,” Smart said. “We think he gives us potential to do that.”
Georgia was the SEC’s fifth-worst in third-down success rate last season at 39.2%, the Bulldogs’ lowest mark offensively since 2016 after leading the conference in that statistic each of the previous two years.
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