Illinois Football Snags Purdue Punter From the Transfer Portal

Following the Citrus Bowl, overall takeaways from the 21-17 statement victory were positive for Illinois Football. However, there was one pretty glaring weakness in the Illini’s game.

Following 3 punts for a total of 37 yards for Fabrizio Pinton, it became very clear that the Illini needed to add a proven presence to Robby Discher’s punting unit.

The Illinois staff did just that with the addition of Keelan Crimmins from Big Ten foe, Purdue. The All Big-Ten honorable mention punter is the 8th addition to the Illini’s 2025 portal pickups thus far, with not many needs left to fulfill.

In addition, Keelan is a native of Australia, which as of recent years, has become a farm for incredible special teams players, due to the similar parallels of rugby. From Blake Hayes to Hugh Robertson, and now, the native of Spotswood, Victoria of Australia it is clear that the Illini staff wants to keep this pipeline open.

Impact

As a Sophomore for Purdue, Keelan booted 64 punts, for an impressive average of 44.9 yards per punt. In comparison, former Illini Blake Hayes, who was notably a very good punter, averaged 45.1 yards per punt, on 68 total attempts in 2021 as a senior.

Prior to his time with the Boilermakers, Keelan also spent his true freshman season in the SEC with Mississippi State. In Crimmins’s lone season in Starkville, he totaled 49 punts for 2,003 total yards (only 9 were returned).

After losing Hugh Robertson to the portal prior to the Citrus Bowl, the addition of Crimmins is a no-brainer for the Illinois Football staff. Furthermore, I would look for him to make an immediate impact in Champaign.

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