Former Illini lineman from Princeville finds new college football home

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Former Princeville and Illinois offensive lineman Kellen Francis has found a new college football home at Southern Illinois, he announced Wednesday, Jan. 7.

The 6-foot-6, 320-pound lineman announced Dec. 31 that he had entered the transfer portal. One week later, he landed with the Salukis of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, part of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision.

“Committed to SIU!,” Francis posted to social media, along with a photo of himself with his father, Mark, an all-conference center for SIU in the early 1990s.

The Salukis are coming off a 7-5 season, which ended with a 37-7 victory over eventual FCS national runner-up Illinois State. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

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Francis committed to Illinois in May 2024 from Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas. He redshirted the 2024 season while recovering from an ankle injury and played three games in 2025.

Francis is a 2023 graduate of Princeville High School, where he was an all-conference lineman for one of the Peoria area’s top small-school programs.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Transfer portal: Illini lineman from Princeville picks Southern Illinois

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