For the past three years, Zy Crisler has been a steady force on the offensive line at Illinois.
In 2025, the Colorado Buffaloes hope he can help solidify their line.
The 6-foot-6, 335-pound Crisler has committed to CU and head coach Deion Sanders as he plans to play his final season of college football in Boulder.
Over the past three years, Crisler has made 30 starts at Illinois. He began his career at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. A recent waiver by the NCAA has granted players who spent time in junior college an extra year of eligibility, and Crisler will take advantage of that to join CU.
Crisler earned All-Big Ten honorable mention in 2022 and 2023.
This year, Crisler helped 20th-ranked Illinois to a 10-3 season, playing in all 13 games with six starts at right guard. According to Pro Football Focus, he played 460 snaps this season, allowing one sack and nine quarterback pressures.
At Illinois, he played in 37 games with 30 starts (28 at right guard, two at right tackle). He was a full-time starter in 2022 and 2023. According to PFF, he played 1,921 snaps in his three years at Illinois, allowing 10 sacks and 47 pressures.
Prior to Illinois, he was All-MACCC second team at Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2021.
Crisler is the 16th transfer addition of the offseason for the Buffs and the third on the offensive line. The other incoming linemen are Aki Ogunbiyi from Texas A&M and Zarian McGill from Louisiana Tech.
Like Crisler, McGill is an experienced starter who is taking advantage of the new JUCO ruling. McGill, who spent two seasons at Louisiana-Monroe before going to Louisiana Tech this year, has started 27 games at center over the past three years.
Bowl numbers
On Thursday, the Valero Alamo Bowl released some numbers from this year’s game between the 23rd-ranked Buffs and No. 17 BYU.
The attendance (64,261) was the highest among non-College Football Playoff games and the 12th sellout in Alamo Bowl history, while TV viewership (8 million) was the most in Alamo Bowl history and the most for any non-CFP bowl game in the past five years.
In addition, the economic impact on the city of San Antonio was north of $57 million, the highest figure for the Alamo Bowl since 2007. And the local scholarship contribution of $1.245 million was the largest in Alamo Bowl history and led all bowl games.
CU and BYU received a combined $9.5 million payout, which was the largest in Alamo Bowl history.