Georgia saw one of its tight ends declare for the NFL draft in Isaac Nauta and one of its players transfer to a Big Ten school, as Justin Fields is heading to Ohio State. And now Georgia tight end Luke Ford is also leaving the program, as he is headed to Illinois.

Ford announced the decision on his Twitter feed on Friday afternoon. The freshman tight end had previously told DawgNation that his grandparents’ health was the reason he put his name into the Transfer Portal in December.

“I would like to thank the University of Georgia for a great experience. I greatly appreciate all the coaches that helped me through this process and made my dream of playing college football a reality,” Ford wrote.” I love all my teammates and friends that I met in Athens. Also I’d like to thank all the UGA fans for being amazing throughout the year. However due to my grandparents’ deteriorating health and my family’s inability to afford to see me play in person each week, I will be transferring to the University of Illinois.”

Ford came to Georgia as the nation’s No. 3 tight end in the 2018 recruiting class out of Carterville, Illinois. Ford appeared in 9 games this season and recorded just 1 catch for 4 yards.

With Ford leaving, that leaves Georgia with only Charlie Woerner and John Fitzpatrick as the only scholarship tight ends. Georgia has signed 4-star tight end Ryland Goede as a member of the 2019 class. He will be an early enrollee but he is recovering from an ACL injury.

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