Transfer Cycle 2024-2025 - A Panoply of Dipshits, Running Amok

[Longhornlove 5150]

8 minutes ago, Drew said:

Bunch of assholes...should be expected.

[ClubWhatever 12277]

It's not possible that a guy liked one school, team, and/or coaches more than another team offering more money.  Or that they chose the higher offer strictly on the basis of money.  People are unthinking cash aggregators.  They are always 100% money motivated to the exclusion of all other factors.

[Michael Knight 13197]

52 minutes ago, Tex-19 said:

Damn, Auburn and Tech taking two of the bigger portal targets? Didn't see that coming

[pacman 7495]

4 minutes ago, ClubWhatever said:

It's not possible that a guy liked one school, team, and/or coaches more than another team offering more money.  Or that they chose the higher offer strictly on the basis of money.  People are unthinking cash aggregators.  They are always 100% money motivated to the exclusion of all other factors.

Agree. And, they also believe they will make the NFL regardless of coach or school.

[Dbeasy 15529]

26 minutes ago, brojangles2 said:

Browsed over it until you became a pouty bitch. Negged. 

Same. First he had a lazy post dripping with what could be interpreted as sarcasm because of his laziness, then whined. Negged. 

[closetojumping 65309]

13 minutes ago, pacman said:

Agree. And, they also believe they will make the NFL regardless of coach or school.

While this is sometimes true, it's absolutely not a truth. Many of the guys at both the HS and portal levels are considering "likeliest to develop me and/or scheme me into The League" as pretty fucking important. Saban and Alabama have been getting discounts for years. Texas isn't often the highest paying competitor for a player with NIL. Michigan didn't pay anything for several key transfers during Harbaugh's last season. The list goes on.

Edited 3 hours ago by closetojumping

[Bevo 13831]

2 hours ago, Jimmy Two Times said:

One that I never see discussed is UC Santa Cruz, it’s in forest and essentially on the beach. Impressed me enough that I almost decided to go there. 

They had a tornado go near there earlier in the week - I think Scott’s Valley.

[Hermanator 7572]

2 hours ago, kevwun said:

If I had one year to up my draft stock, I would definitely choose Auburn over playing wr for Sark or Kiffin.  That's a solid business decision.

I had a feeling it might be more difficult than we thought to sway a portal WR because of how Bond's and Bolden's production dropped off a cliff this year. Bolden more by way of competition and Bond's by way of Quinn not being able to accurately throw deep balls consistently. 

Then they see we have a freak in Wingo returning for 2 more years, a productive RS freshman in Moore, and just signed 2 5 stars and a really high 4 star out of HS. Not going to be an easy sell this year as it was last year when all production was leaving and all 3 got drafted. 

Same thing goes for RB. The better portal backs are leaving to be the main back somewhere. They look at us and see Wisner is coming back, Baxter is expected back, have no idea yet if they will have to compete with Blue, and see 2 high 4 star high school backs coming in. Too much competition to get someone that isn't more of a one trick pony without way overpaying. 

DT and maybe TE is where we should be able to look really attractive to high end portal guys this year. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Hermanator

[kevwun 16321]

Bond having an ankle injury for 2 months is what hurt him.  He was on track for a high draft spot before that.  Bolden was always going to be a niche player in the NFL because of his size.

Edited 3 hours ago by kevwun

[BurntOrange&White 41672]

Bobby mentioned something yesterday in one of the threads I was reading this AM. Basically he says we want the 3-4 ready to play guys from portal but he also mentioned taking an additional 3 on top of that which would be considered developmental guys. This was to basically back fill the lost classes.

[SydneyCarton 49380]

Hey fuckstick @Helobious. Lets maybe get to work.

[satyanash 15383]

Andy Staples: It's probably time to panic at USC

Quote

Lincoln Riley hadn’t played a Big Ten game yet and was already on the defensive. As a group of reporters huddled around him on the morning of his Big Ten media days appearance in July, the USC coach mixed bravado and excuses as he previewed the season to come.

“We are at the top of the Big Ten conference. We’re at the top of any conference. I don’t ever look at ourselves as below anybody, and I never will,” Riley said. “Look where Ohio State and Oregon were two years ago. Look at what they took over and look at what we took over. It takes time. I’m not a magician. I can’t wave a magic wand and have everything be perfect right away. Find one area where we haven’t made progress. This thing’s got momentum. It’s coming. Nothing is going to stop it. That’s fine. They started at a different point. We’ll see where it ends up.”

It ended up with Ohio State and Oregon in the College Football Playoff and USC going 6-6 and bleeding out as more starters enter the transfer portal. Next year, Ohio State and Oregon probably also will be in the College Football Playoff. USC? Maybe prepping for another nondescript bowl — if the Trojans don’t slip by a game and fail to reach bowl eligibility.

But unless former Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren — now the president of the Chicago Bears — decides Caleb Williams needs to see a familiar face every day, it seems increasingly likely USC fans will remain stuck in this recurring nightmare. Perhaps Riley will stand on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium in July 2025 and once again blame predecessor Clay Helton for what ails USC.

But Riley should be careful doing that, because Helton’s Georgia Southern team is coming to the Coliseum on Sept. 6 and Helton could get his revenge by pulling one of the funniest upsets in college football history. Does that sound impossible? It shouldn’t. USC losing to Minnesota and Maryland seemed fairly unlikely heading into this season, but it happened.

And given the way USC has hemorrhaged contributors into the portal, it’s looking more likely every day that the 2025 roster will be less talented than the 2024 roster. Which was less talented than the 2023 roster. Which was less talented than the 2022 roster. Spot the trend yet?

USC fans can try to take solace by telling themselves that receiver Duce Robinson didn’t live up to his freakish recruiting hype or that receiver/returner Zachariah Branch never developed or that offensive tackle Mason Murphy wasn’t good enough to dominate in the Big Ten or that tailback Quentin Joyner didn’t — wait, there’s really nothing negative to say about a back who averaged 7.6 yards a carry — but unless Riley has a secret portal bounty coming that has yet to reveal itself, those players represented decent raw material with which to work for next season. Now they’ll be somewhere else. Mason is headed to Auburn. Robinson has visited Arizona State and is reportedly also considering Florida State, North Carolina and Texas A&M. Branch and his older brother Zion, a USC defensive back, hit the portal on Tuesday and seem to be a package deal.

Miller Moss, the former QB1 who was benched in favor of UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava, is headed to Louisville to play for Jeff Brohm, who once took Purdue to the Big Ten title game. Joyner is expected to go to Ohio State, one of those schools Riley was talking about back at media days.

Riley was hired at USC to put the Trojans on the level of the Buckeyes. And while Urban Meyer did set up Ryan Day quite nicely — as Jim Harbaugh so famously pointed out — Riley’s July implication that Dan Lanning had it easier at Oregon is laughable. They were hired in the same offseason. One of Lanning’s first acts was to beat Riley head-to-head on the recruiting trail for offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr., who was a third-team All-America selection (Associated Press) this season for the Big Ten champion Ducks.

Sure, Oregon had a better 2021 under Mario Cristobal than USC after firing Helton two games into the season. But the programs weren’t in that different a space. And it’s not a stretch to argue that even though they never played to offer any definitive proof, Riley’s first USC team was as good or better than Lanning’s first Oregon team. They’ve gone in opposite directions since.

This is not an attempt to heap belated praise on Helton. Riley did a great job that first offseason and that first season at USC. That’s what’s so maddening about Riley. He didn’t win four Big 12 titles at Oklahoma just because Bob Stoops left the cupboard full. Riley unlocked Baker Mayfield. He got the most out of Kyler Murray. He made Jalen Hurts a better version of the QB we met at Alabama. Riley built good teams and won games — even if his teams seemed to lack physicality on defense. His work marrying a smash-mouth counter play as the backbone of the run game to the passing concepts of former boss Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense was positively brilliant. And after five successful seasons at Oklahoma, Riley went to USC and assembled a competitive first team.

Riley had a future Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback (Williams) follow from Oklahoma because Riley ran the coolest offense that maximized his QB’s skill set. Riley convinced the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner (Jordan Addison) to come to USC through the transfer portal. Solomon Byrd, a solid edge rusher, also came through the portal from Wyoming. Receivers Brenden Rice (Colorado) and Mario Williams (Oklahoma) and back Travis Dye (Oregon) also hopped aboard and contributed quickly. Had Caleb Williams not injured his ankle in the first half of the Pac-12 title game against Utah, those Trojans might have won the league and made the four-team CFP.

It should have been a glorious start to an even more glorious tenure for Riley. Instead, it’s increasingly looking like the pinnacle. Yes, four of USC’s losses were by four points or less. But if Riley doesn’t start netting out with more talent than he had the previous season, the margins are more likely to increase than flip to wins.

Riley has bristled when questioned about the idea that he left Oklahoma because he didn’t want to swim in the shark-infested recruiting waters of the SEC, but his talent acquisition style suggests there is merit to those questions. Presumably USC officials informed Riley before his hiring that they were working on a move to the Big Ten, which isn’t exactly easier. The news in 2023 that Oregon and Lanning were hitching a ride to USC’s new league probably hit like a sledgehammer, because now there was no escape. Ohio State and Michigan and Penn State already presented enough problems. Now this maniac who recruited just like his old boss Kirby Smart was coming too.

Maybe Riley just doesn’t have the temperament of a Lanning. I’ve often wondered why — after watching his defense falter for years — he didn’t seek out people who had worked for Smart or Nick Saban or Harbaugh (coaches whose defenses always played with an edge) and simply copy the way they train and practice. The hiring of D’Anton Lynn last offseason to run USC’s defense helped some, but Riley’s earlier refusal to go on a vision quest to fix that side of the ball remains baffling. Clemson’s Dabo Swinney did it when he hired Brent Venables to run his defense and then gave Venables exactly what he needed from a practice and game-planning perspective to play complementary football. Saban did that when he switched offensive philosophies in the middle of the previous decade. Smart did it when his offense wasn’t good enough to win national titles.

But perhaps Riley isn’t the same breed of coach as those men, even though three years ago he seemed capable of equalling or exceeding any of them.

The frustrating part about Riley is that at 41, he still has plenty of time to fix the issues of the past few seasons and build something special. But his public stance seems to be one of denial. The wunderkind who burned so bright at Oklahoma has fizzled under the bright lights of Los Angeles. Meanwhile, USC is stuck paying eight figures annually for a coach who either doesn’t realize his program is fathoms below the best in his league or — worse — does know it and knows his school can’t afford his buyout.

 

[Js1 86993]

9 minutes ago, kevwun said:

Bond having an ankle injury for 2 months is what hurt him.  He was on track for a high draft spot before that.  Bolden was always going to be a niche player in the NFL because of his size.

This. Bond’s injury is what hurt him, not us. Look at Golden

[Hermanator 7572]

10 minutes ago, kevwun said:

Bond having an ankle injury for 2 months is what hurt him.  He was on track for a high draft spot before that.  Bolden was always going to be a niche player in the NFL because of his size.

I think Bond will still get drafted fairly high. Maybe not first round now, but still high. The Bolden one I think is really hurting us more. There's no sure fire way to tank your draft stock than to transfer somewhere and rarely play. We have a lot more competition at WR coming back than last season, and Sark has the reputation of only going mainly with 3 or 4 at most guys in his main rotation.

It's just the way it is this season, but I still think they'll either get one later in portal season or up the offer to get someone like Golden to return if his draft grade after the season isn't as high as he's expecting. We'll be fine at WR in the end, but because we have so much returning and coming in he's apparently not going to spend over a million for someone like Singleton. 

[BornAndRaised 12835]

 

 

[Chuckie Finster 22991]

1 minute ago, Hermanator said:

 The Bolden one I think is really hurting us more.

Anyone expecting a 5'8" featherweight to have a larger role on a National Championship caliber team (fifth leading receiver and main punt returner) than the one Bolden did this year needs to have their expectations recalibrated.  He was never going to be drafted at that size, but sure - maybe he regrets leaving behind a 5-7, conference-less team to play for us.

[Burt Macklin 19221]

8 minutes ago, Hermanator said:

I think Bond will still get drafted fairly high. Maybe not first round now, but still high. The Bolden one I think is really hurting us more. There's no sure fire way to tank your draft stock than to transfer somewhere and rarely play. We have a lot more competition at WR coming back than last season, and Sark has the reputation of only going mainly with 3 or 4 at most guys in his main rotation.

It's just the way it is this season, but I still think they'll either get one later in portal season or up the offer to get someone like Golden to return if his draft grade after the season isn't as high as he's expecting. We'll be fine at WR in the end, but because we have so much returning and coming in he's apparently not going to spend over a million for someone like Singleton. 

Just stop. Silas Bolden being a role player is not hurting us with WR transfers. He wasn't some highly-touted transfer. Most of the current transfers probably have no clue who he is. 

[kevwun 16321]

Bolden came here because he wanted to win I think with an outside shot at getting drafted.  He knew he wasn't going to be guaranteed playing time other than punts.

Edited 2 hours ago by kevwun

[jdhorn92 1590]

3 minutes ago, BornAndRaised said:

 

 

He had a 12-0 season a couple years ago.  They would likey have been a playoff team, seems like a good fit for him.

[Vertigo 20476]

1 hour ago, Chips O'Toole said:

Drew wandering in and getting neg-bombed over "just asking questions" is the true meaning of christmas.

[Mitch Cumsteen 18929]

27 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Andy Staples: It's probably time to panic at USC

 

Big step for you posting negative articles about somebody besides Texas. Congrats!

[Tex-19 3009]

Any idea how the House settlement / revenue sharing is impacting the portal market? I wonder if teams are making offers under the assumption they'll have that money even though it isn't official yet

[SydneyCarton 49380]

Just now, Tex-19 said:

Any idea how the House settlement / revenue sharing is impacting the portal market? I wonder if teams are making offers under the assumption they'll have that money even though it isn't official yet

Drew, is that you?

[RollLeft 5089]

1 hour ago, SydneyCarton said:

You are so stupid, it's painful. You're like Ted Cruz at a sporting event, whenever you show up the entire fucking board collectively groans  throws their fucking hands up. 
 

He's so cringe isn't he?  He has one of the most punchable faces ever.  Dude just looks like a pedo.  I hate that he leans to the right.

[Vertigo 20476]

1 minute ago, RollLeft said:

He's so cringe isn't he?  He has one of the most punchable faces ever.  Dude just looks like a pedo.  I hate that he leans to the right.

username checks out

[Hermanator 7572]

14 minutes ago, Js1 said:

This. Bond’s injury is what hurt him, not us. Look at Golden

When was his first ankle injury? Near the end of the OU game? 

That certainly had a lot to do with it, but there's been a ton of times where he's been open and Quinn just misses him. Or he and Quinn aren't on the same page on adjusting routes to coverage. 

The 3 game stretch when Arch was the QB he had 12 receptions for 252 yds and 2 TDs

All the games since he's had 13 receptions for 168 yds and 2 TDs. 

Now the ankle injury definitely was a part of that, but he was still able to play and get open at times during that stretch. His production falling off a cliff also coincided with Quinn's injuries and production falling off a cliff. That just looks bad to WRs you're trying to land in the portal. Combined with Bolden and returning production, it's a harder sell than last season for portal WRs, and we just need to accept that. He's probably going to have to significantly overpay if he really wants one. 

 

[Helobious 9765]

39 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Hey fuckstick @Helobious. Lets maybe get to work.

You have 2 hands don’t you? Not sure why this has all fallen on me. 

[Chuckie Finster 22991]

14 minutes ago, Hermanator said:

When was his first ankle injury? Near the end of the OU game? 

That certainly had a lot to do with it, but there's been a ton of times where he's been open and Quinn just misses him. Or he and Quinn aren't on the same page on adjusting routes to coverage. 

The 3 game stretch when Arch was the QB he had 12 receptions for 252 yds and 2 TDs

All the games since he's had 13 receptions for 168 yds and 2 TDs. 

Now the ankle injury definitely was a part of that, but he was still able to play and get open at times during that stretch. His production falling off a cliff also coincided with Quinn's injuries and production falling off a cliff. That just looks bad to WRs you're trying to land in the portal. Combined with Bolden and returning production, it's a harder sell than last season for portal WRs, and we just need to accept that. He's probably going to have to significantly overpay if he really wants one. 

 

I don't really know how to say this nicely, but there is not a single transfer WR who knows (or cares) who the fuck Silas Bolden is.  And the idea that a Sark/Manning led offense will be anything other than enticing for a transfer WR is insane.  

Depth chart concerns (read: Ryan Wingo) are really the only thing potentially working against us, the rest of your post is genuine nonsense.

Edited 2 hours ago by Chuckie Finster

[6th Street 6655]

 

DTs coming off the board quick 

[Teryor 4971]

Kinda obvious why he's leaving

Edited 2 hours ago by Teryor

[totallynotabuttpirate 5477]

17 minutes ago, Hermanator said:

The 3 game stretch when Arch was the QB he had 12 receptions for 252 yds and 2 TDs

All the games since he's had 13 receptions for 168 yds and 2 TDs. 

 

[BurntOrange&White 41672]

2 minutes ago, Teryor said:

Kinda obvious why he's leaving

He was on scholarship?

[Js1 86993]

10 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said:

Depth chart concerns (read: Ryan Wingo) are really the only thing potentially working against us, the rest of your post is genuine nonsense.

Yep.

It's going to be a WR looking at our core of Moore, Wingo and, if he happens to return, Golden, and our freshman class and not seeing a spot to be THE guy.  

[Teryor 4971]

Meanwhile in messy news I hope we get more of the story on

 

[Sbbruin 22095]

42 minutes ago, BornAndRaised said:

 

Bummer, he was a big target for us.

[BurntOrange&White 41672]

1 minute ago, Js1 said:

Yep.

It's going to be a WR looking at our core of Moore, Wingo and, if he happens to return, Golden, and our freshman class and not seeing a spot to be THE guy.  

How big of a concern is a portal WR with two 5 stars coming in? Obviously you want experience but WR is one of those positions where freshmen can come in and do well.

[Js1 86993]

3 hours ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

Alabama DL in the portal is getting picks to Michigan.

That was fast.  His 3 hour commitment was shorter than the average college football game. 

 

 

 

 

[Teryor 4971]

3 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

How big of a concern is a portal WR with two 5 stars coming in? Obviously you want experience but WR is one of those positions where freshmen can come in and do well.

Plus you have to be concerned about snaps knowing that Parker is going to be stealing your snaps by season's end

[6th Street 6655]

9 minutes ago, Teryor said:

Kinda obvious why he's leaving

My 6 year old son can punt it farther than this scrub 

[Hermanator 7572]

6 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said:

I don't really know how to say this nicely, but there is not a single transfer WR who knows (or cares) who the fuck Silas Bolden is.  And the idea that a Sark/Manning led offense will be anything other than enticing for a transfer WR is insane.  

Depth chart concerns are really the only thing potentially working against us, the rest of your post is genuine nonsense.

Why are you hyper focusing on a single variable? In a complex system it's never a single variable that causes outcomes. It's a combination of variables, and I've laid them out here. Focus on the whole. 

Also, if you think these player's agents and families aren't picking apart every single thing about these rosters and situations you're naive. 

Say a player comes down to Texas and Team B. Team B is offering more money, but the player is leaning to Texas for the chance to win a title. The agent goes back to Texas but Sark doesn't want to match the highest offer. The agent is absolutely going to point to everything I've mentioned and then some to get him to go with the bigger pay day and bigger agent commission. People are paying attention to the smallest details in these negotiations. 

[Red Five 41609]

My 6 year old son can punt it farther than this scrub 

He’s a walk-on backup punter.

[linux 1765]

1 minute ago, Hermanator said:

Why are you hyper focusing on a single variable? In a complex system it's never a single variable that causes outcomes. It's a combination of variables, and I've laid them out here. Focus on the whole. 

Also, if you think these player's agents and families aren't picking apart every single thing about these rosters and situations you're naive. 

Say a player comes down to Texas and Team B. Team B is offering more money, but the player is leaning to Texas for the chance to win a title. The agent goes back to Texas but Sark doesn't want to match the highest offer. The agent is absolutely going to point to everything I've mentioned and then some to get him to go with the bigger pay day and bigger agent commission. People are paying attention to the smallest details in these negotiations. 

We just need to focus on the fundamentals and not overthink the small details though, this is the usually the answer, don't overfit a function or overtrain an AI model.

[Sgt Hulk 14339]

11 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

No idea if you've ever been there, but Miami is in Coral Gables, not South Beach.  Like USC isn't in Hollywood and UCLA isn't in Malibu.  Or San Pedro. 

USC is in beautiful south central LA a block from luxurious skid row 

[Js1 86993]

4 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

My 6 year old son can punt it farther than this scrub 

Can we get him in uniform for Saturday 

[Hook1997 5487]

23 minutes ago, Helobious said:

You have 2 hands don’t you? Not sure why this has all fallen on me. 

 

[Sgt Hulk 14339]

5 hours ago, closetojumping said:

UCLA’s campus is as nice as it gets.

People rip on the ghetto beyond the USC campus but you don’t deal with it or notice it while there. 

If we’re talking scenic and warm, I don’t know how one beats Pepperdine in Malibu. 

Well Pepperdine is currently on fire right now.  So there’s that lol

[SamMan 1460]

1 minute ago, Red Five said:

He’s a walk-on backup punter.

His numbers, albeit a smaller sample, were also better than Kern’s. 44.0 yds/p vs 40.5 yds/p. 

[Hermanator 7572]

Just now, linux said:

We just need to focus on the fundamentals and not overthink the small details though, this is the usually the answer, don't overfit a function or overtrain an AI model.

This isn't a simulated or artifical reality. It's the real world. Human nature and real world variables are going to factor in greatly. 

That said, all this was about is the fact there are several factors working against Sark getting a top end portal receiver. We obviously aren't getting a Sark or Arch Manning discount due to these factors this season. If he wants a Singleton level guy he's going to have to at minimum match the highest offer. Maybe that wouldn't be enough depending on who the kid prefers. 

[texifornia 58842]

15 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

Bummer, he was a big target for us.

Having watched too many midweek CUSA games this year, he has terrible ingame body language - ineffable "doesn't seem like a good teammate" energy. Talented, though he won't be picking on the little sisters of the poor (and losing to Kennesaw State) anymore.

[Chuckie Finster 22991]

6 minutes ago, Hermanator said:

Why are you hyper focusing on a single variable? In a complex system it's never a single variable that causes outcomes. It's a combination of variables, and I've laid them out here. Focus on the whole. 

Also, if you think these player's agents and families aren't picking apart every single thing about these rosters and situations you're naive. 

Say a player comes down to Texas and Team B. Team B is offering more money, but the player is leaning to Texas for the chance to win a title. The agent goes back to Texas but Sark doesn't want to match the highest offer. The agent is absolutely going to point to everything I've mentioned and then some to get him to go with the bigger pay day and bigger agent commission. People are paying attention to the smallest details in these negotiations. 

Well, then the entire thing boils down to "Sark doesn't want to match the highest offer" and not any of the other stuff you've been talking about. 

I can't speak on Texas's willingness to pony up for a WR, but I can assure you that nothing about a Sark or Manning led offense can be construed as a negative to a player who is truly considering "a combination of variables."