Coaches Adjusting to Transfer Portal

[Magus Ossis 2784]

1 minute ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

SIAP:

University of Florida freshman QB enrolled early, practiced with the team this spring, didn't win the starting job, and is using the portal to transfer out:

 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...fer-portal-after-enrolling-early-report-says/


I guess he was expecting to beat out Franks. 

I think he is helped should Bru prevail, but his case lowers Bru’s chances.

[Tex Long 4348]

22 minutes ago, Magus Ossis said:

I think he is helped should Bru prevail, but his case lowers Bru’s chances.

No, it doesn't. His case and Bru's have nearly nothing in common, other than both being freshmen. 

Of course, NC2A has demonstrated repeatedly that it has no problems with making inane decisions, so YMMV.

Anent Bru's case, the major speculation I've seen has it that McCoy has email/text from USC staff assuring him that Bro would definitely be his OC. Assuming that to be true, the immediate-play request will be granted.

[Gene Parmesan 3993]

Assuming the Bru waiver request was filed timely what is the hold up?  Fields and Tater tot got theirs pretty quick.

[Magus Ossis 2784]

14 minutes ago, Tex Long said:

No, it doesn't. His case and Bru's have nearly nothing in common, other than both being freshmen. 

Of course, NC2A has demonstrated repeatedly that it has no problems with making inane decisions, so YMMV.

Anent Bru's case, the major speculation I've seen has it that McCoy has email/text from USC staff assuring him that Bro would definitely be his OC. Assuming that to be true, the immediate-play request will be granted.

This is our concern, dude. I think they may have concern about public perception that immediate transfers are either inappropriately increasing or are now normal. Of course, I could be totally wrong with NCAA disregarding factors like the school involved, whether there is a lawyer, etc, weighing each case solely on its merits (insert laugh track here).

[Tex Long 4348]

1 hour ago, Magus Ossis said:

This is our concern, dude. I think they may have concern about public perception that immediate transfers are either inappropriately increasing or are now normal. Of course, I could be totally wrong with NCAA disregarding factors like the school involved, whether there is a lawyer, etc, weighing each case solely on its merits (insert laugh track here).

Perhaps a coin flip - maybe a die roll - but Jones' issue doesn't affect the outcome. It's certainly well within the realm of possibilities that Bru gets denied, but in that event Jones will be nothing more than another of the NC2A's bullshit excuses.

[LTtxfan 48980]

Portal Stats from Brian Davis....

Stat of the day comes via @247Sports: Of the 450 players at Power 5-level schools who have entered the transfer portal, only 20 percent landed at another P5-level school.

8:44 AM - May 16, 2019

 

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by LTtxfan

[Tex Long 4348]

Most of 'em portle themselves on account of they aren't playin'.

Most of 'em ain't playin' on account of they aren't good enough.

Looks like "most" is about eighty percent.

[mdleast 8262]

Just heard on a podcast that Stanford is the only Power 5 team that has no player in the portal.

[LTtxfan 48980]

14 hours ago, mdleast said:

Just heard on a podcast that Stanford is the only Power 5 team that has no player in the portal.

 

Stanford escaping the portal dog so far....

[TexanInIowa 25]

On 12/22/2018 at 9:32 PM, LTtxfan said:

https://pistolsfiringblog.com/mike-gundy-on-transfer-rule-ncaa-got-a-little-ahead-of-themselves/

Mike Gundy.....

“You have to start working that now,” said Gundy. “(There will probably be) another recruiting service and office just for portal recruiting, based on high school and junior college recruiting. So we’re just going to have to play our way through it and see how it all falls. It’s new for us.”

One gripe Oklahoma State’s CEO has is, what at least he perceives, an oversight by the council when the change was made — the rigid 25-scholarship limit per year that doesn’t account for those who may leave early or exercise their right to transfer.

"The NCAA is going to have to adjust the rules,” said Gundy. “They’re going to have to get rid of the initials. Gonna have to go to just 85 scholarships, cause you can’t keep losing 3-4 kids a year based on the vehicle they’re using for young men to transfer. So once they wanted to put that in place, I’m good if that’s what they wanna do. But they have to adjust it along the way.

"They got a little ahead of themselves, in my opinion. They’re in a position now where they’re gonna have to make some adjustments really fast.”

"I have to say that I agree with Gundy on this point. Make it a rolling 85-scholly limit, and leave it up to schools as to how and when they fill that number as long as they don’t exceed it."

The entire problem is coaches will start pushing students out the door through the portal.  This is a slippery slope. They will be like, "Hey, that should not count against our graduation rate, that guy transferred to Potawami U".  or "Hey, that guy did not lose any eligibility, it was his on choice to transfer out!"

 

On the other hand, coaches recruiting players just so they can ride the bench to keep them out of the hands of the competition will go by the wayside.

[LTtxfan 48980]

Seven months into the transfer portal, college football coaches break down its impact and future

by Dennis Dodd.   @dennisdoddcbs

May 15, 2019 at 1:24 pm ET • 6 min read

The transfer portal has thrown a wrench into college football roster management, and it's just beginning...  Kirby Smart is torn. Georgia's coach believes players deserve a certain amount of transfer freedom. Excuse him, though, if he's not exactly celebrating the seven-month anniversary of the transfer portal this week.  "My biggest problem with the portal is that it gives kids an easy way out," Smart said. "I know the devil's advocate of players' rights and they should be able to go wherever they want to go. But I'm telling you, no normal parent would say, 'At the first sign of trouble, I want my son to run.'"

Welcome, then, to the first cautious baby steps of the new transfer environment. Beginning on Oct. 15, 2018, transferring athletes could no longer be "blocked" by their school or coach. They needed only notify the departing school that then put their name in the portal -- a secure database that has become a one-stop shop for roster enhancement.

Some have dispensed with the flowery language calling the portal college athletics' version of "free agency."  "It would be no different than the NFL saying, 'We have a scouting department for colleges, but we [also] have a scouting dept for free agents,'" Smart said. "The NFL free agent market means [they] have to evaluate these 20 free agents. We just happen to have a larger pool, which is the portal."

There are almost as many questions about the portal as FBS football players in it -- 720 at the time this story is being printed, as compiled unofficially by 247Sports.

Rosters can be wrecked and rebuilt. Smart himself lost 2018's No. 1 recruit, quarterback Justin Fields, to Ohio State.  "No regrets," Smart said forcefully. "I would go recruit the best player [again].".  Call it transfer roulette. No one seems to know where it's all headed. It's difficult to have sympathy for coaches when their biggest headache is "roster management.". 

But there is also that ethical, psychological, loyalty component to it: Be a man. Finish what you started.   Coaches preach it until they don't and leave for the next best job overnight. A bit of hypocrisy at work there?   As for loyalty, you won't find the following phrase written in large type on the portal: A school doesn't have to renew the scholarship of any player who places his name in the portal.  "When you do that, we have the ability to take your grant-in-aid away," said Arizona State coach Herm Edwards. "You better understand that. … Once your name hits the portal, you're basically saying, '[I'm gone].'"  Smart has a more succinct summary of that process... "Once we see you're in the portal, you can be cut," Smart said.

CBS Sports has spent the past few weeks gathering reactions to the first seven months of the portal's existence. It's obvious coaches, administrators and players are still trying to figure it out.  Here is look from the portal battlefront.

Ryan Day, Ohio State coach: "We want to recruit and develop guys. However, the portal has kind of changed things. We've tread carefully in that world. We thought Justin [Fields] was a fit for a lot of reasons.  "When Dwayne Haskins leaves as a sophomore, we think he has three years left, and he comes for one and throws 50 TD passes. He's a first-round draft pick. He left things uneasy, almost a mess. We kind of had to figure all that out in short order. When Justin became available, it made sense. We didn't know if he'd get the waiver or not.". 

Fields is among a number of high-profile players who won their transfer waiver appeals for immediate eligibility. NCAA rules allow undergraduate transfers to skip the year-in-residence requirement if they can prove "extenuating circumstances outside an athlete's control." Those waivers are separate from the portal discussion.  Todd Berry, American Football Coaches Association executive director: "The portal isn't the problem. It's the leniency of the waivers that's the problem. … Some are transferring for the right reasons. There are others who just broke up with their girlfriend and want to go back and get things right. That doesn't always work out, then they come back two months later wanting to come back on the team. Where the leniency came from was surprising to everyone this year.".  In reality, waiver appeals continue to be granted at the same rate as they have recent years -- approximately 65-75 percent are granted.

Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma coach: "It's added a waiver wire for us. Then you gotta be really smart about your spots. Right now, we don't have a good system to fill those spots. Especially when you get a team like us, you've got the portal to deal with, which is a great thing, but we've got a bunch of guys leave early to go to the draft.".  Riley got one of this offseason's biggest portal prizes in graduate transfer quarterback Jalen Hurts from Alabama.

Kirby Smart, Georgia coach: "A lot of small colleges are saying, 'I'll just go recruit the portal and stop signing kids.' … We would never do that because we're not bottom feeders. I've talked to some guys at that level -- I'm not going to repeat their names. They'll say, 'We're just going to save all our scholarships. Instead of signing a 25-man class, we'll sign five of the best high school players we can and then go sign 20 out of the portal.'"

Most of the above scenario would have to do with FBS players transferring to lower divisions. FBS players are eligible immediately if they go, for example, to FCS or Division II.  Bill Moos, Nebraska athletic director: "I sat in a Big Ten meeting about eight, nine weeks ago. What worries me we'll be sitting in this room in two years talking about free agency and salary caps. I'm going back to the ranch when that happens."  Don't know about paying players, but the Cornhuskers did take a hit in the transfer portal. Eleven Huskers entered the portal in the offseason, according to 247Sports. 

Berry, AFCA executive director: "The idea that [players are] walking away and we're transferring as coaches [is wrong]. We're not. Most of us are owing a $2 million [buyout] to the institution that we're leaving.".  Please don't compare transfers to millionaire coaches. That's two different types of freedoms. That buyout is usually paid for by a coach's new employer and certainly doesn't dissuade him from leaving. Market forces decide coaches' salaries. Arcane and sometimes arbitrary rules have governed uncompensated players' ability to transfer.

Clay Helton, USC coach: "I'm hoping kids get educated on it. With it being new this year, I think it went over the top. … I've got to figure there will be a lot of people without homes."

Although unofficial, that 247Sports transfer portal list shows approximately 400 of those 720 FBS players have yet to find a new school.

Herm Edwards, Arizona State coach: "It's caught a lot of kids by surprise in the fact that a lot of guys don't have scholarships. There's a little bit now, 'Whoa, what just happened?' I think they assumed their name is in the portal, 'I'll get a scholarship somewhere else.' The unintended consequence has hit them in the face."

One concern of coaches is roster depletion -- not having enough players. Edwards has lost at least eight players to the portal, gaining only one, according to 247Sports. That severely impacts his ability to keep the limit of 85 scholarship players. Some coaches have quietly suggested programs get an extra scholarship for every player they lose to the portal.  Smart, Georgia coach: "[The transfer issue is], 'Where are you going to go to get developed the best?' But that's not the society we live in. We live in the, 'Me, now, I want mine now. I want to go play right now.'"

Love it or hate it, that's why the portal is here.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/seven-months-into-the-transfer-portal-college-football-coaches-break-down-its-impact-and-future/

Edited May 17, 2019 by LTtxfan

[LTtxfan 48980]

Portal scouting: Searching for transfers in college football

By The Associated Press  By RALPH D. RUSSO Updated May 14, 2019 2:00 PM

Justin Crouse, director of player personnel for Memphis, makes his first check of the transfer portal around 8 a.m. each day, searching for new names in the NCAA's database of football players looking for a new school.   He checks again at lunch and one more time -- at least -- before he calls it day.   For years, Crouse's primary duties for Memphis have been identifying and evaluating recruits in high school and junior college. That was pre-portal.   "I would say 40 percent of the time now is concentrating on guys that are leaving other places," Crouse said.

The NCAA's new transfer rules have changed the process by which athletes switch schools, loosening some restrictions and leading more players to explore options. Football coaches have responded by throwing more manpower toward monitoring that growing talent pool and scouting the portal.  "We get an alert every day that somebody gets added into the portal, but then we get a weekly breakdown of position, hometown," Memphis coach Mike Norvell said. "And then trying to collect all the information, the video, to get a sense of who these kids have developed to be."

The portal is the NCAA's cryptic name for the database it maintains to track which athletes -- in all sports -- have notified their schools they wish to transfer. The big change from last year's rules reform was athletes no longer needed to request permission to transfer. Schools and coaches can no longer stop a transfer and dictate where the athlete goes. The point of the portal was to create transparency and order.  Before rules reform, the transfer process could be clandestine. Because athletes needed permission from their current coach to be contacted by other schools, it encouraged third parties to get involved, an active grapevine filled with high school and 7-on-7 coaches, personal trainers, parents and friends of friend.  "Before it was by word of mouth," Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said. "Somebody gave you a call, 'This guy might be transferring,' and get going. Now, it's every day we have people that are in our program checking the portal."

The portal provides more exposure for the transferring player and, ostensibly, more opportunities. Instead of deals being struck under the table even before players officially were granted their release, now every school in the country has chance to make a pitch.  "It takes away ... the middleman in making the connection," Norvell said.  Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins said: "I think it's beneficial for the players.". Portal patrol duties tend to fall to the player personnel department -- or some equivalent.  Crouse said he prioritizes players from Memphis' recruiting area and those who play positions of team need. All highly productive players and quarterbacks get a look, too. Crouse compiles background material and film, going back to high school, using services such as Hudl and Pro Football Focus. He then sends that information to the Memphis coaches sorting by position, recruiting area and previous relationships.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart compared working the portal to NFL teams having a portion of their scouting department dedicated to veteran free agents. "We just happen to have a larger pool (of players), which is the portal," Smart said. "We know most of the guys on the board because we knew them coming out of high school and so we had a background on that. We said, 'yeah, we didn't think that guy was very good there and that's why he's leaving. So we'll pass. That guy is an intriguing guy because we don't have that position or we just had a mass exodus of three guys leave some position, juniors came out early we weren't expecting. Better go to the portal, find a good backup.'"

The portal has opened up the process, but ultimately relationships built during high school recruiting still play a major role.  Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said he wants his staff to keep track of players who really liked Oregon coming out of high school but chose to sign elsewhere. "This is one we may want to keep on a hot file," Cristobal said. "So if it does happen, then you have the option to act relatively quickly."

Staffers are on the lookout not just for talent, but fit -- on the field and off.  "He went to this college, but he's from here. Yeah, that raises attention regardless of position," Collins said. "He's leaving because he wants to be closer to home. Well, if his home is Dallas then don't worry, we're good.". Background checks might be the most important part of portal scouting. Why exactly is the player leavi ng?   "There's always a story," Norvell said.  It's those stories that have made some coaches stick to an old-school approach to pursuing transfers.  Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott said if the Panthers bring in a transfer he prefers it to be a player with which the staff is already familiar. "But you know we do look at (the portal), but like I said I don't think you want to build your football program with a bunch of guys that have already quit somewhere," Elliott said.

And that grapevine is still plenty active.  "I think everyone's just kind of waiting for that bulletin to pop up," Cristobal said. "But I think everyone speculates as well."

https://www.newsday.com/sports/college/college-football/portal-scouting-searching-for-transfers-in-college-football-1.30999298

[Parliament 14138]

Aggie decides Columbus > College Station

[LTtxfan 48980]

WOW.... Open season for in-conference transfers in the PAC12.....

 

[mdleast 8262]

Huh. Guess that’s a preemptive “better to keep those players in our conference” vs risking losing them to other conferences move.

[Machinator 32097]

1 hour ago, LTtxfan said:

WOW.... Open season for in-conference transfers in the PAC12.....

 

 

2 minutes ago, mdleast said:

Huh. Guess that’s a preemptive “better to keep those players in our conference” vs risking losing them to other conferences move.

I think this applies to college basketball. Not sure if football is involved.

[LTtxfan 48980]

33 minutes ago, Machinator said:

 

I think this applies to college basketball. Not sure if football is involved.

Interesting if it's only basketball??   Found this:

 

Pac-12 eliminates ‘loss of season’ penalty for intra-conference transfers

Today 3:42 PM

By James Crepea | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Athletes transferring within the Pac-12 will no longer lose a year of eligibility, but will still have to sit out a year in residency if they’re an undergraduate.

The Pac-12′s CEO Group voted to amend its intra-conference transfer rules to eliminate the “loss of a season” penalty on Monday. The move was supported by the Pac-12 Council and conference Faculty Athletics Representatives at the league’s spring meetings earlier this month.

The change may seem small, particularly since undergraduate intra-conference transfers will still have to sit out a year in residency unless granted a waiver, but it’s a move in line with other conferences across the country and could have great implications, particularly among graduate transfers.  The conference said the move was “designed to provide student-athletes with a similar experience to any other student who decides to transfer.”

Edited May 20, 2019 by LTtxfan

[LTtxfan 48980]

For players, the Transfer Portal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be

By Zach Barnett -

May 16, 2019

It’s a phrase you’ll see every day on Recruiting Twitter: Don’t chase a level, chase a fit. Don’t set your eyes on a division or a conference you want to play, pay attention to who really wants you.   It’s a lesson that plenty of active college football players are learning the hard way right now.

The NCAA has taken dramatic moves to grant players more freedom of movement over the last year-plus, by no longer requiring players to get their coaches’ permission to transfer and by creating the Transfer Portal — a marketplace where players can enter register their names, allowing other schools to contact them. It’s a chance to do the recruiting process all over again, except older, wiser and with real college tape to show new coaches.

Turns out, plenty of players aren’t quite as desired as they thought they’d be. More than 450 players at the Power 5 level alone have entered into the Portal as of this writing— 247Sports and ESPN have their own trackers, and more are entering every minute, it seems — and, according to an analysis by The Athletic‘s Max Olson, only 20 percent have found a new home at the Power 5 level. Some, like former Michigan quarterback Brandon Peters (above), are still hanging in the Portal, looking for a landing point.

A player entering his name into the Portal can re-create the recruiting process, but only to a point. Schools are still bound by the NCAA limits of 85 scholarships on a roster and 25 per year. Sure, they may hold a handful of spots for transfers, but they’re not loading up like they do on Signing Day. They simply don’t have the room.

Another difference: If a coach encounters a player on the Portal, he’s going to wonder why he’s in the Portal in the first place. In most cases, it’s not the true sophomore starter that’s transferring, it’s the redshirt junior he passed up.  “I look at some of these guys that other teams pick up and then I go back and I look at their résumé,” Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards told the site, “and I go, ‘Why would you want a guy with that type of production, with not a lot of production? You might as well go get a freshman guy and build your program.’”

The article in The Athletic by Olson is a great read for coaches and a necessary word of caution for players. 

Edited May 23, 2019 by LTtxfan

[Tex Long 4348]

The Portaleers are players who are just biding their time until they can go Pro. Many, perhaps most, are looking to be seen more easily and more often, so the Pro scouts can see that they're really worthy of a draft spot. They don't seem to understand that - for the most part - they're not being screwed by their coaches, the reason they're not playing that much is that they're just not that good. No doubt some do have a problem other than ability,  what their coaches perceive as "attitude", which might be a non-issue for other coaches. Some of them are at least good enough to be of help to another team with problems at their positions, but "some" has so far proven to be about one in five, as far as "major" programs go. 

"Student" athletes, not so much, it seems.

[HRSchenker 2259]

I think you hit the nail on the head. A lot of these players are letting exposure and belief of future success get in the way of reality. Just look at a player like Connor Brewer. Gets recruited to Texas and redshirts only to have Case McCoy jump him on the depth chart. Transfers to Arizona and gets beat out by a freshman. Transfers to Northern Arizona but then changes his mind. Then transfers to Virginia and finishes his career as the backup with a 30% pass completion percentage and 1 rushing TD in garbage time. Just terrible.

[LTtxfan 48980]

Portal talk.....

 

 

[Machinator 32097]

 

[Tex Long 4348]

So... re-entering the portal would be exportal? Reportal?

Bring it.

[mdleast 8262]

Portal chortle

[LTtxfan 48980]

10 hours ago, Machinator said:

 

 

 

[Tex Long 4348]

15 hours ago, mdleast said:

Portal chortle

DePortal

[Horn80 6075]

On 5/28/2019 at 2:36 PM, Tex Long said:

So... re-entering the portal would be exportal? Reportal?

Bring it.

The portal closes once you go through it because Einstein said you can’t travel back in time.

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

In my mind’s eye the portal looks like Hope Solo

[LTtxfan 48980]

FSU coaches concerned popularity of transfer portal is hurting athletes

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/florida-state-seminoles/os-sp-fsu-acc-spring-meetings-0515-20190516-2r422oxy3vf7bjccrz6jc5frzi-story.html

[LTtxfan 48980]

SEC coaches quotes on transfer portal

https://www.al.com/sports/2019/05/sec-coaches-comment-on-transfer-portal.html

[LTtxfan 48980]

College coaches need to stop complaining about the transfer portal and start adjusting

DANIEL WOLKEN | USA TODAY.   Apr. 22, 2019

If you’ve been following how college football coaches have assessed the NCAA’s so-called “transfer portal,” you’re likely to get the impression it is driving us to the end of college sports and eventually to the end of civilization as we know it. 

Even for a group of notorious complainers every time a rule change makes their lives more difficult, The Portal has triggered an avalanche of angst unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory.  “I’m worried about college football,” Penn State coach James Franklin told reporters in February. “I’m worried about what we're teaching young people.”  TCU’s Gary Patterson took it a step further, telling the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that "we won't have college football" if making it easier for players to transfer turns into virtual free agency. Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown was the most recent to jump on board, telling reporters he’s “not sure this was the way it's supposed to be,” while North Carolina State's Dave Doeren turned it into a player safety issue, telling ESPN, "What happens when a position group has three guys left in it? I don't think we can manage our rosters the way we used to be able to."   Even Lane Kiffin -- yes, the same Kiffin who was free to leave Tennessee for Southern California after just a year — blasted the Portal as the symptom of “a generation of just wanting attention no matter what” in an interview with the Palm Beach Post. 

But here's the truth: The creation of The Portal, which is really nothing more than an electronic database for players to signal their intention to transfer, was only necessary because of the actions of the coaching industry itself.  

To understand that, however, let’s talk about what The Portal actually is and why it differs from how things used to work.   Since last October, athletes who are interested in changing schools need only to inform the school’s compliance staff that they intend to transfer and want to be entered into The Portal. The school must comply within 48 hours, and once the athlete’s name is online, they can be contacted and recruited by anyone.   That's it. That’s all The Portal does. Seems pretty reasonable, right? 

But it is a pretty big departure from the way things were handled previously. Prior to The Portal, an athlete wanting to transfer had to obtain a so-called "permission to contact” form signed by the school’s athletic director, which was necessary for the athlete to then talk to other schools.  In most cases, this wasn’t a big deal. But the “permission to contact” forms were too often used as leverage — either schools wouldn’t sign them if they wanted to try to pressure the player into coming back or coaches would insist that if a player wanted to leave, they couldn’t transfer to particular schools or conferences.  

Those situations rarely worked out well. In fact, they became massive public relations blunders and a constant source of embarrassment for the NCAA.  Some notable examples: 

 In 2011, receiver DeAnthony Arnett wanted to leave Tennessee after his freshman season and go back home to Michigan, in part due to his father’s ailing health. But then-coach Derek Dooley initially restricted him from Michigan and Michigan State, effectively forcing him to a MAC school. The rationale? Tennessee said it had “a long-standing policy of not releasing student-athletes to schools that we play or recruit against.” After criticism, Tennessee backed down and Arnett went to Michigan State.  In 2012, Wisconsin basketball player Jarrod Uthoff's desire to leave blew up into a huge story when coach Bo Ryan blocked him from half his initial list of 25, including the entire Big Ten, Marquette and Iowa State. He eventually went home to Iowa and, due to Wisconsin’s stance, had to pay his own way for a year until NCAA rules allowed him to get back on scholarship.  In 2013, quarterback Wes Lunt transferred to Illinois after Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy restricted him from talking to schools in the Pac-12, Big 12 and SEC. Former Vanderbilt basketball coach Kevin Stallings blocked Sheldon Jeter’s attempt to transfer to Pittsburgh, forcing him to go to a junior college for a year. Then, after Stallings went to Pitt, he tried to restrict Cam Johnson (who had already graduated) from going within the ACC to North Carolina (under public pressure, Pitt eventually relented). In 2017, Kansas State coach Bill Snyder had to apologize after initially denying receiver Corey Sutton’s list of 35 schools he wanted to contact, revealing publicly that Sutton had failed a drug test, then finally granting him a full release.  Former Texas Tech quarterback Michael Brewer was initially restricted from going to any Bowl Subdivision program in the state of Texas before it went public. It was then revised to just the Big 12. He ended up at Virginia Tech. 

Honestly, we could go on and on for hours citing similar situations. And rightly, once the NCAA recognized that coaches and administrators couldn’t help themselves from abusing their power, it decided to change its policy.  “The creation of the transfer portal wasn’t just a progressive step in the direction of giving student-athletes more freedom of choice,” said attorney Thomas Mars, who has successfully represented several high-profile athletes seeking immediate eligibility waivers. “It was also a way to remedy the problem of coaches blocking the exit door just because they could - even when the coaching staff had knowingly misled or mistreated the student-athlete. I witnessed that myself at several different schools before the portal went online last October.”  You can certainly understand why coaches, who are used to having control over everything in their programs, are now upset because they no longer have a lever to pull when one of their players wants to leave. 

But rather than lament about the opportunity to teach a life lesson or complain about making it too easy for this generation to run away in the face of adversity, coaches would be wise to actually invest more in relationships with their players and perhaps think of ways to make their programs a place kids want to stay.  The power coaches had to make transferring more difficult was used and abused to the point where it had to be taken away to save them from themselves. We can argue whether their current complaints have some validity, but what happened prior to The Portal is not a matter of debate.  “I understand why the coaches don’t like the transfer portal,” Mars said. “But I don’t understand why so many ADs are letting their head coaches gripe about it so publicly. People who are paid multimillion-dollar salaries in other fields don’t whine about new challenges they encounter in their jobs. They’re expected to go figure it out and deal with it.”

Indeed, The Portal is working exactly as it was intended — for the benefit of the athletes. It’s time for the coaches to stop whining and start adjusting.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/columnist/dan-wolken/2019/04/22/college-coaches-transfer-portal-should-complain-less-adjust/3540649002/

[LTtxfan 48980]

Depth problems may occur for teams who lose too many players to the transfer portal.  But if teams are allowed to replace that spot with another scholarship player, it may just provide an avenue for some coaches to pressure unwanted players to portal out.

Possible ways coaches may attempt to protect the depth of their rosters going forward:

• Recruiting a higher # of versatile athlete type players that could start at multiple positions
• Stronger walk-on programs 
• Focus more on Player retention strategies (Recruit existing players to stay)

[LTtxfan 48980]

Decommittments increasing too....

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck on decommitments: "It's just part of college football."

By Megan Ryan.     MAY 22, 2019 — 

The Gophers have had three recruits decommit this month. And while that might seem like a cause for pause, coach P.J. Fleck isn't too concerned.

"It’s May. We have a lot of commits that are early. There are 642 decommits across the country. I think last year and the year prior, that’s averaging five to six per team. It’s just part of college football," Fleck said in Owatonna at the Coaches Caravan stop Tuesday. "It’s where our game is right now, especially with portals and transfers, guys who commit really early. Every team goes through it. We’ve gone through it the last couple years. We’re getting more and more attention in recruiting. There’s a lot more people coming after us in recruiting, which is a good thing.

"I think people should be excited about what we’re doing in recruiting because all eyes are coming to us. That’s what we want to be able to have," Fleck continued. "Sure, there are people who decommit, but we’re going to focus on the ones who do commit and the ones who really want to be Gophers from start to finish. Those races aren’t done yet, either. We’ll have some other people join our team very shortly as well."  Fleck also said the players are back on campus after maybe the world's shortest summer break and ran their first player practices Monday.

Also from Fleck...When speaking to the crowd Wednesday at the Coaches Caravan stop in Dellwood, Fleck gave a little insight into his recruiting.

"I have a rule: You commit to me, you can't go see another place," Fleck said. "Not because I'm insecure. But if you want to be committed, you're going to be committed. Too many people teach young people to be committed but also one foot in and one foot out. ... You’ve got to be all in."  Or as Fleck termed it: "We have a problem in our society. We don't have a problem in our program."

I thought that was kind of interesting. In a perfect world, that is how college decisions would work. But in recent times, it's much more of a Wild West situation. But Fleck said if commits come to him and say they're interested in visiting other schools, he tells them that's fine, but they have to decommit first. That doesn't necessarily mean they can't recommit again if the scholarship is still there in a few months or whatnot. 

 

• . (link: https://247sports.com/Season/2020-Football/Decommits/) 247sports.com/Season/2020-Fo…

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by LTtxfan

[LTtxfan 48980]

Guess coaches better build up their walk-on programs??

BREAKING: Third Scholarship Safety in NCAA Transfer Portal for West Virginia

By. CHRIS ANDERSON  June 5, 2019

The safety position room is getting quite bare. For the third time in the last 36 hours, a West Virginia safety has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. This time, it's redshirt sophomore Eugene Brown, a source told Mike Casazza, with a second source confirming the news to me. Brown joins fellow defensive backs Kenny Robinson and Derrek Pitts, both of whom entered the portal in the last couple of days.  Brown committed to West Virginia as part of the 2017 recruiting class. He held a three-star, 0.8463-rating in the 247Sports Composite as the nation's No. 71 safety. He redshirted his first year on campus, earning Defensive Scout Team Champion for the Kansas game. In 2018, he played in eleven of twelve games, but almost exclusively on special teams. He was named Defensive Scout Team Champion for the week of the Baylor game, and earned Special Teams Champion in the Texas Tech game. He had not, however, cracked the two deep this spring.

Brown is now the ninth scholarship player to enter the transfer portal and leave the program since the end of the season. Offensive linemen Matt Jones and Dontae Anguswere the first, and have been gone since before Brown even arrived. Wide receiversDillon Spalding and Marcus Simms, defensive backs Kenny Robinson, Derrek Pitts and Jordan Adams, and defensive lineman Tyrese Allen all followed suit. So far, only Jones (Youngstown State) and Spalding (James Madison) have reportedly found new homes.

https://247sports.com/college/west-virginia/Article/BREAKING-Third-Scholarship-Safety-in-NCAA-Transfer-Portal-132615122/

[Guest]

On 5/16/2019 at 4:18 PM, Tex Long said:

Most of 'em portle themselves on account of they aren't playin'.

Most of 'em ain't playin' on account of they aren't good enough.

Looks like "most" is about eighty percent.

some never give themselves a chance.

Kliff Kingsbury graduated after 2002 season.  Graham Harrell started his Soph season in 2006.  

in 2003, B.J. Symons had the best passing season in school history. in 2004, Sonny Cumbie had the 6th best passing season.  In 2005, Cody Hodges had 9th best passing season, in Tech history that is chock full of prolific passing  production..  All 3 of these guys were 5th year Seniors who bided their time and were spectacular when they got their shots.

I don't begrudge a young man for transferring.  I do think some of them get some TERRIBLE advice.

Edited June 5, 2019 by slorch

[Tex Long 4348]

Errbody wanna be Tua or Trevor. Or Kyler. Or Baker. If you're not good enough for Tua or Trevor, first year, the portal beckons.

It'll be even worse if Hurts shows up in the RileyRaid... 

College degree? From The University? Not so much.

[LTtxfan 48980]

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/26948342/big-12-commish-all-transfers-sit-one-year

Big 12 commish: All transfers should sit one year

Andrea Adelson.       ESPN Staff Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Amid growing discussion about the transfer portal, waiver process and debates over whether all transfers should gain immediate eligibility at their new schools, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Tuesday he believes all student-athletes who want to transfer should sit out one year, with no exceptions.  Bowlsby spoke on a commissioner's panel with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and ACC commissioner John Swofford at the annual National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics convention. When the transfer portal topic came up, Bowlsby said he thought it was a "colossal mistake" for the NCAA to set different transfer guidelines for different sports.  Football, men's and women's basketball, baseball and men's ice hockey transfers must sit out one year unless they apply to the NCAA for and are granted a waiver for immediate eligibility. Meanwhile, student-athletes in all other sports are allowed immediate eligibility without penalty, provided they only transfer once. 

"There's a foundational mistake in all this that we ought to seek to fix," Bowlsby told the assembled group, adding if he was a "benevolent dictator" he would enact a rule that would make all transfers sit out one year.   "There's a rule that treats different sports different ways and we should have had a rule that treated all the sports the same way," Bowlsby told ESPN after the panel ended. "We would have been much better off if there was always a transfer residence requirement in all sports. Everyone sits out and gets acclimated and then have a chance to get a year back by graduating."

Much of the recent debate about transfers has centered on empowering student-athletes in their decisions to transfer, and that is a big reason the transfer portal was created. Any student-athlete seeking a transfer puts their name in the portal to let prospective institutions know they are interested in changing schools. Part of the recent discussion has centered on whether all student-athletes should gain immediate eligibility, especially as high-profile waivers have been granted over the past year.

Bowlsby said he has not brought up his ideas at meetings on the topic, and he's not necessarily pushing for change -- but he believes it must be considered.   "The problem is, what's a good rule for some is not a good rule for all when you have 350 institutions in Division I that are all trying to do what's best for their institutions," Bowlsby said. "It's very difficult, if not impossible, to come up with a plan that is mutually impactful and favorable for everyone. What's a great rule for 100 schools is a terrible rule for the other 250, so the viability of those kinds of ideas -- it's a big change, but I think that's where change has to start. We have to think about it at its foundation and design something that works better than what we have."

Swofford said he believes the transfer portal is working well, but there is a need to find a sweet spot between roster management for coaches and empowering student-athletes to make decisions that are best for them. He isn't sure a blanket rule requiring everyone to sit out a year is the best option.   "I'm not sure, in the whole scheme of things, we should eliminate the opportunity for unique situations to be addressed," Swofford told ESPN. "But if you're going to do that, it needs to be ... the outcomes of those exceptions need to be consistent, and that's the trick. If it can't be consistent, then maybe in my opinion we do fall back to one year across the board because it is academically sound. But I'd hate to see unique circumstances totally eliminated from the discussion when they're merited, but that puts a lot of pressure on the system to be consistent year to year."

Bowlsby believes requiring everyone to sit out a year would end up decreasing the number of student-athletes looking to transfer.   "You'd still have transfers, but you'd have transfers that are less purely for athletic reasons and I think it would be more difficult to transfer," Bowlsby said. "People would think hard about whether they wanted to transfer if they had to sit out a year. They would think about whether or not they were planning to graduate and, in doing so, get their year back. I think it would cause them to think more about their initial choice of schools at the outset. I think all those are good things."

[Tex Long 4348]

Fuck that. Let errbody play. You want to pretend they're students? Make 'em enroll and pass, but let'em play. Hell, let faculty play if they want.

When they start playin' again?

[LTtxfan 48980]

Illinois:  Trying to Rebuild thru the Portal (And Save the Head Coach's Job)

https://www.si.com/college-football/2019/06/19/lovie-smith-illinois-brandon-peters-transfer  

"Will Illinois's Transfer Portal Spree Change the Tone of Lovie Smith's Tenure?"

By LAKEN LITMAN    June 19, 2019

What’s next for Illinois under Lovie Smith? Amid a four-win season that included a 63–0 blowout loss to Iowa on Senior Day in late November, there was your regularly programmed hot seat chatter. In his three years in Champaign, Smith has yet to totally rebuild the program, entering year four with a 9–27 overall record, 4–23 in the Big Ten. If there was more room for pessimism, 15 players entered the transfer portal this offseason, according to 247Sports’s tracker. Not great.

But may we introduce a potential positive storyline? Despite the steadily dismal outlook, Smith and his staff have added a handful of talent heading into this 2019 season, using the transfer portal in their favor arguably as well as anybody. Illinois has new players from Alabama, Georgia, USC and Michigan, most of whom are eligible to play immediately and expect to make an impact on the field this fall. The Fighting Illini haven’t had a top 40 recruiting class—much less a winning season—since 2011, but maybe Smith has figured something out on the transfer market.

It just so happens, too, that one of the biggest question marks for Illinois now is its quarterback situation. Former starter AJ Bush graduated and backup M.J. Rivers announced his intention to transfer this spring. Four-star prospect Isaiah Williams, the No. 2 overall prospect out of the state of Missouri, caught some buzz when he followed through on his commitment and signed with the Illini on National Signing Day, and Smith has stated that he would get a chance to compete for the starting job alongside inexperienced youngsters Matt Robinson and Coran Taylor.

But the real hype got rolling early this week when Illinois snagged one of the most proven quarterbacks still in the transfer portal. Tuesday night, Brandon Peters announced his plans to leave Michigan for Illinois. The former four-star recruit started four games for the Wolverines as a redshirt freshman in 2017 and completed 58 passes for 680 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions, but lost his job once Shea Patterson arrived. The good news for Illinois is that Peters has graduated, which means he can play immediately for Illinois and also has two years of eligibility remaining.

Peters will join a team full of eager transfers just like him, all of whom have a strong chance of starting for the Illini this fall. There’s a pair of former four-star wide receivers from USC in Trevon Sidney and Josh Imatorbhebhe, plus former five-star defensive end Oluwole Betiku, who signed with the Trojans as the No. 15 overall recruit in 2016; Alabama offensive lineman Richie Petibon (the nation’s fifth-ranked guard prospect in 2015) and former Georgia tight end Luke Ford (No. 51 overall recruit in 2018), who was denied a transfer waiver to gain immediate eligibility and must sit out the 2019 season.

These are solid additions to a team striving to make its first bowl game since 2014. Five or six wins is certainly doable in the Big Ten West, where another conference win or two have been there for the taking in recent years. Illinois eases into the season with three winnable games against Akron, UConn and Eastern Michigan, but then it’s straight into Big Ten play, including cross-division games with Michigan and Michigan State. Anything short of making the postseason in year four, and a new coach will likely take over what Smith has been trying to build the last three years. He agreed to an extension with the school at the end of last season, but Smith’s buyout drops from $12 million in 2018 to $4 million this year and $2 million in 2020, making it less painful for the Illini to cut ties if the on-field product stagnates.

Can Peters and the rest of the recent arrivals help move the Illini up another rung and stir up some faith in Smith’s long-term plan? There’s not much room for error in what could be a make-or-break season for their new program.

 

[Parliament 14138]

If they're hanging their hopes on Brandon Peters...I don't know what to say.

[Beau Vine 54004]

On 5/17/2019 at 11:35 AM, LTtxfan said:

Kirby Smart, Georgia coach: "A lot of small colleges are saying, 'I'll just go recruit the portal and stop signing kids.' … We would never do that because we're not bottom feeders. I've talked to some guys at that level -- I'm not going to repeat their names. They'll say, 'We're just going to save all our scholarships. Instead of signing a 25-man class, we'll sign five of the best high school players we can and then go sign 20 out of the portal.'"

Kirby Smart is a fucking liar.

On 5/17/2019 at 11:35 AM, LTtxfan said:

Berry, AFCA executive director: "The idea that [players are] walking away and we're transferring as coaches [is wrong]. We're not. Most of us are owing a $2 million [buyout] to the institution that we're leaving.".  Please don't compare transfers to millionaire coaches. That's two different types of freedoms. That buyout is usually paid for by a coach's new employer and certainly doesn't dissuade him from leaving. Market forces decide coaches' salaries. Arcane and sometimes arbitrary rules have governed uncompensated players' ability to transfer.

And this guy needs to shut the fuck up before he says something even stupider.  

[LTtxfan 48980]

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/27255934/manny-diaz-miami-vs-florida-transfer-portal-more  

Manny Diaz on Miami vs. Florida, the transfer portal and more

 

Here's an excerpt from article:

David Hale: You brought in a lot of transfers this offseason (eight in all since Dec. 1), which feels as close to embracing free agency as college football gets. You've yet to practice with all of them, but was there a concern about how so many transfers would fit in?

Manny Diaz: What helped us was, because we're trying to redefine who we are, no one had any status. The guys we're bringing in, there wasn't older guys saying, "This is the way we do it." Everyone was being challenged. Everyone was looked at the same way. There was no new guys and old guys. There was guys that could live up to what we asked them to do and guys that couldn't. That's really how we defined it. If you look back to 2016 when we came in as a defensive staff, that's how we ended up with three freshman linebackers starting. There were players that were either going to do what we wanted to do and uphold the standard or guys that weren't.

Hale: I'm guessing you wouldn't have wanted so many transfers in an ideal world, but it was needed to shore up the roster. But if it goes well, is it something that could be a regular part of the plan moving forward?

Diaz: It just fit us at the time we needed it. First off, the portal is just a fancy name for something that's always existed. We just took off the coach's ability to restrict it, and there's a place for the names to go. It doesn't change the fact that kids can transfer. I think when the data's all in, the amount of transfers will be -- it will not be as big a story as it's seemed. For us, we had a very young team. We only had seven seniors. Then we had more scholarships left to give for the second signing day -- more than the number of high school kids we were really after. So it was a good timing for us to use it to fill some holes on our roster.

Hale: A lot of other coaches are wringing their hands and saying they don't want to jump into the transfer portal. Does it feel like you're a little bit of a canary in the coal mine for how schools might handle transfers in the future?

Diaz: People on the outside may be looking at it like that, but I also go back to, we've had a history of this going back to 2014 at Louisiana Tech and our three years at Miami, we brought in Adrian Colbert and Dee Delaney and Tito Odenigbo and all three were really big, helped us and helped the young men, as well. But we did our homework on why they were transferring. That's the issue. You have to decide why are they transferring, why is it not working out at their current school? For some, it's a cultural thing. For some, it's schematic. It's easy to think it's just a kid who didn't get his way and wants a new place to take his ball and go play. I think it was about doing the research and bringing in guys who can help us have success.

Hale: What's your thoughts on loosening the restraints on transfers? Should they be immediately eligible?

Diaz: Before we get the transfer house in order, we have to figure out how to replace the initial scholarships. What happens is, you can use three or four guys at one position, but because we made a rule to stop over-signing, that rule is now ironically hurting player movement. Let's say we give them free access and be immediately eligible. There's nowhere for them to go because we're bound by only bringing in 25 initials each year. You have to put something in place where, if a player's in good standing at your school academically, and opts to transfer, that you can replace that number. Because otherwise, none of us will be at your 85 [allowed scholarships], which hurts our depth but also offers less opportunity for them to move.

The coaches I speak to, I think what everybody wants is some sort of uniformity. What I've seen firsthand is everyone wants to weigh in in the court of public opinion about the waiver process and it's really hard to know why some guys get waivers and some don't. It's easy to judge from the outside. It's unfair on certain kids because it puts them in the crosshairs. I think whatever we decide, we have to make it uniform -- everybody gets a waiver, nobody does, you have to sit but you can get a year back -- so when people go that route, they know what they're getting into.

Edited July 28, 2019 by LTtxfan

[ButtFumble 5158]

Just looking at the UH thread where they are possibly getting a LB from Alabama and Nick saying the guy was "dismissed from school" and that is all he can say

I am thinking in the long run this transfer system will probably be a disaster for the players more than anything. Some of it was discussed above, but I think in the long run graduation rates for those that transfer will go in the shit. I think you are going to start running into issues with credit hours counting especially for players that are about to be juniors or seniors. Schools are going to get "creative" to try and fit shit classes from other schools into their degree plan and someone will blow the whistle. It will probably be some student that is working in the admissions office that is getting fucked on a senior class they need to graduate and having to stay for another semester or even a year to get that class (not uncommon, but some schools are working to address that others are just fucking students). That person will see some athlete getting credit for all kinds of dumb shit that would not count for anyone else and they will file a complaint or a lawsuit.

A lot of these players are going to end up somehow fucking off a long semester or fucking off two summers (college secret summer time is when you can crank out the credit hours and all the hard core party students stay in town) and they will be short of hours when their eligibility runs out. Others will still tell themselves they are "going to the league" and will either try and transfer again when they are not starting or they will just fuck off classes. 

What I think will start happening reminds me of an idiot QB out of the QB hotbed state of Colorado that north Texas state fans were all getting a hard on about transferring to them named Brock Berglund. He started out at Kansas when Gill was there, he had sad that he was not starting, Fat Charlie Front Butt came in and "gave him time to think" and the dumb ass went home to hang out with his idiot friends and got in a fight and ended up in a big legal case that took him away for the season. He pissed off most of the team with the way he acted during that season especially because he was always going home to drag out a legal case where he got hammered. He made a "nation wide" tour to find the best place to play and ended up in Arizona as a Fighting Artichoke and was not even the starter, left there for north Texas state, left north Texas state (I believe before even taking any snap in a game I can't remember), he went to Northern Colorado and then ended up at SMU. No not THAT SMU.....the SMU in Nova Scotia.

The only thing that dumb fuck had going for him was that his family was not the poors so they could afford to still put his dumb ass through college. "Bru" and his dumb shit is just another sign of things to come and it will not be pretty for those looking to study football at college especially when they have wasted a year and a half or more and have 60 credit hours to show for 3 years of eligibility and they are looking to transfer again.

Because the second thing I see happening is a lot of programs taking kids and giving them credit for bullshit classes from their former school and then realizing the guy is actually regarded and there is no way their school that is not a big time university and football power can pull off finding a way to get this idiot to earn a degree. I see a lot of programs APRs going to shit and they will get hammered before they know it on scholarship limits. All the more so if they have a "burn it down" coach that takes every transfer possible to save his job the last two years and then leaves the shit for the next guy to clean up.

The NCAA is going to have to take some action eventually when the numbers come out with the massive hit to graduation rates and the APR damage to scholarship numbers (which kills more "opportunity"). Of course they will probably take the wrong action.

Edited August 3, 2019 by ButtFumble

[Parliament 14138]

Kinda cool that Coach Day helped a guy get eligible, knowing we will face him in the fall.


https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2019/08/105775/ohio-state-transfer-receiver-lchristian-blue-smith-granted-immediate-eligibility-at-cincinnati-will-face-ohio-state

[LTtxfan 48980]

May be another Senior using 4game Redshirt rule and portal to transfer??

https://247sports.com/college/kansas/Article/Official-Khalil-Herbert-no-longer-with-KU-football-Les-Miles-says-136426515/

 

KU football coach Les Miles has released a statement with regard to senior running back Khalil Herbert, who sat out the Jayhawks' fifth game of the season for "personal reasons," according to a report on the Fox Sports 1 broadcast for the game.

In short, Herbert is no longer with the team.  

"We would like to wish Khalil Herbert and his family well moving forward," Miles said via a KU athletics release on Wednesday. "With that said, Khalil is no longer a member of our football program and will not participate in any football activities."

That seemed to be the likely conclusion to the news after Miles was asked on Monday if Herbert was around the team or facility, to which the KU coach responded: "I have not seen him." 

Since Herbert, who was voted a team captain before the Jayhawks' Week 4 game against West Virginia, was a senior, he can receive a redshirt and then be eligible immediately as a graduate transfer if that is indeed the case. Players are allowed to appear in four games and still receive a redshirt.   

 

Edited October 2, 2019 by LTtxfan

[LTtxfan 48980]

Thx for finding this @Machinator

 Another possible Redshirt and transfer thru portal

 

Gonna be interesting to see what rule changes coaches ask for due to this new trend...

• Maybe change 25 limit rule if a 3rd or 4th year player redshirts and transfers out (add 1-3 more players??)
• Maybe immediate eligibility for any 4th+ year player that transfers before Jan 5th and is in good standing academically

 

[LTtxfan 48980]

Thx for this @satyanash. 

 

. Chris Vannini  @ChrisVannini

 

Hey I wrote some things on SMU. On Shane Buechele's decision to leave Texas and head to SMU: https://theathletic.com/1164305/2019/08/27/shane-buechele-smu-texas-transfer-positivity-profile/… How a huge influx of transfers led the Mustangs into the top 25:

How SMU used the transfer market to fuel a long-awaited...

Ranked for the first time since 1986, SMU is a popular transfer destination, especially for Metroplex natives looking to play close to home.

theathletic.com

10:35 PM · Oct 5, 2019·

 

DALLAS — Shane Buechele got the snap, took a couple of steps back, set his feet and launched it deep. He trusted receiver Reggie Roberson to get a step on the cornerback and to the end zone before the safety could get there. Roberson controlled his body perfectly and let the ball fall into his lap. Touchdown. The pair looked like they’d run that play together for years. The score gave SMU a 28-0 lead over South Florida in the second quarter last Saturday. The Mustangs would go on to win, move to 5-0 and find themselves at No. 24 in the AP poll, their first time ranked since 1986, before the NCAA’s death penalty that crippled the program for decades.

 

But neither Buechele nor Roberson began their college career at SMU. Buechele started at Texas, Roberson at West Virginia. When Sonny Dykes took over at SMU after the 2017 season, neither was there. He had a roster with serious holes. In the two years since, Dykes has reshaped the roster by taking full advantage of the transfer market, which has become its own recruiting game. More than 20 players on the current SMU roster came directly from another four-year college.

 

SMU’s starting quarterback is a transfer (Buechele). So is its leading receiver (Roberson) and its top tight end (Kylen Granson from Rice). So is its leading tackler (Patrick Nelson from Illinois), a starting defensive tackle (Zach Abercrumbia from Rice) and a starting cornerback (Brandon Stephens from UCLA). So is its starting kicker (Luke Hogan from West Virginia), kickoff specialist (Russell Roberts from Middle Tennessee) and kick returner (CJ Sanders from Notre Dame). “It’s been a really good thing for us,” Dykes said. “We had good players when we got here, but we’ve been able to build depth and do some things we’ve never been able to do. 

 

”Dykes loved the potential of the SMU job in part because of its proximity to local high school talent, and the high school recruiting has gone well — his first full class last year was No. 3 in the AAC and No. 68 nationally, according to 247Sports’ Composite Rankings. Dykes, the son of longtime Texas Tech head coach Spike Dykes, knows the state like the back of his hand.  

 

What Dykes didn’t expect was he’d be inundated with Power 5 transfers, most of them looking to come home to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “I figured there would be three, four a year,” he said. This past offseason, SMU brought in 16 transfers, according to 247Sports’ transfer database. That’s at least four more than anyone else. The year before, the Mustangs’ six graduate transfer additions were the most in the country.  

 

It has necessitated its own recruiting strategy. So many players have reached out to SMU that it has to be. Dykes said at one point during the last recruiting cycle, they had 38 potential transfers on their board. The transfer portal makes the process easier, and SMU staffers check it every day. During the daily recruiting film breakdown, the staff looks at high school players, then they look at potential transfer players.  

 

“I’m not going to lie, we hear from three or four a day,” Dykes said of people reaching out. “I’ve heard four today — legit guys. They’ve either entered the transfer portal or have reached out to the high school coach to reach out to us and are considering the portal.”  

 

For Group of 5 programs like SMU, it’s become the best way to bring in Power 5 talent, whether it’s someone who is looking for more playing time or perhaps is homesick. “We weren’t getting Shane Buechele coming out of high school,” Dykes said. “We weren’t getting Reggie Roberson coming out of high school. When you can add guys who are difference-makers like that, you wouldn’t believe how many guys have reached out. It’s blown my mind. We’re just trying to make sure it’s the right guys.”

 

Of the eight FBS teams to bring in at least eight transfers last offseason, five were Group of 5 teams near major cities and fertile recruiting grounds (SMU, Houston, UCF, FAU, FIU). Those locations are where the most high school players come from, so it’s where most kids will look to return. Buechele is from Arlington. Roberson is from DeSoto. Stephens is from Plano. All in the Metroplex. Of SMU’s 16 offseason transfer additions, 10 were from the DFW area. Most are kids who are looking to come home, where it’s easier for family and friends to watch.  

 

Roberson realized he wanted to leave West Virginia when his parents got sick and couldn’t travel to his games in Morgantown. He transferred to SMU in 2018 and received a hardship waiver, and his parents have made nearly every home game. “It means the world that everybody comes to see me play,” Roberson said. “It feels good when a kid reaches out on Twitter and says they want to come see me play. It means a lot to me and my family.”  

 

The transfer recruiting process is different than high school recruiting. There aren’t the same bells and whistles. Buechele noted he wasn’t taking pictures in jerseys. Players aren’t announcing their top five. They know what matters most when they’re looking for a school, especially grad transfers, and it mostly stays quiet publicly. “It’s ultimately a more mature way to do the recruiting process,” Buechele said.  

 

 

At SMU, the transfer players help each other get acclimated. Buechele and Roberson got close in the summer, throwing passes together since Buechele didn’t participate in spring practice. Patrick Nelson transferred to SMU from Illinois because of the relationship he had with SMU defensive coordinator Kevin Kane when Kane was at Northern Illinois. His move wasn’t a homecoming, and his biggest adjustment was the heat. Now he helps the new transfers fit in, figure out academic scheduling and the things that come outside of football. “We tell them the ropes, how things are,” Nelson said. “They get the feel from the coaches. They know it’s an up-and-coming program. They feel the family environment once they’re working out.”

 

Transferring is one of the toughest issues for the NCAA to figure out right now, but the addition of the transfer portal last year made the process cleaner, as did getting rid of the requirement for a school to give permission to a potential transfer. Despite using the transfer market more than anyone else recently, Dykes doesn’t have a hard opinion on any major changes. He understands why rules are in place and that coaches are always looking for loopholes. He would just like it to become more standardized and consistent.  

 

“To me, the considerations are some health issues and proximity makes sense,” he said. “If you go to USC and you’re from Dallas, maybe your parents travel for a year and it costs $2,000 a week to watch their son play football and maybe we can’t afford to do that. I think there’s some consideration for that, coming home. That’s where it fits well for us, when we can get some waivers that were pretty important for us.”  

 

Dykes doesn’t want to rely so much on transfer players moving forward as he builds the program, especially grad transfers, but if there are difference-makers who want to come in, it would be foolish not to jump on it. With SMU at 5-0 and thinking about a championship now, the strategy is clearly worth the effort, even if it wasn’t the original plan. “I can only imagine what our team would look like right now if we hadn’t taken transfers,” Dykes said. “We wouldn’t be nearly as competitive as we are. It would not be good.”

 

 

Edited October 6, 2019 by LTtxfan

[LTtxfan 48980]

Article mentions portal.... Thx for this @Coach pop a bitch

 

From @DrewKelson in response to the Humidor

Wow. This brought back some rough memories for me. There was nothing worse than playing through an injury due to this self-inflicted pressure that the team "needs" you and it resulting in looking like trash on film. I came into my junior season having earned a starting spot at LB after a couple weeks of camp. But unfortunately, I had a staph infection in my toe that held me out almost a week of fall camp. "Held me out" was effectively 3-4 days of practice while playing through it and looking less than stellar, followed by 2 days of rest and antibiotics until it healed.  Fortunately, I came back the week before the season opener and I'm back to flying around and in starting lineup. My body was fresh and I was excited to start my 2nd year playing LB ever after coming off of an awesome Rose Bowl win. That was until Wednesday practice comes around and J Mike comes down on my ankle after we both went up in the air to get the ball (it was great coverage and incomplete pass, FYI. ) Once I found out it was an ankle sprain, I wasn't even let down because I was almost certain my ankle was broken immediately after it happened. The severity of the pain that made me think it was broken, turned out to be a "high" ankle sprain, so I was relieved. I'd had plenty of ankle sprains playing basketball my whole life and never missed a beat. I'd be back in no time...

So, I attack rehab each day, pushing to get back from this sprain by Ohio State. Instead, I was held out of practice for just over 3 weeks while this took longer than any sprain I'd had before. We had some young talented guys at LB (Kindle, Norton, Muckelroy) but they weren't quite ready for the field yet... This left us 3-deep at LB with experienced players (Derry, Killebrew, Bobino). So, getting back on the field was a priority for me. We weren't deep and I new I added another element that the others guys didn't. So, I can't honestly say whether I was being selfish or a "team player" at this point, but I convinced myself and staff I was ready to go. My return was more of a "pain tolerance than injury" at that point. So, I just knew I was tough enough to work through this and contribute as much or more than the other guys.  Boy, was I wrong. It's easy to go through drills and do all the necessary, well-timed agility drills they ask before clearing you. But, when having to make those cuts in live action, I was limited on lateral strength and agility. So not only was I not fully healed, I was practicing at a level that wasn't going to get me on the field either. And that practice made the full healing take even longer. But, no excuses, right?  I came back for Iowa State the 4th game of the season and had a few tackles and a sack. I didn't feel great but I was surely just knocking a little rust off. At this point I was still rehabbing daily and even began to dabble in acupuncture, all while practicing and fighting to get back into starting lineup...

But it all truly hit me against Sam Houston State... Yes, Sam Houston State. Everyone plays in this game so of course I was out to show my stuff! I simply couldn't manage the most minor changes in direction with the same amount of burst. I was taking bad angles and missed some wide open tackles that looked were ugly on film. These weren't the dive at your ankle type misses... these were more of my feet feeling stuck in mud when a back makes a cut. It just wasn't pretty. Once you put that on film a couple times, you become a target. Once you risk being a target, you watch from the sideline. And with OU coming up the following week, that's exactly where I was.  But, it was the best game I'd never been a part of... lol. We gave up 10 points in the 1st half and didn't give up another. I believe we caused 5 turnovers in that game with at least 3 fumble recoveries. I couldn't be more excited about that big win. While I didn't play, we were ranked Top 5 the week after, trending upward, and I was healthier than I'd been all season.  But, there's one tricky thing about the OU game... you test players out and work through reps to see who's going to contribute in every game leading up to OU. If you haven't earned time to contribute in a big way at that point, don't expect to earn that time on the back half of the season.  So, I went into the next week not feeling a part of the core group of reliable players. And hey, I hadn't earned it. But, when I got some garbage time against Baylor the following week, I came away with 5 tackles. And it's It's funny how you think stats explain you're production when really it was more of an indicator that I was being "targeted." What you put on film will haunt you all season until you reverse it. While I "responded" as good as I had all season... it was back to the core, trusted players in an awesome nail-biting road win in the snow against Nebraska.  From there, I knew where I stood the remainder of season. So, I worked hard each week to make an impression, perform on special teams, and make the most of any time I went in for a few plays to give someone a breather. I logged a key tackle at Texas Tech and some key plays on special teams here and there. But, I was miles away from the hope of growth and production I had coming into the season. Yet, it never crossed my mind to to transfer. Ever. This was home and this was MY team. While contributing more to our team would have been ideal, the 2nd best option was supporting my brothers by being their eyes and ears on the sideline. And who'd want to transfer from Texas, anyway? Especially, since transferring during that era would send you to Abilene Christian or Tarleton State, at best.

But, these are different times and this portal is truly a game-changer. As I know several high school and college coaches, I've learned that these portal conversations go on behind the scenes long before someone enters. Players don't enter without a place in mind and oftentimes the existing school is the last to know. Who'd enter the portal without a real or at least a few options? It doesn't happen that way at Power 5 schools. And contrary to popular belief, it happens rarely due to some other school or coach "tampering." High school coaches, parents, and "handlers" are in the DMs of college coaches on a weekly basis asking about opportunities for a kid to transfer.

As the portal has presented new challenges for coaches, I agree with another poster who said this is what coaches get paid the big bucks to manage nowadays. As I tell my 4-year-old, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit." So, I have no remorse for coaches in this new world... but I truly believe it alters the growth players would otherwise have grinding through the personal challenges. I'm grateful I can look back and appreciate what that junior season did "for" me, not "to" me.

I'm also grateful for those who made it to the end of this rant/reflection. haha.

Hook 'em!
 

 

Edited October 26, 2019 by LTtxfan

[LTtxfan 48980]

Redshirt Rule: Changes seem to be on the way   to the four-year redshirt rule that was instituted in college football two seasons ago.  (Some Folks don't like what UH did to take advantage of the redshirt rule after starting season 1-3...)

http://wvmetronews.com/2019/12/04/wvu-ad-shane-lyons-suggests-changes-may-come-to-redshirt-rule/ 

WVU AD Shane Lyons suggests changes may come to redshirt rule

West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons is the current chair of the NCAA Division I Football oversight committee, and a recent rule change meant to benefit athletes will be getting additional scrutiny when the committee meets in January.

Edited December 6, 2019 by LTtxfan

[LTtxfan 48980]

Everything you probably didn't want to know about the Portal...

http://www.ncaa.org/static/champion/what-the-ncaa-transfer-portal-is/

Edited December 6, 2019 by LTtxfan