2024-2025 Portal Thread

I would say they were very similar coming out of high school:
Flores: 2022 MaxPreps Nebraska Player of the Year … Led his team to the Class A state championship game in his senior season and threw for 414 yards and three touchdowns in that contest … Senior season stats include 3,117 yards and 31 touchdowns through the air with 274 yards and 10 scores on the ground … An all-state selection as a junior and senior ... Went 30-4 over three seasons as a starter with more than 9,000 passing yards, 82 passing touchdowns and 29 rushing touchdowns. The No. 18 quarterback prospect in the 2023 class according to Rivals

Morris: four-star quarterback by ESPN and three-star prospect by 247Sports and Rivals … ranked as the No. 196 recruit in the country by ESPN and No. 517 by 247Sports … the No. 7 dual-threat quarterback by ESPN and No. 17 by 247Sports. went 27-2 as a starter his final two seasons when he accounted for 7,694 passing yards, 88 passing touchdowns, 1,286 rushing yards and 37 rushing TDs … led Highland Park to a 16-0 record and Class 5A-1 state title as a junior in 2018 when he threw for 4,036 yards and 46 touchdowns with just six interceptions ... completed 64.4 percent of his passes ... ran for 651 yards and 20 scores. threw for 3,658 yards and 42 touchdowns as a senior in 2019 while adding 635 rushing yards and 17 scores en route to being named district MVP by coaches


If what you've seen from flores in practice leads you believe he will be a productive player at this level id' rather have 2-3 years with flores running the show than one year with morris. There's still a chance flores fails or gets hurt, which is why you try to get a QB every year, and a high level QB every two years, and develop those skills in case you need the backup to step in.

I agree with what you said, the bad part is if Flores comes out and has a great first year starting, some other team will offer him a giant bag of cash to go elsewhere the next year. They’ve got to do something to fix that situation! Multi-year contracts?


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I agree with what you said, the bad part is if Flores comes out and has a great first year starting, some other team will offer him a giant bag of cash to go elsewhere the next year. They’ve got to do something to fix that situation! Multi-year contracts?


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There's no one thing that fixes this, from a portal standpoint. NIL is broken really almost beyond repair. For the portal, it needs to start with reinstating the transfer rule- unless your coach leaves, if you transfer, you sit out a year. That won't fix it, but it's a good first step.

If someone with stones really wanted to fix this, NIL as it exists (which lets be honest, is just pay to play) would be banned again. Student-athletes would be paid a portion of the schools media payout, incrementally based upon playing time, with a set base amount. Those payouts would go into a trust for each student that gets paid out upon graduation. If you transfer, you lose whatever is in trust and restart at your new school. NIL (or what it was originally intended to be) doesn't have to go away, but it should be limited to memorabilia (jerseys, signed items, the player's own merch, etc) that is sold at the school or in authorized retailers only, which allows NIL to be audited, if desired. It's pretty simple, but it's not easy.
 
There's no one thing that fixes this, from a portal standpoint. NIL is broken really almost beyond repair. For the portal, it needs to start with reinstating the transfer rule- unless your coach leaves, if you transfer, you sit out a year. That won't fix it, but it's a good first step.

If someone with stones really wanted to fix this, NIL as it exists (which lets be honest, is just pay to play) would be banned again. Student-athletes would be paid a portion of the schools media payout, incrementally based upon playing time, with a set base amount. Those payouts would go into a trust for each student that gets paid out upon graduation. If you transfer, you lose whatever is in trust and restart at your new school. NIL (or what it was originally intended to be) doesn't have to go away, but it should be limited to memorabilia (jerseys, signed items, the player's own merch, etc) that is sold at the school or in authorized retailers only, which allows NIL to be audited, if desired. It's pretty simple, but it's not easy.
It’s going to be interesting after the judge rules in April and they become employees.

What we have now is an unmitigated disaster of a system that only college athletics could come up with. You’ve got a TE at Miami in his NINTH year. A transfer portal window where a kid has to leave his playoff team to get a spot elsewhere. The richest schools constantly raiding the poorer schools and zero compensation to the school who invested in the player. And two conferences and the TV networks deciding the direction of the sport.
 
There's no one thing that fixes this, from a portal standpoint. NIL is broken really almost beyond repair. For the portal, it needs to start with reinstating the transfer rule- unless your coach leaves, if you transfer, you sit out a year. That won't fix it, but it's a good first step.

If someone with stones really wanted to fix this, NIL as it exists (which lets be honest, is just pay to play) would be banned again. Student-athletes would be paid a portion of the schools media payout, incrementally based upon playing time, with a set base amount. Those payouts would go into a trust for each student that gets paid out upon graduation. If you transfer, you lose whatever is in trust and restart at your new school. NIL (or what it was originally intended to be) doesn't have to go away, but it should be limited to memorabilia (jerseys, signed items, the player's own merch, etc) that is sold at the school or in authorized retailers only, which allows NIL to be audited, if desired. It's pretty simple, but it's not easy.

That would be a great solution but it will never happen. The money schools like Oregon, Georgia, Texas, etc. would never give up their advantages. I think you hit the nail with the first sentence, college football is dead as we knew it and will never return. This is the NFL G-League!
 
I agree with what you said, the bad part is if Flores comes out and has a great first year starting, some other team will offer him a giant bag of cash to go elsewhere the next year. They’ve got to do something to fix that situation! Multi-year contracts?


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I agree with that, and how the Portal is a disaster. However, Morris is a one-year player and you know that, so he doesn't help you in this situation. Flores seems to be unusually loyal in this era of college football, so there might be an opportunity we retain him if he has a great year.
 
I agree with that, and how the Portal is a disaster. However, Morris is a one-year player and you know that, so he doesn't help you in this situation. Flores seems to be unusually loyal in this era of college football, so there might be an opportunity we retain him if he has a great year.
Morris would help you for one year, a year that might be a crossroads for the program.

I think Virginia overpaid for him...but I hope we're still looking in the portal for a QB.

It's a big roll of the dice to hope that one of the guys we have ends up being a star. I'm not saying they won't, I'm just saying it's not a guarantee. If Gundy wants to fix this mess, he better find a guy that can make plays and take care of the ball. It has been a LONG time since we've had a QB that didn't have a turnover problem.
 
Morris would help you for one year, a year that might be a crossroads for the program.

I think Virginia overpaid for him...but I hope we're still looking in the portal for a QB.

It's a big roll of the dice to hope that one of the guys we have ends up being a star. I'm not saying they won't, I'm just saying it's not a guarantee. If Gundy wants to fix this mess, he better find a guy that can make plays and take care of the ball. It has been a LONG time since we've had a QB that didn't have a turnover problem.
Maybe, maybe not. I think we're ok at the QB position. To me the bigger risk is that we have taken exactly one player from a major conference in the portal. Looking at the list below from PFB, I'm left asking myself what we're doing. Do we legitimately have a strategy for making our team better? Years of sub par recruiting classes have left our roster depleted, and our list from the portal doesn't look like we're restocking the cupboard. It's great that we've gone out and gotten a staff that everyone seems excited about, but the truth is we need high quality guys filling our roster. If our staff believes that's what we have, then great, but the likelihood that we've found 10-12 diamonds in the roughly through high school and the portal is highly unlikely.

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Maybe, maybe not. I think we're ok at the QB position. To me the bigger risk is that we have taken exactly one player from a major conference in the portal. Looking at the list below from PFB, I'm left asking myself what we're doing. Do we legitimately have a strategy for making our team better? Years of sub par recruiting classes have left our roster depleted, and our list from the portal doesn't look like we're restocking the cupboard. It's great that we've gone out and gotten a staff that everyone seems excited about, but the truth is we need high quality guys filling our roster. If our staff believes that's what we have, then great, but the likelihood that we've found 10-12 diamonds in the roughly through high school and the portal is highly unlikely.

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You’re basing your judgement basically entirely from where they’re transferring from, and not by what they have accomplished? Sorry, but that’s pretty weak.

Of course they’re not going to hit on every transfer player. No one is. That said, I’d rather have Bryan McCoy next year, than be Penn State and have Kendal Daniels, who may have transferred from a “major conference” school but who only gives full effort half the time. I’d rather have Gabe Panikowski, who went 15/15 with a long of 55, than any of our kickers.

How about we stop judging these players strictly by where they started their careers and instead looking at what they have actually been able to accomplish?
 
Maybe, maybe not. I think we're ok at the QB position. To me the bigger risk is that we have taken exactly one player from a major conference in the portal. Looking at the list below from PFB, I'm left asking myself what we're doing. Do we legitimately have a strategy for making our team better? Years of sub par recruiting classes have left our roster depleted, and our list from the portal doesn't look like we're restocking the cupboard. It's great that we've gone out and gotten a staff that everyone seems excited about, but the truth is we need high quality guys filling our roster. If our staff believes that's what we have, then great, but the likelihood that we've found 10-12 diamonds in the roughly through high school and the portal is highly unlikely.

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Our class from the portal 2 years ago:

Dalton Cooper - Texas State
Leon Johnson III - George Fox
Josiah Johnson - UMass
Justin Kirkland - Southern Utah
Justin Wright - Tulsa
Anthony Goodlow - Tulsa
Bryce Drummond - North Texas (may not be a super star but the family donations should make it worthwhile)
Ian Edenfield - California (Pennsylvania)
Noah McKinney - UNLV
Kenneth Harris - Arkansas State

Alan Bowman - Michigan
Elijah Collins - Michigan State
Arland Bruce - Iowa
Deshaun Striblling - Washington State

There were several really good football players we picked up from smaller schools. People were roasting the staff over Leon Johnson because he was DIII, but I would take him again. Just because guys are on a power 4/5 team, does not automatically make them a better pickup. Smaller school guys will typically be hungry and want to prove they belong.
 
Dalton Cooper - Texas State
Leon Johnson III - George Fox
Josiah Johnson - UMass
Every time I see us pick up a guy from a smaller school, I think of these guys. I'd take every one of them we can get.
If the two Johnsons had gotten to play again this year, I think they'd have been breakout players.

I still wish we'd have gotten to redshirt Leon...
 
Every time I see us pick up a guy from a smaller school, I think of these guys. I'd take every one of them we can get.
If the two Johnsons had gotten to play again this year, I think they'd have been breakout players.

I still wish we'd have gotten to redshirt Leon...
That's my one issue with small school guys. They often need a good chunk of the season to be used to or ready to play at the power level. Getting one for 1 year seems like it's only for 1/2 a year.

But don't get me wrong, I'd happily take a guy from any level if they are able to come in and compete and make us better. Just don't want to put all eggs in the small school basket due to that timeframe of getting used to the change.
 
South Carolina took a player from Gambling State. Missouri took a player from SW Missouri St. ASU had a guy this year named Scattebo who transferred from Sacramento St. Most teams are taking players from lower divisions...we're in the portal era now.

Also don't forget that the scholarship limit is increasing by 20 next season, so it's not hurting us to take a chance on some extra players who may or may not pan out.
 
JFC we’re not just taking run of the mill lower division players but those who are all conference or otherwise proven to be really good. The NFL even drafts directly from those divisions fairly often. I’d rather have an All AAC player than some five star high schooler who flopped at Alabama. Those ratings are largely for kids who physically develop early. Many are undersized, go to lower level, then develop and are then ready for the jump. That’s how it should work.
 
You’re basing your judgement basically entirely from where they’re transferring from, and not by what they have accomplished? Sorry, but that’s pretty weak.

Of course they’re not going to hit on every transfer player. No one is. That said, I’d rather have Bryan McCoy next year, than be Penn State and have Kendal Daniels, who may have transferred from a “major conference” school but who only gives full effort half the time. I’d rather have Gabe Panikowski, who went 15/15 with a long of 55, than any of our kickers.

How about we stop judging these players strictly by where they started their careers and instead looking at what they have actually been able to accomplish?
It's not that I think we shouldn't recruit those guys, but to only recruit guys from lower levels is foolish. We are better than most at finding success with those guys, but I think we would all agree if you have two linebacker recruits, you'd rather have the larger faster one over the slower smaller one, all else being similar.

Maybe my glasses are too orange, but I would think we can continue to get a handful of high level under the radar guys and sprinkle in one or two top 50-100 transfer players, along with a few guys that just didn't fit in where they were.

I'm not saying I want guys like bowman that are power 4 guys and haven't played in four years. I want to go get guys like Dillion Gabriel, Cam Ward, Maalik Murphy, etc.
 
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