Who is coming back for his bonus (6th) season of college ball in 2021, apparently.
waiver wire in full effect.
....that there weren't more defections from our roster in the wake of spring practice. Maybe players are starting to realize the grass isn't necessarily greener.
to know which way the wind blows.
The portal is problematic for the vast majority of players.
value of an ND degree, you'd better be getting something for it; and a career in the NFL probably isn't in the cards if you aren't getting playing time at ND. So I'm not sure there's a lot of value in the transfer portal for an ND kid. Vandy? Northwestern? Stanford? Duke? Rice? Maybe Wake or BC on a good day. Otherwise, though, if I were they, I'd be very, very cautious about going in that direction without having my ND degree in hand first.
That means many that enter the portal have 2 years left to play -- and this year it actually is 3 since 2020 didn't count. A lot that transfer also sat out one year while at ND.
So, basically they graduate from ND and then go some other place to get an MBA for free and likely play. As Jvan said, I am surprised we aren't seeing higher numbers.
give you an example--I believe New Mexico just added a qb who was a 3 year starter at Kentucky. No offense to UNM, but my guess is that he had his sights set higher when he entered the portal. A lot of guys aren't getting the offers they had planned for unless they meet a specific criteria (big multiple year starters on the OL seem to still be in demand, for instance).
versus the ones like the QB that thought he could upgrade to a better team. My sense is this year is abnormal due to the 2020 waiver. Getting past that, it strikes me that teams are full of players every year that have graduated in 3 years and have never played -- and see no path to getting more than special teams duty.
Those kids probably aren't looking for a better team to be on -- and would be happy to step down to a team where they can play. I agree that right now even those schools don't have enough room right now given the spike from 2020.
There's only so many spaces to go around. Coaches can try to get a high school recruit who can contribute for four years or opt for a grad transfer and roster flexibility.
Freeman has seen him up close while at Cincinnati, so we’ll see what happens.