Hmmm…that’s not a very positive piece on our situation.
What is your take on that assessment ? About right, too negative, missing some things, etc ?
Most of the 21 we “lost” I never heard of. Hopefully the ones coming in are difference makers.
Our difference maker is CWF and staff.
It didn’t even say who we got. The o lineman, linebacker, defensive lineman, safety and 2 receivers plus a cornerback seem like good pick ups. Probably got some gems there. Fritz knows what he’s doing.
NRG,
This evaluation is fine with me . It is what outsiders see and think. They do not know our additions, our Coach and staff. I hope all our opponents read this stuff and think this way in the fall. We are gonna surprise some people with our hard-nose play.
Go Coogs !
Thanks for that perspective. I’m tending to think it’s more or less just a click bait
article with little in depth detail, but did mention losses of Brown and Golden. If I look at 247
transfers for 2024 it doesn’t appear to be so bad, if Im reading it right.
Out of all the departures, i think Hamilton bummed me the most. Brown is a good receiver but not a game changer. Hamilton is a great cover corner who had the tools to be a star to me.
With a new coaching staff, a number of transfers, in any program, occurs. Some players wait to see until Spring is over to see of they are starting in the fall. This is all quite predictable. This process is the first phase of evaluating talent for the coaching staff. See what players can execute the game plan. The presumption is if a player is not starting the coaching staff has someone better to execute their game plan, or has reasonable confidence they can get someone better in the transfer portal. The coaching staff then has the heart-to-heart conversation with the player. Notwithstanding a high profile transfer signee, we will not know the success of this coaching staff and the team until play starts on the field. In the meantime, I expect the daily critique to continue.
Well, I’d be lying if I were to say that Sam Brown, Dot, and Hamilton aren’t big losses. They are. All three would have been major contributors, and at least two probably would have appeared on some pre-season all-conference lists.
The rest though…meh. Most of them weren’t big contributors.
We need to be sure to sign enough to portal transfer and JUCO talent to fill those slots though. I want us to have at least 85 legitimately P4 caliber players on scholarship to start two a days.
Casualties of a culture shift I guess.
Heartland not interested to pay attention to the details…We lost several real good players but all the others 3rd and 4th teamers way down the roster list…a lot of guys leaving were encouraged to do so by the staff. We got some real well thought of guys guys coming in…Sheer numbers, we lose more than we get …Talent wise, we win, not lose…JMO
But did you see them do the math? 21 out and 7 in equals -14.
Heartland are good at the maths.
I believe Coach(s) will instill discipline. Think of all of the stupid drive killing (or helping the other team) we had over the last five years. I believe that the arm tackles will be a thing of the past also.
On paper we lost a few players and a lot of guys that were seen as not B12 caliber players, the ones coming in are.
Looking forward to seeing competitive football with the possibility of a few surprises.
As far as the math, they are incorrect because we have added several in the recent days. My uneducated view of things.
QB - Upgrade
RB - No transfer adds but we have not lost anything with those leaving.
OL - Would have liked for Johnson to stay but believe right now it is a push. We have added some good guys.
WR - Downgrade but with some adds that could narrow the gap.
DL - Downgrade. Would have liked Nwanko and Caldwell to stay. We have added some good talent, Lee and Cooper but until proven wrong, think this is a downgrade.
LB - Big upgrade in talent
Secondary - Hamilton is disappointing but overall I believe we upgraded here as well.
Overall though I have to believe we will be a much better coached team this year.
Nwankwo is good but a bit overrated on this board. He wasn’t the most disciplined and is quite immature overall.
I liked it when you could tell the transfers they had to go to another conference
Sure. WR may be a downgrade. But Jonah Wilson gets more reps. Over a guy like Brown or Golden. But what you are discounting is how significantly better we got at TE. And with the scheme Barbay likes to run, that is important.
I’m disappointed in zero of what we have lost through the portal on offense. The biggest loss is Patrick Paul. Ndukwe better be ready.OL is the only room I see as a downgrade. And it’s not because of what we have lost in the portal.
As far as DL is concerned. Not worried about losing Dot. Anthony Holmes was going to beat him out. I’ll go this far with Anthony Holmes. He is better than both Caldwell and Nwankwo. Y’all better stop sleeping on this guy.
Caldwell was really good, but I think Holmes with the additions of Everitt Rogers (two-year starter at Tulsa), Carlos Allen, Jalen Satchel, and Xavier Stillman to go with Justin Benton and Taleeq Robbins will be more than fine.
Forgot about TE. Agree that this was an upgrade. Regarding DL, was just looking transfer to transfer. I think Cooper and Lee will be good for us. I agree Holmes could be good. Have wondered what the story is with Benson and Mack. I would think they should be stepping up.
Wilson needs to stay healthy. If I remember right, he was hurt last year and I know he was hurt for the Spring game.