Ace Rodgers transferring to Lindenwood Univ. for FB

KGF

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Doesn't sound right to me. Chooses the Gophers over other programs after being offered. Then is pushed out despite doing the best he can. Is that right?
 

Doesn't sound right to me. Chooses the Gophers over other programs after being offered. Then is pushed out despite doing the best he can. Is that right?
It happens in CFB. My point was that some posters thought the Gopher program under Claeys and Kill was above that. It happened more than a few times for no other reason than the staff either lost faith in those players or they believe their time had expired. Most all CFB coaching staff's believe they are only obligated to a player through his undergrad degree. After that, no obligation to a player with a year of eligibility remaining, even if they happen to have started a grad degree. I believe Rodgers only completed his undergrad though. Obviously, he still wanted to play and Claeys nixed that before he was fired.
 

Yes, JuCo FB Forever indeed
 

It happens in CFB. My point was that some posters thought the Gopher program under Claeys and Kill was above that. It happened more than a few times for no other reason than the staff either lost faith in those players or they believe their time had expired. Most all CFB coaching staff's believe they are only obligated to a player through his undergrad degree. After that, no obligation to a player with a year of eligibility remaining, even if they happen to have started a grad degree. I believe Rodgers only completed his undergrad though. Obviously, he still wanted to play and Claeys nixed that before he was fired.

I don't doubt much of anything in CFB.... but some guy posting int on this forum is hardly confirmation of the whole story for me.
 


Rogers had serious injuries, was never going to really play meaningful snaps here again and they wanted the scholarship. It happens, it's D1 football. Good luck to Ace.
 


Ace caught the injury bug and never got off to a good start. He probably will have been buried in the depth chart. Kids transfer out off programs for different reasons. One of them may be playing time.

I wish him the best of luck.
 

If this is the case I would be disappointed in the staff.

Usually those guys sign a medical exemption and keep their scholarship for school, they just give up their eligibility and the scholarship doesn't count against the team. Sometimes players do get pushed into those though when they still want to play
 



If this is the case I would be disappointed in the staff.

Is that the case? I can't definitively say. But like it's been said earlier in this thread, it happens all the time. Just reading the very basics on Ace's situation, it's not hard to see what most likely happened. I'm going to guess Ace was informed he was probably never going to play here again so he could stay for schooling or they could help him find a new home. Ultimately he found a new home and the staff gets another scholarship.

I hate to tell you but if you're disappointed in that, you're gonna be disappointed in about every coaching staff in the country. Welcome to D1 football
 

Is that the case? I can't definitively say. But like it's been said earlier in this thread, it happens all the time. Just reading the very basics on Ace's situation, it's not hard to see what most likely happened. I'm going to guess Ace was informed he was probably never going to play here again so he could stay for schooling or they could help him find a new home. Ultimately he found a new home and the staff gets another scholarship.

I hate to tell you but if you're disappointed in that, you're gonna be disappointed in about every coaching staff in the country. Welcome to D1 football
I would be disappointed if he wasn't able to continue his education, if they gave him that option then it's different. D1 football has been in a constant state of disappointment for decades regarding the academic side of sports.
 

I would be disappointed if he wasn't able to continue his education, if they gave him that option then it's different. D1 football has been in a constant state of disappointment for decades regarding the academic side of sports.

Was Academic All-B1G last year. Do we know he didn't graduate?
 

Was Academic All-B1G last year. Do we know he didn't graduate?
I'm pretty certain that he did graduate as I heard he was looking into a transfer to another D1 school. I said from the beginning and on another thread prior to the news that he was transferring to Lindenwood, that he was not permitted to return to play for the Gophers though he had eligibility left, not that he wasn't allowed to complete his degree. It certainly can be argued that the program met its obligation to Rodgers, but I think it's unfortunate that the previous staff didn't give him the chance to overcome his injury history here. He obviously wanted to play. The most plausible reason the staff would come to the conclusion that he wouldn't play is b/c they didn't think he could stay healthy. Why not give him that chance?
 



I'm pretty certain that he did graduate as I heard he was looking into a transfer to another D1 school. I said from the beginning and on another thread prior to the news that he was transferring to Lindenwood, that he was not permitted to return to play for the Gophers though he had eligibility left, not that he wasn't allowed to complete his degree. It certainly can be argued that the program met its obligation to Rodgers, but I think it's unfortunate that the previous staff didn't give him the chance to overcome his injury history here. He obviously wanted to play. The most plausible reason the staff would come to the conclusion that he wouldn't play is b/c they didn't think he could stay healthy. Why not give him that chance?

Because that's another scholarship they can use. It's sad but it's hr reality. If a team has upperclassmen who aren't playing, that's viewed as an opportunity for another scholarship to be used in recruiting. Obviously there's a max in guys you can sign but you get my point. They want a scholarship they can offer to a HS kid instead of an upperclassman that isn't playing whether it's due to their talent, injury, etc. That's why they don't give them the chance
 

Because that's another scholarship they can use. It's sad but it's hr reality. If a team has upperclassmen who aren't playing, that's viewed as an opportunity for another scholarship to be used in recruiting. Obviously there's a max in guys you can sign but you get my point. They want a scholarship they can offer to a HS kid instead of an upperclassman that isn't playing whether it's due to their talent, injury, etc. That's why they don't give them the chance
I understand that and my question is almost rhetorical. Here's the thing, when you manage your team that way, it sends a message to every player on the team: You are human chattel. You may stay here to serve me until I think you're not worthy.
If you don't care about your players, why should they care about you or doing their best to please you?
Claeys clearly did not have Rodgers best interests in mind. And before someone says again, maybe it was in Rodgers best interest to either quit football or transfer, I say that is BS.
Rodgers was apparently still injured at the time he participated in Senior Day. IMO, if you recruit someone, you are committed to that player, not only as a football player, but for their personal welfare while in your program. If a player isn't good enough to play at that level and they have completed their degree, I understand not inviting a player back on scholarship. You've met that obligation. But if they experienced injuries that didn't give them a chance to fully compete, I believe you owe it to that player, personally, to give them the option to use the remainder of their eligibility at the program of origin instead of forcing them to transfer to play elsewhere.
It's a choice of how you choose to run the program. But like I said, the decision a coach makes tells all the other players what he thinks of them.
 

I understand that and my question is almost rhetorical. Here's the thing, when you manage your team that way, it sends a message to every player on the team: You are human chattel. You may stay here to serve me until I think you're not worthy.
If you don't care about your players, why should they care about you or doing there best to please you?
Claeys clearly did not have Rodgers best interests in mind. And before someone says again, maybe it was in Rodgers best interest to either quit football or transfer, I say that is BS.
Rodgers was apparently still injured at the time he participated in Senior Day. IMO, if you recruit someone, you are committed to that player, not only as a football player, but for their personal welfare while in your program. If a player isn't good enough to play at that level and they have completed their degree, I understand not inviting a player back on scholarship. You've met that obligation. But if they experienced injuries that didn't give them a chance to fully compete, I believe you owe it to that player, personally, to give them the option to use the remainder of their eligibility at the program of origin instead of forcing them to transfer to play elsewhere.
It's a choice of how you choose to run the program. But like I said, the decision a coach makes tells all the other players what he thinks of them.

I don't think many would disagree with you by sadly it just isn't reality
 

I don't think many would disagree with you by sadly it just isn't reality
Especially sad if those coaches are the same one preaching the notion of a football team as a "family" and more erosion of what sets apart college from the NFL.
 

I understand that and my question is almost rhetorical. Here's the thing, when you manage your team that way, it sends a message to every player on the team: You are human chattel. You may stay here to serve me until I think you're not worthy.
If you don't care about your players, why should they care about you or doing their best to please you?
Claeys clearly did not have Rodgers best interests in mind. And before someone says again, maybe it was in Rodgers best interest to either quit football or transfer, I say that is BS.
Rodgers was apparently still injured at the time he participated in Senior Day. IMO, if you recruit someone, you are committed to that player, not only as a football player, but for their personal welfare while in your program. If a player isn't good enough to play at that level and they have completed their degree, I understand not inviting a player back on scholarship. You've met that obligation. But if they experienced injuries that didn't give them a chance to fully compete, I believe you owe it to that player, personally, to give them the option to use the remainder of their eligibility at the program of origin instead of forcing them to transfer to play elsewhere.
It's a choice of how you choose to run the program. But like I said, the decision a coach makes tells all the other players what he thinks of them.

There are so many things we don't know. Was Ace participating in meetings? Was he actually healing? Did the Gopher doctors clear him to play and he didn't come back right away? Did the Gopher doctors say they wouldn't clear him to play?

It's easy to say it's 100% Claeys' fault, but on the same sense Fleck didn't reverse the decision like he did with Rhoda. There may be something else going on behind the scenes that we'll never know.
 




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