The Transfer Portal

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Out State Gopher

Out State Gopher

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After a few seasons which position group/groups are better finding players in the transfer portal than high school? Since the arrival of the portal one rarely hears about Community college players. It seems the Gophers have found success thru the portal gaining better players than the ones lost. The portal brings an exciting aspect of the off-season. "If one does not control the portal the portal will control you" Bear Bryant
 

For sure finding a starting QB looks to be easier in the portal than out of HS. They have college tape to scout and recruit to.

The portal is probably safer at all positions over HS kids, who might transfer anyway if they don't like the fit.

You still have to bring in HS kids for depth and development that are a great fit and get them connected with your collective.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
For sure finding a starting QB looks to be easier in the portal than out of HS. They have college tape to scout and recruit to.

The portal is probably safer at all positions over HS kids, who might transfer anyway if they don't like the fit.

You still have to bring in HS kids for depth and development that are a great fit and get them connected with your collective.
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yeah, I think at all positions and especially QB the transfer portal players are going to be a safer bet than high school players. The trade off is that they don't have as much eligibility but if you aren't going to play a guy for a few years anyway out of high school that really isn't a massive factor in football.

High school recruiting is still important but these last few years have really taken a lot of the shine and focus off of it. I also wonder how hard it has become for JC guys to get a look with all the transfers available.
 

There can be advantages to both. A kid out of HS can be in the system/OC and around his teammates for a few years. That can be valuable. But they may not have much playing experience.

Where a transfer has the experience but is new to the system and team.

It appears in today's game the experience is more valuable.
 

What's also changing is that it is now much easier to immediately replace anyone with an experienced player. Used to be killer when kids left for the NFL and their replacement was a redshirt freshman. That's not an issue anymore.
 


I think the portal vs. HS player thing is a bit position specific. If I have good strength-and-conditioning and position coaches on the lines, I'd rather recruit and develop high school kids for line and LB play, especially the offensive line. A coach can build a program around a good offensive line. QBs and RBs want to play behind a good line, then other skill positions fall in place behind them. Similar for the defensive lines, though it depends more on athletic freaks that often see playing time earlier.
 

Panthadad2 said:
I think the portal vs. HS player thing is a bit position specific. If I have good strength-and-conditioning and position coaches on the lines, I'd rather recruit and develop high school kids for line and LB play, especially the offensive line. A coach can build a program around a good offensive line. QBs and RBs want to play behind a good line, then other skill positions fall in place behind them. Similar for the defensive lines, though it depends more on athletic freaks that often see playing time earlier.
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I think it also has some to do with OL tends to be more patient with playing time. Most know they need to develop to get a chance to play at a high level. QBs, RBs, and WRs all want to play (and are more capable in many instances) right away.
 

We’ve done well in the portal over the past ten years or so. My concern is NIL will change it so, going forward, we’ll pick up the better lower level players but lose a larger portion of our better players to NIL. I think a case can be made that it’s already started.
 

GVLCGopherFan said:
We’ve done well in the portal over the past ten years or so. My concern is NIL will change it so, going forward, we’ll pick up the better lower level players but lose a larger portion of our better players to NIL. I think a case can be made that it’s already started.
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So far that hasn't been the case. For a lot of players, they'll stick around as long as they're getting something. Irving is about the only guy that we can confidently say money played a big role in him leaving. His situation was unique in that he came from a bad part of Chicago and wanted to get his mom out of there. MN NIL wasn't going to be enough to make that happen. At least that is the rumor. Maybe Carter to Texas?

Not having a lot of NIL dollars will hurt in recruiting high end HS kids and transfers more than anything IMO. But that was the case for the most part prior to NIL too.
 



GophersInIowa said:
So far that hasn't been the case. For a lot of players, they'll stick around as long as they're getting something. Irving is about the only guy that we can confidently say money played a big role in him leaving. His situation was unique in that he came from a bad part of Chicago and wanted to get his mom out of there. MN NIL wasn't going to be enough to make that happen. At least that is the rumor. Maybe Carter to Texas?

Not having a lot of NIL dollars will hurt in recruiting high end HS kids and transfers more than anything IMO. But that was the case for the most part prior to NIL too.
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I hope you’re right. The last couple years we’ve lost Taylor, Oliver, Carter, Bishop - I was expecting all four to contribute. There were others like Wright and Dunlap who I think would have also helped but left for other schools. I’m not sure we’ve back filled that same talent through the portal.

Maybe we’ve always had similar talent transfer out. Like I said, I hope you’re right.
 

GVLCGopherFan said:
I hope you’re right. The last couple years we’ve lost Taylor, Oliver, Carter, Bishop - I was expecting all four to contribute. There were others like Wright and Dunlap who I think would have also helped but left for other schools. I’m not sure we’ve back filled that same talent through the portal.

Maybe we’ve always had similar talent transfer out. Like I said, I hope you’re right.
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Did you mean Evans?

I'm not sure Georgia Tech and West Virginia have a substantial difference in NIL dollars but maybe I'm wrong. I'm sure money plays a factor in some of these guys decisions but I don't think they're the #1 factor for why they left.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Did you mean Evans?

I'm not sure Georgia Tech and West Virginia have a substantial difference in NIL dollars but maybe I'm wrong. I'm sure money plays a factor in some of these guys decisions but I don't think they're the #1 factor for why they left.
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Sorry - I meant Irving.

You’re right though, maybe it’s not NIL. Maybe it’s the more liberal transfer rules along with the extra eligibility that’s different. Either way, it seems like we’re losing ground on the portal race the last 2/3 years.
 

GVLCGopherFan said:
Sorry - I meant Irving.

You’re right though, maybe it’s not NIL. Maybe it’s the more liberal transfer rules along with the extra eligibility that’s different. Either way, it seems like we’re losing ground on the portal race the last 2/3 years.
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Oliver was probably to get close to home. Carter maybe. Bishop Maybe. Irving yes.

I think we've done alright in the transfer portal. Most of the guys that have left haven't done much where they've gone.
 



Well I see our friends to the South got the 5 star OL from Alabama. 6’8 375 left tackle. Should make it easier for their new OC to create a passing attack.
 

Jack jones said:
Well I see our friends to the South got the 5 star OL from Alabama. 6’8 375 left tackle. Should make it easier for their new OC to create a passing attack.
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You mean the guy who had originally committed to them and is from Iowa? I don’t think it’s shocking a decision.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
For sure finding a starting QB looks to be easier in the portal than out of HS. They have college tape to scout and recruit to.

The portal is probably safer at all positions over HS kids, who might transfer anyway if they don't like the fit.

You still have to bring in HS kids for depth and development that are a great fit and get them connected with your collective.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think it is safe to say that the portal has brought a whole new era to the QB position in college football. Until the rules change, every year is essentially free agency for the top QBs and an opportunity to improve your deal (get your home team collective to pony up more $$). All you need to do is look at the Heisman finalists sitting in New York this year (Jayden Daniels, Michael Penix Jr., Bo Nix, Marvin Harrison Jr.) with Harrison Jr being the only Non-QB and Non-transfer.
 


GVLCGopherFan said:
We’ve done well in the portal over the past ten years or so. My concern is NIL will change it so, going forward, we’ll pick up the better lower level players but lose a larger portion of our better players to NIL. I think a case can be made that it’s already started.
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Currently NIL is like NFL free agency without a cap. I'm not even sure what the rules around NIL are?
 

Just checked the portal. In this cycle, Alabama has had 30 transfer out and 6 transfers in. Could be going the Deion Sanders route ... or maybe just a lot of folks don't wanti to play for the new coach. Majority of transfers were very highly rated coming out of HS. Iowa got themselves one of the best (Kayden Proctor).
 

Out State Gopher said:
After a few seasons which position group/groups are better finding players in the transfer portal than high school? Since the arrival of the portal one rarely hears about Community college players. It seems the Gophers have found success thru the portal gaining better players than the ones lost. The portal brings an exciting aspect of the off-season. "If one does not control the portal the portal will control you" Bear Bryant
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Out State Gopher said:
After a few seasons which position group/groups are better finding players in the transfer portal than high school? Since the arrival of the portal one rarely hears about Community college players. It seems the Gophers have found success thru the portal gaining better players than the ones lost. The portal brings an exciting aspect of the off-season. "If one does not control the portal the portal will control you" Bear Bryant
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Honest question. How have the gophers gotten better with the portal?
 



Word said:
I think last year the portal hurt us, 2 years ago it helped us.
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Definitely can be measured year to year, but overall I’d say that it does not help us or other programs that rely on developing players over multiple years before they’re game ready. Also hurts programs like ours that rely on being more experienced generally.
 








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